Full Show Friday: Lynyrd Skynyrd San Fran, CA Winterland 1975

Last year we searched the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and posted them to the site monthly.  That was all well and good but this year RtBE is upping the ante with a show every week to celebrate Full Show Friday's.  These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Lynyrd Skynyrd!

Here is some pretty amazing old footage from the original Skynyrd lineup playing Winterland in San Fran in 1975. The Concert Vault has more info on it, you can read it while you listen/watch the cool black and white video. If you only know "Freebird", give this a listen, you may be surprised. Pro Sound, Semi Pro shot, Enjoy this Southern Guitar Boogie on a Friday.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Winterland (San Francisco, CA)

Apr 27, 1975

1. 1 Whiskey Rock-A-Roller / I Ain't The One 08:40
2. 2 The Needle And The Spoon 05:08
3. 3 I'm A Country Boy 05:08
4. 4 Gimme Three Steps 05:43
5. 5 Don't Ask Me No Questions 03:53
6. 6 Saturday Night Special 05:53
7. 7 Railroad Song 05:16
8. 8 Call Me The Breeze 07:05
9. 9 Sweet Home Alabama 06:16
10. 10 On the Hunt 07:21
11. 11 Freebird 12:59

Allen Collins - guitar
Ed King - guitar
Artimus Pyle - drums
Gary Rossington - guitar
Ronnie Van Zant - lead vocals
Leon Wilkeson - bass, background vocals

By the time Lynyrd Skynyrd played this sold-out show at San Francisco's Winterland ballroom, they had become the unmistakable kings of Southern Rock. Spearheaded by charismatic frontman, Ronnie Van Zant, the group had taken southern boogie from the swamps and brought it to the masses.

There is an enormous amount of energy and power in the multiple guitar mix of the band, and that is clearly apparent when they launch into solos on these songs. The group had built a solid following via AOR radio by 1975, and songs like "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird" had given the band enormous crossover appeal. The group was coming off two hugely successful albums, its debut (pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd) and 1974's Second Helping, and they had recently replaced original drummer Bob Burns with Artimus Pyle.

This show was recorded during the band's tour promoting their 1975 album, Nuthin' Fancy, and it features Lynyrd Skynyrd at the top of their game. It was also one of the last shows featuring their original three-guitar lineup, as Ed King left the band midway through the tour. Skynyrd confidently played its brand of riff-driving Southern fried rock boogie to near capacity crowds on this entire '75 tour.

Poignant songs like "The Needle And The Spoon" are balanced against established Skynyrd rockers such as "Saturday Night Special" and "Gimmie Three Steps." Songs like "Whiskey Rock-A-Roller", J.J. Cale's "Call Me The Breeze", and "Sweet Home Alabama" are played here in their early forms—many of these classics would re-emerge as part of the must-do repertoire of so many country artists.

The band ends the show with a predictable but crowd-pleasing, version of its radio anthem, "Free Bird." Sadly, the band would change drastically when some of its members, including lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, would die in a plane crash two years after this show was recorded.