(Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt At Nationals Park. Photo by Kelly Wosahla)
The cool air of the first post-Labor Day weekend had the feel of what Bob Seger once described as “autumn closing in.” When Johnny Van Zandt stepped to the edge of the stage at Jiffy Lube Live amphitheater in Bristow, Virginia, he took it all in, drew a deep breath and asked the crowd with emphasis, “Isn’t it good to be alive?”
The youngest, brother of the long-deceased Ronnie Van Zandt, is the torch bearer for continuing the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Van Zandt, whose voice was in stellar form, said he was under the weather, but wasn’t going to cancel for his fans in “Skynyrd Nation.”
Van Zandt, now 64, knows the answer to the rhetorical question he asked. The tragedy that befell his brother and the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd in a plane crash. Last year, the last original member of the band, Gary Rossington passed away at the age of 70. Now Van Zandt carries on alongside his spiritual brother, guitarist Rickey Medlocke, who was part of the original band’s first sessions, but never an original member.
The night before, Bruce Springsteen played at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. The images of the late organist, Danny Federici, and Springsteen’s wing man, saxophonist, Clarence Clemons, were flashed on the screens, their youthful, knowing faces, reminding of the glory days of the E Street Band. When Springsteen prefaced “Last Man Standing,” he reflected on being at the foot of the bed of his old friend and bandmate George Theiss. The two were part of Springsteen’s first band, the Castiles. Theiss, who was dying of lung cancer, only had days to live. Springsteen was left with the realization that he was the last surviving member of the once-teenage band that stayed together for three years. Reflecting on his own mortality, Springsteen said “As you get older, death visits you more often.”
Over two nights, seeing Springsteen and a triple bill of Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and the Outlaws, brought home the burden of legacy each of these acts takes to the stage as they celebrate their continuing performing after more than fifty years.
On the triple bill that came to Jiffy Lube Live, the Outlaws, the Florida brethren of Skynyrd, drew the short straw and opened the show at the much too early 6:30. Henry Paul, the last surviving original member, seemed taken by being back in the DC area, reflecting on the band’s old shows that were there now to find the now defunct Capital Center where they played it with Bad Company. Paul could’ve talked much longer, but he reminded everyone several times that they had a short set. As they raced through their five songs, it was like their signature song said, “Hurry Sundown.”
The Outlaws’ Paul and ZZ Top certainly brought their own emotional baggage with them. Paul is the last man standing of the band’s original three-guitar army that included the late Billy Jones and Huey Thomasson. For ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons is no longer flying with the other bearded wonder of the trio, the late Dusty Hill, who passed away in 2023.
It was Lynyrd Skynyrd who interspersed their own legacy in film. What felt like a short movie was a commercial for their own brand of Hell House American Whiskey. Interspersed in the images were the formation of Skynyrd, mixed in with alternating pictures of the Van Zandt brothers, who were blurred by time, eras and an uncanny resemblance. If Lynyrd Skynyrd is America’s longest running tribute band, they still are true to Ronnie Van Zandt’s words. After the anti-gun song “Saturday Night Special,” Van Zandt waved his finger to the crowd and said “It’s no good for you Virginia.”
In a moving tribute to Rossington, the band played the beautiful and elegiac “Tuesday’s Gone” which had an extra resonance as images of the band’s spiritual leader passed by on the screen. It wasn’t just those in the audience that were watching. It included Rossington’s wife, Dale Krantz Rossington who is one of the two backup singers for the band and who sees the reminders of their forty years as a couple pass by on the screen nightly.
Van Zandt reminisced about the old days when we would flick our cigarette lighters during concerts. On this night –and against the backdrop of a lighted American flag that encompassed the whole video screen–he asked everyone to raise their lighted cell phones during “Simple Man” in a moving tribute to the military, police, first responders and servicemen and women everywhere. A military mom near me was in tears as she videoed the song.
One night earlier In the shadow of the Capitol that was the site of the January 6 insurrection, Springsteen introduced the moving “Long Walk Home” as a “prayer for the country.” It was originally written in the dark days of the Bush presidency and the words had a particular resonance now and more than ever. “Your flag flyin’ over the courthouse/Means certain things are set in stone/Who we are, what we’ll do and what we won’t.” It was hard not to think about the numerous police officers who were injured and died after the attacks and the choices the country will make in the coming days.
Onstage at Jiffy Lube, the Outlaws might have played all night in another time. The memories flashed by of Paul, Jones and Thomasson extending “Green Grass and High Tides” endlessly into a hot summer night. Henry Paul made a point to thank everyone for being fans for more than fifty years. Springsteen, approaching 75 in the coming weeks, carried his own show to 28 songs by the time he got to an exultant “Twist and Shout.”
“I’ve been playing with these old fuckers for 55 years and we’re not going anywhere,” he said in an affirmation that quelled thoughts that this tour might be the last time. We’ll get more clues when the new film Tour Diary is released on Hulu/Disney in October.
Springsteen closed the show with his beautiful “See You In My Dreams,” a nod to Theiss and friends departed and the memories we carry in our hearts. It was a bookend to “Backstreets” which he transformed earlier from a cinematic song to a personal elegy. “I got your books, I got your guitar,” Springsteen spoke/sang, “I’ve got your records and the rest I carry in my heart.”
The last person onstage as Springsteen left the stage was bandmate Jake Clemons, the nephew of Clarence Clemons. Earlier in the show, the younger Clemons leaned on Springsteen’s shoulder during his harp solo during “The Promised Land” like it was a karmic transference of his uncle’s spirit. Now as Clemons approached, the two embraced in a long hug. It was acknowledgement of another great night of rock and roll but something greater and more transcendent–and acknowledgement of the weight they carry.
“Blessed are those who mourn,” a bible verse flashed on my phone as I was writing this, “for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)
“Grieving that we feel when those that we loved leave us,” Springsteen said, “it’s just the price that we pay for having loved well.”
Find tour dates here: https://brucespringsteen.net
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Bruce Springsteen in Tulsa
