Skynyrd Strong Heading Into Upcoming Philly Area Show: Review

HOLMDEL, N.J. — They once made an album called "Street Survivors."

That title is still fitting for a band that had its heart torn apart at the time of success in a devastating plane crash in which the lead singer was killed along with several other band members.

Three days after the album was released with a cover showing the band standing in front of flames, the tour plane went down in 1977 in Louisiana after running out of fuel.

But these street survivors carried on, as the remaining members recovered from their injuries and mounted a reunion tour a decade later.

And now, nearly 50 years since the plane crash, the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd is just as strong and the songs performed on this Double Trouble / Double Vision Tour with Foreigner stick close to the originals.

The tour rolls into the Freedom Mortgage Center on Aug. 20.

The band is anchored by Johnny Van Zant, Ronnie Van Zant's little brother, and Rickley Medlocke, a guitarist who joined the band and left before they claimed fame.

Any band that can close shows with two major anthems — "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Freebird" — is worth the price of admission on any day just for those two legendary songs.

But it's all the other Southern Rock hits that came one after another that illustrates the career the band carved out in a short time before the plane crash.

After opening with "Workin' for MCA," the band's three guitar attack fired off "What's Your Name?" "That Smell," and "Saturday Night Special."

Skynyrd wanted to pay tribute to its core fan base by playing some deep cuts and a healthy dose of its album "Second Helping."

So, in mid-set, they performed "Double Trouble," "On the Hunt," "Don't Ask Me No Questions," and "I Need You." "The Ballad of Curtis Loew" also got played.

Those songs provided some insight into the band's deep catalog although the set's momentum slowed somewhat.

But the next several songs before the show closer "Sweet Home Alabama" picked up the pace.

"Gimme Back My Bullet's packed a wallop as always. The iconic "Tuesday's Gone" — dedicated to the late guitarist Gary Rossington — and "Simple Man" showcased Van Zant's vocal prowess.

And then "Gimme Three Steps" and "Call Me the Breeze" brought the show to a strong ending.

Hearing "Freebird" is like going to church. You just close your eyes and let the song take you to the heavens.

Foreigner opened the concert with its classic greatest hits played live: "Double Vision," "Head Games," "Urgent," "Hot Blooded," "Waiting for a Girl Like You," "Dirty White Boy," "Cold As Ice," "Feels Like the First Time," Juke Box Hero," and I Want to Know What Love Is."

The band had renewed energy with new vocalist and former guitarist Luis Maldonado keeping the group in fine form.

What made this set a little different was an acoustic version of another classic song that you would never expect: "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

That song and "Freebird" showed how music can still move you no matter how much the times and the bands have changed over the years.