On August 21, 1976, while on their “Gimme Back My Bullets” tour, Lynyrd Skynyrd took the stage at Knebworth Park in England as part of a daylong festival headlined by the Rolling Stones. With Ronnie Van Zant on vocals and the Gary Rossington / Allen Collins / Steve Gaines triple guitar attack, Skynyrd delivered an electric performance in front of a crowd estimated between 150,000 and 200,000, which has gone down as one of the band’s greatest performances. Their entire performance from that day is being released April 9, 2021, on CD + DVD, CD + Blu-ray, and as a limited edition 2-LP + DVD, via Eagle Rock.
The set includes such classic rock staples as “Sweet Home Alabama” and a blistering version of “Free Bird,” which closed their performance.
Watch their performance of “Gimme Three Steps”
The footage, originally only available via the 1996 film Freebird…The Movie, was intercut with interviews and other performance footage. Live At Knebworth ‘76 presents the pure concert experience in its entirety, delivering the show as it happened that day.
The Blu-ray also contains the feature-length documentary If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The band’s legendary line-up also included Leon Wilkeson, Artimus Pyle, Billy Powell, and The Honkettes (Cassie Gaines, JoJo Billingsley, and Leslie Hawkins).
Watch their performance of “Saturday Night Special”
Also on the bill on that memorable day were Hot Tuna, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, 10cc, and the Don Harrison Band, which featured two members of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook.
Tickets were £4.25, the equivalent of around £31.72 in 2021. That equates to approximately $44 U.S. dollars today. Skynyrd’s two-record live LP, One More From the Road, would be released three weeks later.
Watch the official trailer for the new release
Listen to “Sweet Home Alabama” from Knebworth (via an earlier release)
Lynyrd Skynyrd Live at Knebworth, August 21, 1976 Setlist
Workin’ For MCA
I Ain’t the One
Saturday Night Special
Whiskey Rock-a-Roller
Travelin’ Man
Searching
Gimme Three Steps
Call Me the Breeze
Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas)
Sweet Home Alabama
Free Bird
Listen to “Call Me the Breeze” from that performance
Related: How a radio legend and a bottle of Jack saved a Skynyrd concert two months later
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