Press Release
Source: SKH Music
Today, tickets go on-sale for the The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour, the first co-headlining tour featuring ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Over twenty-two cities in North America will stage the event this summer, with special guest Uncle Kracker.
Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on Friday, July 21 at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, FL, and continues with stops in Fort Worth, Phoenix, Chicago, and more before wrapping up in Camden, NJ at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on Sunday, September 17. Tickets and VIP packages go on sale today Friday, December 16 at 10am local time on the band’s site www.lynyrdskynyrd.com/tour.
The Ultimate VIP Experience features a premium reserves seat, meet & greet with Rickey Medlocke & Johnny Van Zant, a Lynyrd Skynyrd limited edition coffee table book, commemorative print and an enamel pin & patch set.
The Gold VIP Package includes a premium reserved seat, limited edition coffee table book, commemorative print and the enamel pin & patch set. Availability is limited.
After attending one of two recent Lynyrd Skynyrd performances in Las Vegas, host of Sirius / XM Radio’s Trunk Nation Eddie Trunk offered opinion on-air. His thoughts captured the core of the current incarnation of the band. He stated:
“So, I went to Skynyrd and I have to tell you I was blown away. They are still so good, and those songs are still so great. And they are so real. The way Rock n Roll is supposed to be that I cannot speak more highly about Lynyrd Skynyrd. They were incredible, and sounded incredible. And, much like when you see real live bands, 100% live bands, the way rock music supposed to be done live. There is nothing like it. Nothing. No bullshit, no computers, no fake vocals, no click tracks, no nothing. A real band, warts and all, plugged in to real amps bringing you great songs. Nothing like it. The vibe, the feel in the music, the performances, nothing like it. And I will go to my grave believing that…
It reinstalls your faith in what real rock music is supposed to sound like live…They are the real deal. Songs are incredible. Place was packed two nights in a row. Did amazing business. A huge cross-section of fans that are there. And, just so relatable, so cool in the way they are on stage, their messaging, and the way they pay tribute to all the people who have been the band that died….I am fully aware the way Lynyrd Skynyrd are constituted right now, there are no original members technically in that band. I understand that, and I am not going to be hypocritical here. I’ve said many, many times that I do believe that a band has to have a couple core key members to be the band. You’ve got to. Otherwise, you are not really seeing the band. But, there is one exception in this this, and its Skynyrd. They tell you they are a tribute band….
Here is why I say to me the one asterisks that I can completely get behind and support in this incarnation is Skynyrd, and here are the reasons why: all real, all love, all great, they admit they are a tribute band. Johnny Van Zant says to the audience two, three songs in, first time he talks to the audience – ‘We are here tonight to pay tribute to the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd.’ Then you’ve got Medlocke, who’s been there forever, and technically is an original member because when he was like 16 he played drums on the first record. Then you’ve got a phenomenal band. You’ve got real human beings singing backing vocals. No bullshit. And it sounds amazing. And, of course you’ve got the family connection from Ronnie Van Zant to his brother who’s been singing out front forever with Johnny. And lastly, they admit that this is a tribute. They sell it as such.
A lot of bands should end because they are making a mockery of their legacy. Skynyrd, to me, is the one exception with no original members that I feel can easily go ten years. And is not only not making a mockery of their legacy but is the one band that I’ve seen in this situation that is actually celebrating it the right way. When they do ‘Freebird,’ they put up these candles on the screen every person who’s been in that band who died, whether it was in the plane crash or since, it’s so moving. I mean they know how to do it. It’s sincere, its real and its legit. So, can’t speak more highly about how great Skynyrd still is.
Skynyrd, that’s my asterisks. Because I’ve yet to see a band do it like that. Be so deferential to where they came from, their history, and the connection to the fans, and the greatness of the songs. To me the whole key to how much longer Skynyrd can go really comes down to Johnny Van Zant. Because Johnny of course Ronnie’s brother. Johnny is so great on stage. He sings so well. He’s still only like early, mid-Sixties. As long as Johnny’s there and can do it like he’s been doing it, they could easily go another 5, 7 years in my opinion and they are still so great. To see Skynyrd was awesome.
LYNYRD SKYNYRD & ZZ TOP: THE SHARP DRESSED SIMPLE MAN TOUR:
7/21 West Palm Beach, FL iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
7/23 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
7/28 Rogers, AR Walmart AMP
7/29 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena
7/30 Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion ^
8/07 Denver, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre*
8/10 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
8/11 Wheatland, CA Toyota Amphitheatre
8/13 Phoenix, AZ Ak-Chin Pavilion
8/17 Maryland Heights, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO
8/19 Tinley Park, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL
8/20 Noblesville, IN Ruoff Music Center
8/25 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
8/26 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
8/27 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
9/01 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
9/02 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
9/03 Burgettstown, PA The Pavilion at Star Lake
9/08 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
9/09 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium
9/10 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
9/15 Raleigh, NC Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
9/17 Camden, NJ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
*Not A Live Nation Date
^ Presented by Huntsman
ADDITIONAL CONFIRMED LYNYRD SKYNYRD APPEARANCES
2/23 San Antonio, TX San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo
3/12 Plant City, FL Florida Strawberry Festival 2023
7/14 Prior Lake, MN Lakefront Music Fest 2023
For tickets to San Antonio, Plant City, Prior Lake and Denver, visit www.lynyrdskynyrd.com/tour
About Lynyrd Skynyrd:
As Lynyrd Skynyrd approaches the 50th anniversary of the band’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd’ in 2023, they resonate as deeply with their multi-generational fan base today as when they first emerged out of Jacksonville, Florida in 1973. Few ensembles have had the deep impact in creating a lifestyle as Skynyrd has. The band travels forward with a primary mission of celebrating a legacy that honors all whom have had a resonating contribution to the lives of hundreds of millions of fans globally. Former members Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Steve Gaines, Ed King, Billy Powell, Bob Burns, Leon Wilkeson and Hughie Thomasson alongside others will forever remain significant contributors to this indelible repertoire and the band’s colorful history. Today, Lynyrd Skynyrd rocks on with a current line-up featuring Johnny Van Zant, Rickey Medlocke, Mark “Sparky” Matejka, Michael Cartellone, Keith Christopher, Peter Keys, Carol Chase and Stacy Michelle. Gary Rossington continues to have a significant presence and creative influence with the band, while making select appearances on the road.
The rock and roll powerhouse continually tours, and as Van Zant shares, “It’s about the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and what it stands for, what the fans are all about. There’s nothing like getting out there playing a great show with Skynyrd and seeing people love this music.” Adds Rossington, “We’re still standing, Still keeping the music going. We wanted to do the guys who aren’t with us any more proud, and keep the name proud, too.”
With a catalog of over 60 albums, billions of streams, and tens of millions of records sold, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Lynyrd Skynyrd remain a cultural icon that appeal to all generations.
About ZZ Top:
“That Little Ol’ Band From Texas” has been at it for well over a half century delivering rock, blues and boogie on stage and studio to millions of devoted fans. With iconography as distinctive as their sound, ZZ TOP is globally recognized with their beards, hotrod cars, spinning guitars and that magic keychain, all of which transcend geography and language.
It was in 1969 Houston when ZZ TOP coalesced from the core of two rival bands, Billy Gibbons’ Moving Sidewalks and Frank Beard and Dusty Hill’s American Blues. ZZ Top’s 1973 release, Tres Hombres, catapulted them to national attention with the hit “La Grange,” still one of the band’s signature pieces today. Eliminator, their 1983 album was something of a paradigm shift for ZZ TOP. Their roots blues skew was intact and added to the mix came their hightech-age trappings that soon found a visual outlet with such tracks as “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” on the nascent MTV. It was one of the record industry’s first albums to have been certified Diamond, far beyond Gold and Platinum, a reflection of sales exceeding 10 million units.
As a touring outfit, they’ve been without peer over the past five decades, having performed before millions of fans over four continents and have been the subject of their own Grammy-nominated documentary titled That Little Ol’ Band From Texas. The band’s line-up of the bearded Gibbons and Hill and Beard, who ironically is clean shaven, remained intact for more than 50 years. When Dusty temporarily departed the tour in the summer of 2021, Elwood Francis entered the picture accepting the directive from Dusty to be the perfect choice to stand in on the bass-guitar and now handles the low-end duties for the band for the present as well as into the future.
The elements that keep ZZ TOP fresh, enduring can be summed up in the three words of the band’s internal mantra: “Tone, Taste and Tenacity”. As genuine roots performers, they have few peers. Their influences are both the originators of the form – Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Jimmy Reed, et al – as well as the British blues rockers and Jimi Hendrix who emerged generations before ZZ’s ascendance.
They have sold hundreds of millions of records over the course of their career, have been officially designated as Heroes of The State of Texas, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (by Keith Richards, no less) and have been referenced in countless cartoons and sitcoms. They are true rock icons and, against all odds, they’re really just doing what they’ve always done. ZZ TOP abides!
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