“He came in, stood up, and said, ‘I ain’t sitting down”: Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman recalls guitarist Gary Rossington’s final performance
Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Johnny Van Zant has opened up about the band’s final performance with original guitarist Gary Rossington, noting how things had felt extra “special” that night.
The show, held at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in late 2022, was part of the Southern rock legends’ 50th anniversary celebrations. It would also mark Rossington’s last time onstage with the band before his passing a few months later.
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Speaking in a new interview with WHDAFM, Van Zant reflects on the emotions and energy of that night – and the grit Rossington showed just by being there.
“He was very sick the week before that, and then he called me up,” Van Zant recalls [Ultimate Guitar]. “Called me up and said, ‘Hey Bubba, I might have to sit down.’ And I said, ‘Well, hell, I’ll sit down! Whatever we need to do.’ And he came in, stood up, he said, ‘I ain’t sitting down.’ So he was just a war horse. He loved playing that music.”
“And I knew that night was special. I was having a great time. Things were awesome. Sometimes you get to a gig, and you’re kind of like, ‘Oh well, okay, it’s just another gig.’ But then you get there and you feel that presence, y’know? And that was one of those nights.”
The singer also looks back fondly on a nostalgic moment he shared with the band backstage before the show began: “It was funny because myself, [Rickey] Medlocke, my brother Donnie, and Gary all shared a little dressing room in the back, and we were stepping over each other’s luggage and [sharing] past stories, you know, things that we can’t talk about, that only us guys were talking about,” he says.
“And somebody brought us a cold pizza, and we’re like, ‘Yeah man, we’re starving!’ So we’re in there, we’re eating pizza. And we started laughing. We said, ‘You know what? This is kind of like the old days in the clubs.’”
Now, that night lives on in Celebrating 50 Years – Live at the Ryman Auditorium, a concert album and DVD set due out later this month. The release features Skynyrd revisiting its classic catalogue with the help of guest artists including Marcus King, Jelly Roll, Donnie Van Zant, Jon Osborne, and Shinedown’s Brent Smith.
Van Zant says that he’s grateful the performance was documented – not just for the fans, but as a personal tribute to Rossington’s legacy.
“Little did we know that was going to be Gary’s last performance. I’m so proud that we actually videotaped this and had it on film,” he says. “And we got a great documentary for your listeners and our fans that we put together. It’s pretty much a tribute to Gary, and it’s just all of us talking about him, talking about the night.”
The post “He came in, stood up, and said, ‘I ain’t sitting down”: Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman recalls guitarist Gary Rossington’s final performance appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
