8/16/2001 Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent, Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AZ


 20 years ago today...

August 16, 2001 - Phoenix, AZ

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ted Nugent held a doubleheader rock & roll concert in the round at Celebrity Theatre.
Regular readers of TSTT may recall the July 10 entry featuring the 1977 Super Bowl of Rock at Chicago's Soldier Field co-headlined by these two titans of classic rock. The juxtaposition of the two shows was striking. At Soldier Field, I was one of 60,000 in the football stadium, sitting in an upper row more than 100 yards away from the stage. Now 24 years later, I was one of only 2,667 in an intimate round theatre with a revolving stage, only 30 feet away from the stage, feeling like these bands were playing in my living room. Same bands, different eras.
The memorable moments of this show included Skynyrd's tribute to the 20-year anniversary of the band members they had lost in the 1977 plane crash, as well as the recent death of bass player Leon Wilkeson who passed just three weeks before this performance. When Nugent took the stage, several women flashed their breasts to the guitarist with Ted nodding in approval and egging on others to join them. His stage set included military-grade weapons and animal skulls. He swore a lot. Ted had wacked out. It was a weird night.

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