Steve Gaines

The story of Lynyrd Skynyrd; The Greatest American Rock Band Ever. We fly beyond Free Bird to celebrate the life & times of leader Ronnie Van Zant, from boogie-woogie beginnings in Jacksonville’s Shantytown to a tragic end in a Mississippi swamp.

See classic live performances, interviews and vintage footage of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd band.

On August 21st, 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd took the stage at Knebworth Park in England as part of a daylong festival that also included among others Todd Rundgren's Utopia, 10cc and headliners The Rolling Stones. With Ronnie Van Zandt's all-in vocals and their famed triple guitar attack featuring Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Steve Gaines, Lynyrd Skynyrd delivered an electric performance in front of a crowd estimated between 150,000 and 200,000, which has gone down as one of the band's greatest performances.

A look at the "mod" culture of the, visiting the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, going from discotheques to dirt bike competitions, surfing, karate, go-carting, political protests and pot parties.

From the vaults of the award-winning PBS "Austin City Limits" TV Show, this show, filmed live on December 15, 1999 in 5.1 surround sound captures all of Lynyrd Skynyrd's hits and much more. The DVD also includes songs that were never aired on the original TV boradcast. During their 1970s heyday, Lynryd Skynyrd emerged as the preeminent practitioners of Southern rock, their triple-guitar attack and country-tinged tunes carving a permanent spot on the playlists of classic-rock radio. The Southern boys are captured live in this special hour-long appearance on an April 2000 episode of PBS' AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, performing classics like "Sweet Home Alabama," "Preacher Man," and, of course, that cigarette-lighter favorite, "Free Bird."