Southern pride flag. They were from the south and proud of it. Nothing to do with racism.

A song written in retaliation to Neil Young's Southern Man.

They are a car-top-down, wind-in-your-hair jam band! BLessed to have grown up on this amazing musical decade.

That's my babysitter in the front row. Not really, but she was there. She went to all the Bay Area shows and told me about them. Brought records over when she sat for us.

Their live shows were the most rockin’ ever! No intro needed, just start the song and we all know what’s coming! Thanks for another cool reaction Biz 👵🏼💜☮️

Love me some Skynyrd imo they are the greatest band America ever produced

Billy Powell was a roadie for over a year before they even knew he could play piano.

" Gimme three steps " The Needle and the spoon" they definatly were warning about using hard drugs.

The "Day on the Green" concerts held in the Oakland Coliseum every summer were legendary even way back when. Watching this clip and seeing all the fans in the audience going wild reminds me of some of the high school kids back when I was in elementary school. The billing line up for that concert was Peter Frampton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Santana, and the Outlaws. Awesome! Sadly, however, the singer in that clip, Ronnie Van Zant, and guitarist, Steve Gaines, both died in a plane crash later that year along with backup vocalist Cassie Gaines. Their performance of "Free Bird" at this concert rocks really hard.

Their live album, One More from the Road, was one of the first five albums I bought, ca 1982, when I was 13. Btw, I recommend looking for videos about Muscle Shoals-- the studio in northern Alabama. Its house band was legendary, and a ton of amazing artists came to record there. Artists include Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Staple Singers, Rod Stewart, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Willie Nelson, Duane Allman, Rolling Stones, and Paul Simon. The full list goes on and on.

They always play Sweet home Alabama right before they play FreeBird. You hear the crowd start yelling FreeBird. Even though folks feel that way about the flag it was highjacked by hate groups just like the Nazi Swastika it was used as a symbol of good will before the Nazi use it.

They really loved everyone.

Legendary, Thanks for the reaction Sir.

Love this song 🎵 ❤️

You may want to try these Skynyrd songs: “Tuesday’s Gone,” “You Got that Right,” “That Smell”

I get in where I fit in. Well said. This was the music of my junior high school years. But you have to understand, they were well-loved everywhere not just in the south. And if anything, they were amazing to me until that plane crash ruined everything when I was in junior high school, but they managed to Trojan Horse in all kinds of songs about race and gun control and anti-war and everything. Even if you break down the song lyrics of their anthem Sweet Home Alabama, there are a lot of interesting things in there. Like when he talks about their corrupt racist Governor at the time, and refers to him by saying, well we all did what we could do. Now if you just read that on the liner notes or on Google, it seems fairly ambivalent. And maybe it is, but that's different than identifying with the racist Governor. But to emphasize it, they have the Wonkettes in the back, a critical part of the lineup, both in the recording studio and live for example like at the show, which were prominently featured here and I wish you would have called them out. They were a huge part of this band and a huge part of this sound, then in response to that, they go, BOO HOO HOO, apparently giving him the boo.

Back in the seventies I took my mother to see Lynyrd Skynyrd it was great, 38 special was there too. LB

In my hometown. :) Wish I'd been old enough to go see them.

Oh, I wish I was old enough to have been there. Ronnie is wearing a Neil Young t-shirt. They had a lot of respect for each other. Young said he deserved that. LOL.

Its weird hearing this song without Ed King's guitar work . Luckily Steve Gaines could easily cover Ed's chops. This is cool as all 3 guitarists havea go at it ! Along with Billy on bones !! Allen kills it at the end on the thin sounding explorer !!! He always got almost Fender tones from his Gibsons !!!

My Brother reacting to my Favorite Band ever and they'll always be my favorite .

Yes, there were black folks to see Skynyrd both times I saw them. They were not racist.

You reckon it was loud 🔊😂 Lynyrd Skynyrd greatest ever!!

Great times,no phone,no bras,good band.

love this song saw them live gr8 concert

❤❤❤❤ your channel! Keep up the great work. Southern rock at its finest.

That Smell is the last masterpiece from the band in my opinion and tragically prescient.

Biz . Have you done Railroad song yet ? That one will get you !! It's one of Ronnie's gems . Must hear for any Skynyrd dude .

Wasn't my cup of tea back then as a teenager but these guys were just southern and not racist

YOU SEE THE ( NEIL YOUNG ) T SHIRT BIZ??? 😊 RONNIE AND NEIL WERE FRIENDS AND NEIL INSPIRED HIM 😊 THIS WAS THE SAME 77 SHOW AS ( FREE BIRD ) AND JUST RIGHT BEFORE THEIR TRAGIC PLANE CRASH!😮

PS not to get off track here but when we were teens (1970's) that rebel flag stood for southern pride in the sense of love for the countryside vs "concrete jungles", the food, the heat, scraping by hunting and fishing for our food, that sort of thing. We were too niaeve and ignorant to know what it might mean to our black friends that we hung with and partied with. We all were just kids wanting to belong. I later understood it was just as bad as a natzi symbol to some people.✌️

Been on front row. Hell of a time. Bottle of Jack Daniels and behind that a joint. yep 1 heck of a time.

Great live

Ronnie mentioned the great rock promoter Bill Graham. When I think back, the concerts haven’t been the same ever since he lost his life back around 1990. This was about the same time SRV went down in a helicopter. If memory serves…I think Bill left us the same way. I miss them both. RIP

Great review and revisit to this amazing concert experience. Day on the Green in Oakland. 77. Staggering to believe that Ronnie, Steve and Cassie only had a few months to live after this, and after all these years, the only remaining band members alive are Leslie Hawkins and Artimus Pyle, neither of whom were members at the start of the group.

Listen to: Cry for the Bad Man, sang in concert at Winterland. Also an eerie but heartfelt song is All I Can Do Is Write About It. A great love song is I Need You. You cant really go wrong choosing any Lynyrd Skynyrd songs. They rocked it with their souls and talent.

"Tuesday's Gone "

Hmmmm, I don't think the flag alienated a whole lot of people until 'recently' -- most people just accepted that as part of Southern culture.

100,000 ROCK MANIACS BIZ!!! 😊

Hi biz ... most of those young women are in there 60’s now and probably grandmothers 😊

Absolutely we want to hear more lynyard skyward! All day every day. Wish they were all back and playing their great music. 🎸🎸🎸🔊🔊🔊🎤🎤🎤

Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young actually became friends, Ronnie Van Zant even went to see Neil Young live

PS. Merry Clayton sings backing vocals on the studio version of this song.

What a great time to see concerts! My daughter married into the Van-Zant family.

You’d always be welcome at any bbq I threw brother and we’d definitely be playing plenty of Lynyrd Skynyrd!! 👍🏼🇺🇸🤘🏼

Love 70s southern rock❣️ The live version is ok but the studio is cleaner and captures the singing, Instrumentals much clearer. So they did this in retaliation to Neil Young’s Southern Man song. React to Simple Man🔥 Spot on reaction as far as the confederate flag, it’s not good

🎸💯 Lynyrd Skynyrd = Southern Rock‼🔥🐐 I've loved their stuff for many, many years‼Thanks for this reaction, BizMatik‼☮ ❤ 🎶 PLEASE do an entire album reaction to Kick by INXS⁉️

Of those 3 girls that were singing backup, the one on the left, Leslie Hawkins is the only one still alive.

Great response. Thanks for letting the music play.

Big Skynyrd fan here. Please do a video of their song "Wino". It's a lesser known song of Skynyrd. It just rocks

You should definitely watch "I'll Never Forget You" it opened your eyes to the world 🌎 of Skynyrd Nation

Great reaction as always!!! I know you already reacted to Skynyrd’s “T for Texas” but there is another live “T for Texas” performance that really highlights the guitar talents of Steve Gaines, Gary Rossington, and Alan Collins. The show is Asbury Park ( Convention Hall Official) 7/13/77. The “ T for Texas” performance is amazing and so is the whole show. Hope you get around to it. Your followers will not get tired of you reacting to Skynyrd so don’t worry about doing too many Lynyrd Skynyrd reactions. Lol

Saw Mother's Finest open, as great LS was, couldn't hold a candle. IYKYK

Biz I know you love Billy Powell on the keys, Classically trained he was freakin Awesome. Hard to believe for the first couple of years he was with the band as a roadie. They didn’t even know he played. I love that shit eatin grin on RVZ’s face as the other guys do their thing. Another great review. One more thing, about the Rebel battle flag. These guys were very proud to be from the South (so am I) but I don’t think a single one of them had a racist bone in their body.

That must have been a hell of a day. 🙂

Billy Powell Changed this band! Good stuff!

Lynyrd Skynyrd-That SmeLL--COOKs

I'd love to hear your thoughts on "Simple Man." I always thought the flag was a sign of Southern pride & rebellion against societal norms. ( They did get crap for their long hair & one of them got kicked out of school for it.) Whatever their reason was for using the flag, I can't imagine any one of them being racist.

You need to listen to Simple Man it’s one of their best songs ever the perfect song for a mother son dance 😊

The solo you clapped too was Steve Gaines. You should look him up. One of the best.

The flag had nothing to do with racism back then. They were proud of their southern roots and showing it through that flag. After the plane crash, years later the drummer, Artimus Pyle, said Ronnie Van Zant, the lead singer, would give anyone of any color the shirt right off his own back. That tells you something right there.

As far as I know this version here is the only time I've ever seen Stevie Gaines and Allen Collins play lead after Billy's piano and if they've done it again please please comment and let me know where it was because that Lead that Stevie Gaines does is absolutely enough to just about cause me to hurt myself by trying to run through the wall 😅

I know you will like Cry For The Bad Man,Was I Right Or Wrong,I Never Dreamed.One More Time i from Street Survivor is another great deep cut.You should check out the live album One More From The Road! It shows them at the top of their talent.Maybe the best live album ever!

A Southern man don't need him around _ANYHOW_ !

Day On Green Days So Many Great ones I Saw When The Bay Area Had it All By Gone Era

Southside Junkie. Try that one! 🪴🌄

The featured lead guitar at the end of the song was Steve Gaines right behind him was his sister Cassie and the lead singer Ronnie Van Zant all got killed in the plane crashed months later after this concert the rest of them had to heal from their injuries I knew it was friends with Leon Wilkerson the bass player and he had to have organs rearranged and after his arm healed from broken bone he had to have it re-broken because he couldn't figure the base the way it healed good solid people they were not the least bit prejudiced the flagman southerners to them nothing to do with slavery!😅

Needle and the spoon !!

Give me 3 steps and that smell

Say Biz, another song to check out, "I Know A Little"

You know, it is only a piece of cloth, that just happens to be from the south. I feel people let labels or politics or what ever, get in the way of what could be a lesson learned.

One must consider that back in 1972 , when Skynyrd introduced their first album. The Confederate flag was not considered a “ Racist Symbol” that has been perpetuated by politicians of late. The Confederate flag is a “ Southern Thing”, people who knew the lead singer Ronnie VanZandt best would tell you that he was most non racist person that they ever met. Going on to say “ Ronnie would give the shirt off his back to ANYONE”. No American with free thought should let a politician or radical left wing organization tell us what is racist and what is not. Exercise independent thought and decide for yourself….

Great song never got to see them they had the tragedy and that kinda ended it but his Brother was fronting the band and they sounded pretty good.

Agree with the keys comment. This may be a bit long for you to react to, but while there are a bunch of great keyboardists from back in the day you have to check out the great Nicky Hopkins, he played with all sorts of folks but I always loved him with Quicksilver and if this song does not move you as much or more than any rock song you have ever heard I will be mightily surprised. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ga6SdJp1m5a8m30.html Quicksilver was also the first band I remember to have two dueling lead guitarists and they were both great especially Cipollina, he was special and one of those distinctive players that as soon as he played a couple notes you knew who it was so try this too Quicksilver Messenger Service - Mona - 8/15/1969 - Sonoma State College (Official) welcome!

The Flag was all PR doing

This song always hit me as a clap back to a stereotype of white Southerners. Not all zip codes think alike. People are individuals. Watergate does not bother me, Republican President Richard Nixon.Early 70’s. In Birmingham they ran for Governor. Dem George Wallas, who stood at college door to not let new black students pass through. 60’s. As a Southerner, I loved that song. Racism is evil towards any race.

Here was the second link I thought I posted below - Quicksilver Messenger Service - Mona - 8/15/1969 - Sonoma State College (Official) - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/adylksuarLXWgn0.html

Ronnie is wear a Neil Young T shirt !

MCA decided to put up the flag… Ronnie and the group were all about equality for all … flag is not about racism…. Look up the meaning of the flag and you might be surprised… what it really means … you’ll be surprised

Brickyard road is one there best

I consider Lynyrd Skynyrd was the greatest guitar band of all time alongside Eagles.

Brother Biz I’m about as redneck as they come and you would of always be welcome at my table just as you would of been back in the seventies Skynyrd was never racist and there music always brought people together. Blessings

Listen to LS Curtis Low

Not apologizing at all but, i think they were just proud of being from the south.. and were probably fairly progressive for Jacksonville f'n Florida. Long hair, partying and i am certain a lot of reefer. I was 17 when this concert happened and dont remember any association with white power or racism with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Was different times.. the flag was not universally disproven like today. It was just a dumb flag from southern rednecks. Most of us laughed when we saw it. This was only 13 maybe 14 years removed from white only drinking fountains, firehoses, pissed off crackers, basically the Civil Rights movement, with much respect for those that came before 1963. If i had to guess i would doubt these guys were racist... especially for the times. I remember well talk amongst all-white towns in supposed less racist places.. and there was a lot of institutionalized racism.. even among those of us who had 3 idols from 3 different sports that were black and we were small town white. Things have changed a lot since 1977.

YOU WANNA DO SOME SKYNYRD FROM ( STREET SURVIVORS ) 😊 THAT SMELL, WHAT'S YOUR NAME, I KNOW A LITTLE 😊

When it comes to the flag it's a mistake to look at a video from the 70s with 2023 eyes and opinions.For the vast majority the flag was about southern pride nothing else.So in the 70s it was great marketing..I wish more people understood that but I get why some don't

Check out their song Curtis Lowe and tell me if you think they were raciest ?

Steve Gaines had really revitalized the band .Makes it all doubly sad....

Eff that plane crash. So sad.