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Southern Rock legends play Germany - twice!

No need for an introduction to Lynyrd Skynyrd nor to that classic Southern Rock favorite, “Sweet Home Alabama.” I would like to introduce you to a relatively new DVD collection that came out in the Fall of 2008 called Lynyrd Skynyrd: Sweet Home Alabama.  The main concert is taken from the 1996 Loreley Festival. The bonus feature footage is 16mm material shot in 1974 at the Hamburg Musikhalle. Both performances are from the Rockpalast collection, a well-known TV program out of Germany that has been on the air for over 30 years.

The 1996 performance shows the band nearly two decades after the fatal crash that killed some of the band and others. One of the four band survivors of the plane crash, bassist Leon Wilkeson was still a part of Lynyrd Skynyrd when this performance was recorded before a sold-out crowd. It’s quite entertaining watching him as he switches hats between every one of the 14 tracks of their set list. All of the tracks are classics and none were from their upcoming album at that time, Twenty.

The concert stage is a bit different. It sits atop of the Loreley, a mythical rock that looks over the Rhine. There is an amphitheater on top. This isn’t quite like the Red Rocks Theater we’re used to seeing in Colorado, but it does seem nice. Although I wonder if all of the shows performed there always keep their audience at such a distance or if it was just so room could be made for the camera crew. The audience seems to be a good fifty feet from the band, although singer Johnny Van Zant occasionally makes his way down front when Wilkeson and the guitarists, Gary Rossington, Hughie Thomasson and Ricky Medlocke all get a little closer to the Confederate flag waving German crowd.

And maybe due to the stage arrangement, it makes it difficult to film keyboardist Billy Powell, but a lot of his imagery is nearly a silhouette. It doesn’t take anything away from his playing. About the best view of him is during the piano break on “Call Me The Breeze” where he is cracking up while Medlocke is teasing him and imitating his playing. This is the first time that I’ve seen the band where Powell uses all electric keyboards and no grand piano, but once again, the playing sounds fine as usual.

Drummer Owen Hale has a short solo after “Simple Man” that leads into “Gimme Three Steps,” and the guitar trio all take turns with a solo after “Call Me The Breeze.” Original member, Rossington, shows off with his teeth as he jams out to his solo. Thomasson gives the crowd a blast of Southern Rock, including some licks from his Outlaw days. Medlocke (who is sort of an original member as he bounced back and forth as drummer for the band the first time Bob Burns left and then a second time as a second drummer alongside Burns) really performs more of the guitar hero rockstar part with his solo. I’ve seen him perform live a few times and the guy is one of the most overlooked/underrated guitarists when the “Best Of…” lists come out in various mags and polls.

Since this is the first time this concert has been available on DVD, I assume that Rockpalast wanted to keep the program as it originally aired. So this includes about a four minute wait between “Sweet Home Alabama” and once the band returns for the encore with “Free Bird.” Nothing really exciting happens, so it’s a good place to shuttle through before everyone, including The Honkettes, return to the stage for the finale.

The picture is bright and clear, the sound is great and the band are in top form. So despite some of the odd or negative things I may have mentioned, the show is worth the price of admission.

The Bonus Feature is really something that most die-hard fans will enjoy. Even though the image is a little washed out and the band is stuck on a stage barely big enough for them to move around without fear of stepping on Ronnie Van Zant, the 7 piece Southern boys wail (as the opening act for another up-n-coming band, Queen!) as they jam to “Workin For MCA,” the same song they opened the Loreley Festival with, then continue on to a really jamming and lengthy (lengthier than usual it seems) version of Free Bird and follow up with their new single at that time, “Sweet Home Alabama.” The picture is still very nice and clear and the sound is still in very good condition, so don’t think you might be picking up some grainy footage that appeared on someone’s rabbit ears in West Berlin. These three songs are also making their debut appearance and make for a nice little addition to Sweet Home Alabama.

The disc is 2 hours of footage, fullscreen and can be listened to in DTS Digital Surround, Dolby 5.1 Surround or Dolby Digital Stereo. It also contains a historical look at the 2 concerts in a 6 page insert as written by Rockpalast executive producer, Peter Ruechel.

A long-haired band out of Alabama performing in Germany to a delighted audience just goes to show that Music is the Universal Language.

[Author’s Note: Billy Powell passed away the day after this post possibly due to heart failure.]

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