Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird: The Movie & Tribute Tour (2001)

Occasionally, companies will throw consumers a bone and give them a good value. Artisan Home Entertainment has done this with 2001's Lynyrd Skynyrd DVD double feature Freebird: The Movie and Tribute Tour. Both of these videos appear on DVD for the first time, and this low-priced, two-for-one disc exceeding three hours' playing time is a treasure. The DVD is not perfect – the menu is clumsy and you can't access songs individually – but these two videos existing in the digital domain is what's important. 1996's Freebird: The Movie captures the full glory of classic Lynyrd Skynyrd before the 1977 plane crash. Three concerts yielded the terrific live footage, primarily Knebworth Fair in Hertfordshire, England, on August 21, 1976, but also Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ, on July 13, 1977, and A Day on the Green at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA, on July 4, 1977. The incendiary version of "Free Bird" was filmed in Oakland. Interviews are included too, but the most unforgettable thing about Freebird: The Movie – besides the superb performances under the watchful eye of vocalist Ronnie VanZant – is the haunting, grainy home movie footage shot on an airplane. Tribute Tour was filmed in 1987, ten years after tragedy destroyed the band. Narrated by Charlie Daniels, Tribute Tour is primarily a documentary with extensive interviews. Shows at the Cal Expo in Sacramento, CA, and the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA, were filmed. Guitarist Ed King returned, and guitarist Randall Hall was hand-picked by Allen Collins as his successor. It's sad to see Collins' condition – he'd been paralyzed in a car wreck – but he was visibly excited to watch the tour from the sidelines. He died three years later. Vocalist Johnny Van Zant sounds good, but his nervousness was obvious; over time, he became more relaxed and confident as Lynyrd Skynyrd's frontman. ~Allmusic

Tracks:
Freebird: The Movie (1976):
01. Workin' For MCA / I Ain't The One
02. Saturday Night Special
03. Searchin'
04. What's Your Name
05. Whiskey Rock-A-Roller
06. Travellin' Man
07. Gimme Three Steps
08. That Smell
09. Gimme Back My Bullets
10. Cry For The Bad Man
11. Call Me The Breeze
12. T For Texas
13. Sweet Home Alabama
14. Free Bird

Tribute Tour (October 1987):
01. Introduction by Charlie Daniels (Narrated by Charlie Daniels)
02. Gimme Three Steps
03. Saturday Night Special
04. Simple Man
05. Working For MCA
06. I Ain't The One
07. I Know A Little
08. Gimme Back My Bullets
09. What's Your Name
10. That Smell
11. The Ballad Of Curtis Lowe
12. Call Me The Breeze (featuring special guest Charlie Daniels on guitar)
13. Dixie / Sweet Home Alabama
14. Free Bird


Big thx to twatt