ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd bringing 2023 tour to SPAC
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The titans of American classic rock, ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd have announced their first co-headlining tour—taking over 22 cities in North America next summer. Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on Friday, July 21 at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, and includes a stop at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
Lynyrd Skynyrd emerged out of Jacksonville, Florida in 1973. Today, the band rocks on with a current line-up featuring Johnny Van Zant, Rickey Medlocke, Mark “Sparky” Matejka, Michael Cartellone, Keith Christopher, Peter Keys, Carol Chase and Stacy Michelle. Gary Rossington continues to have a significant presence and creative influence with the band, while making select appearances on the road.
The rock and roll powerhouse continually tour, and as Van Zant shares, “It’s about the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and what it stands for, what the fans are all about. There’s nothing like getting out there playing a great show with Skynyrd and seeing people love this music.” Adds Rossington, “We’re still standing, Still keeping the music going. We wanted to do the guys who aren’t with us any prouder, and keep the name proud, too.”
"That Little Ol' Band From Texas" has been at it for well over a half-century delivering rock, blues, and boogie on stage and studio to millions of devoted fans. With iconography as distinctive as their sound, ZZ Top is globally recognized with their beards, hotrod cars, spinning guitars and that magic keychain, all of which transcend geography and language.
It was in 1969 Houston when ZZ TOP coalesced from the core of two rival bands, Billy Gibbons’ Moving Sidewalks and Frank Beard and Dusty Hill’s American Blues. ZZ Top's 1973 release, Tres Hombres, catapulted them to national attention with the hit “La Grange,” still one of the band’s signature pieces today. Eliminator, their 1983 album was something of a paradigm shift for ZZ TOP. Their roots blues skew was intact and added to the mix came their high-tech-age trappings that soon found a visual outlet with such tracks as “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” on the nascent MTV.
They have sold hundreds of millions of records throughout their career, been officially recognized as Heroes of the State of Texas, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and were referenced in countless cartoons and sitcoms. Tickets go on sale for September's show this Friday, December 16, 2022, at 10 a.m.