Critic's evaluation
It was a hot day. In the middle of the afternoon, with blue skies and dry weather, the city thermometers read 36ºC. Even so, at around 5pm people were surprised by a downpour, which started off mild but soon thickened, making everyone look for shelter.
Like summer rain, it soon stopped and life returned to normal. Close to Barra Funda Terminal, Espaço Unimed was still empty and there was no sign that there would be any event there on the night of September 22, let alone that it would be Lynyrd Skynyrd's last concert in the city. It's no wonder that the production team only started organizing the queues around 17:30.
At 8pm, the time set by the organizers for the opening of the gates, the queues were already quite long, even though it was a rainy Friday in São Paulo. Inside the Espaço Unimed, whoever got in first was galloping to get a space on both bars, but there was no desperation or any sign of confusion.
With a limited set of songs, the surround sound took a while to warm up the audience for the event that was to take place a few hours later. Even so, the distraction was due to the conversations, the parallel sounds, the food on offer and the souvenir store.
What was striking was the profile of the payers. The closer the start time got, the more the versatility of the audience became clear. Mostly made up of people aged between 20 and 40, it gave little away that the band taking the stage had its origins in the 60s.
At 9.25 p.m., with just over 30 minutes to go before Lynyrd Skynyrd took to the stage, Espaço Unimed was already well-stocked with people looking hungrily and curiously at the stage. The venue remained empty until 9.31pm, when the technical team started the sound check.
When, a few minutes later, the side screens began broadcasting the technical specifications of the Espaço Unimed, it was as if the audience, already tired from the hours of waiting, had been given a huge boost. Whistles and occasional shouts could be heard as the people sitting down started to get up.
It wasn't until 10:05 p.m. that the lights in the Espaço Unimed went out and the side screens started showing a video introducing the show, while Thunderstruck was played on the speakers, producing what was the prelude to the event on the night of September 22, 2023.
At 10:09 p.m., the wait was over. At the end of AC/DC's song, the stage at Espaço Unimed lit up as it welcomed the eight members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Without delay, the show officially began with Working For MCA, received by an audience in a state of contemplative trance.
Although heavier, denser and more energetic, Skynyrd Nation followed with the same reception, but with the occasional clap from lead singer Johnny Van Zant. It wasn't until the third song, What's Your Name, that a select portion of the audience sang the chorus.
"How're you, São Paulo? It's our pleasure to be here! We were planning to come back here since 2011," Van Zant interjected before launching into That Smell, the first highlight of the show. The song featured massive audience participation in the vocals and several cell phones positioned to get the best shot of the moment.
"Ready to have fun with Lynyrd Skynyrd?" asked Van Zant as he launched into I Know A Little, a song that, despite being a sequel to That Smell, had slightly cooler audience participation. Even so, the song's performance guaranteed a festive atmosphere at Espaço Unimed.
And so the show went on. Between admiration and sudden participation, the audience remained in a kind of contemplative trance, something that was broken at specific moments. Tuesday's Gone. Dedicated to the late and original Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist, Gary Rossington, although melancholic, it was responsible for another highlight of the show, which even had an even more active audience than in That Smell.
One song later, it was Simple Man's turn. Drawing ecstatic glares and looks of admiration, the song in itself would have been a landmark of the show due to the landscape of adoration that emanated from the audience. However, something surprising made it stand out for another reason.
Somewhere in the center-left part of the audience, someone held up a sign asking the band to call them up to sing Simple Man with Van Zant. And the unbelievable happened. The singer read the message and, bursting into incredulous laughter, called the person on stage.
"This guy looks like a band singer", said Van Zant as he pulled the fan onto the stage. And the paying fan was Nando Fernandes, the lead singer of the band Sinistra. Together, Van Zant and Fernandes, there as a true fan, made Simple Man a mixture of apex, glorification, rapport and duet.
The most curious thing was that Fernandes' vocal power far surpassed that of Van Zant. Not least because the Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer, at various times, was put off by the fan's powerful performance. So, as if he were playing a yo-yo, Fernandes kept going back and forth to the microphone following Van Zant's requests.
Between closing applause and a solo by keyboardist Peter Keys, Gimme Three Steps and Call Me The Breeze brought the set to its second absolute high point. "We have a few more to do for you tonight", said Van Zant, introducing the audience to Sweet Home Alabama, the first of the encores. Singing from start to finish in unison, the audience even heeded the vocalist's requests and, following drummer Michael Cartellone's beat, sang the chorus at the end of the song.
Dramatic pause. The lights went out and the members left the stage. Only a dim light showed the silhouette of the stage and the instruments still on it. Endless seconds passed while the audience, asynchronously and eagerly, asked for the band to return and for Free Bird to be played.
Suddenly, the musicians returned to their places and, following requests, Free Bird was performed. From the start, each verse was sung in unison by the audience, something that was only broken by sudden shrill whistles. The song also had moments of pure emotion when, on the big screen, an artwork paid tribute to each deceased member of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd line-up. But something else brought the audience to tears.
Already in a nostalgic, nostalgic and touching mood, the final verses of the song were performed with the playback of Ronnie Van Zant, the group's original vocalist, while his image was broadcast on the big screen as he sang Free Bird. Thus, amid tears of emotion and as if in a nostalgic embrace, the audience said goodbye to Lynyrd Skynyrd who, at 11:38 p.m. on September 22, 2023, ended their last performance on São Paulo soil.
It might seem that the audience was discouraged, tired and already quite impatient. But the truth is that, behind the silence, the São Paulo audience was filled with muted emotions, almost theatrical in their expression. And that was undoubtedly the main difference with the São Paulo audience.
With sparkles in their eyes, silly smiles and an intense tone of respect from start to finish, the audience enjoyed each song as if they were in their own individual worlds. Recycling memories and reliving sensations, each of the 15 songs performed in the set, which also included titles such as Whiskey Rock-A-Roller, Saturday Night Special, The Ballad Of Curtis Loew and Gimme Back My Bullets, was an invitation to the past.
Not only because of the tragic story that befell some of its classic members, such as Ronnie Van Zant, but also because of the legacy left by the band itself, the concert was a celebration of life. As a tribute to its creators and as a way of saying that all the members are still alive through music, the event served as a touching farewell for Lynyrd Skynyrd to São Paulo.
Full of density, precision and synchronicity between the members, the show was also marked by good sound quality, punctuality and good organization on the part of the event's producers. These characteristics meant that everything went smoothly during the performance, which was supposed to be the band's first in six years.
Lynyrd Skynyrd were supposed to have performed in São Paulo in 2017 during Solid Rock, but unforeseen circumstances involving Johnny Van Zant's daughter meant that their trip to Brazil was postponed. Even so, the clock kept ticking. From that year on, Lynyrd Skynyrd lost Ed King and Rossington, two others from their classic line-up.
As much as the audience refused to admit it, time passed and what was supposed to be just another Skynyrd show in Brazil became their last. On September 22, 2023, Espaço Unimed was the stage for Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour, the Lynyrd Skynyrd's last hour on São Paulo soil. Now, over the skies of the stone jungle, the sextet flies like an eternal free bird.
