Lynyrd Skynyrd began The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour in 2018, but soon decided to forge on.
Then when Gary Rossington, the last of the band’s founding members, died in March 2023, some speculated the band would call it quits soon.
“Gary never wanted to see the band’s legacy and, of course, the music, over time fade,” guitarist Rickey Medlocke said. “He wanted Johnny (Van Zant) and I to keep the music alive. With millions of fans, he just thought it was well worth it for us to carry it on. He all but made us promise. Here we are, we’re out there and having a great time with it.”
The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour, featuring ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, returns at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 14 to Ruoff Music Center. The two groups played together at Ruoff in August 2023.
“One thing that is important when you carry on the legacy of a band is being committed to the songs and playing them like they are supposed to be played,” Medlocke said. “The integrity of the song has to be kept. If you play it great and right at what the original band did live, I think the fans love the music.”
During the band’s song “Skynyrd Nation,” there is a line about three generations of fans.
“I look out and I see four or five generations of fans,” Medlocke said. “When you see fans come out from 8 years old to 80, you can’t argue with it. What that is about is iconic songs. The songs will be out here a lot longer than we all are. Maybe in a thousand years if the old Earth is still here, someone will dig up a jar and it will have Lynyrd Skynyrd music in it. I just know people want to hear the songs no matter how many times they’ve heard them. They love coming out to experience it live.”
Medlocke’s first stint with Lynyrd Skynyrd was from 1971 to 1972, when he played drums and sang lead on a few songs. Not feeling he was a strong enough drummer, he left to rejoin his previous band, Blackfoot, where he was the lead singer and guitarist.
Three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, died in a plane crash in 1977 and everyone else suffered serious injuries. The band reformed in 1987 with Johnny Van Zant replacing his brother as lead singer. Medlocke, 74, returned to Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1996.
Medlocke said when asked what his favorite of the band’s songs is, he always says all of them. Two of his favorite songs to play in concert are “The Needle And The Spoon” and “Tuesday’s Gone,” when the band does a video tribute to Rossington.
“We try to pick a well-rounded set,” Medlocke said. “We could be out there four or five hours with all the ones people want to hear.”
ZZ Top is a perfect travel partner, Medlocke said.
“It’s been incredible being with the guys because we have a long history with ZZ Top,” Medlocke said. “Lynyrd Skynyrd’s history with ZZ Top goes back to the ‘70s. One of the longest tours we did was in 1999 going into 2000. We did the Millennium Tour and we played New Year’s Eve night in Houston at the arena. If you remember, people thought the world was going to come to an end (with Y2K computer issues at the turn of century). We thought, ‘What a way to end the world, playing (a concert).’ We did 103 shows with those guys, which was a long tour.”
Medlocke said he was supposed to spend his 50th birthday in Hawaii, but had to give those plans up because the tour was extended.
Medlocke will keep playing as long as his band does.
“I promised Gary when I came back (in 1996) that I would be there until the last note in ‘Freebird’ was played,” Medlocke said. “I hoped he would still have been here to see it through. The creator above had other plans and Gary got off the bus. He saluted us. I’m still here and I hope I’m there until the last note in ‘Freebird’ is played, so I can fulfill that promise.”
For more, visit livenation.com.
