Just got back from a weekend in Atlanta. My wife and I went over
Thursday afternoon. With the ACC Tournament, the Auto Show, and
NASCAR all in town on the weekend the traffic downtown was maddening.
We finally arrived at about 8:20 or so. The opening band had already
played. So we took our spots (close to the stage) and waited for the
souths most talented musical brothers.
The Tabernacle is an old Baptist Church and is... well, very different. Balconies on the 2nd and 3rd levels with a fairly small floor area make for an intimate setting that can seat several thousand. It was actually a pretty good crowd for Thursday nite. Plenty enough people to make some noise.
Then the sound of whirling wind and thunder introduced the opening song "Oklahoma". That song is my favorite from the new CD and sounds great live. All in all they played 11 songs from B2B and VanZAnt II, along with WESB, Call Me the Breeze,and an absolutely awesome version of Brickyard Road. They closed the show with the Stones song Last Time.
Several things about the show stick with me. First these are great songs. How they wrote this level of music in their spare time I find amazing. Second the band was excellent! Eric Lungren is a very talented guitarist as is Mr. Fontaine (can't remember first name). Of course we all know how good Mojo, Bobby and Michael Cartellone are.
But most of all I enjoyed watching the way these brothers enjoyed singing with each other. They seem to be very proud of their music together. Donnie said that this was their dream come true and it showed. That swapped vocal leads flawlessly and both voices were very clear and strong.
I have seen both Skynyrd and .38 many times and rate these two bands as my favorites (no one else even comes close), but this was one my most enjoyable concert experiences ever.
After the show they had a short meet and greet. First we got to breifly meet Johnny. He autographed the VZII CD for Jerrod (my son). Next I finally met my rocknroll hero, Mr. Donnie VanZant who also autographed the new CD.
My wife was struck my how down to earth these famous brothers are. They patiently took time with everyone there, even though they were obviously very tired.
As others have said, if you get a chance, go see them. You will not be dissapointed.
Long live .38 Special and Lynyrd Skynyrd!
