BY MELISSA RUGGIERI/AJC Music Scene
Before Lynyrd Skynyrd embarks on its "Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour," the Southern rock icons will play a special show in the city that helped define their career .
The band is teaming with SiriusXM for a subscriber-only performance March 15 at the Buckhead Theatre. Subscribers will have the opportunity to win tickets to the private performance through an email invite. Listeners who have subscribed to SiriusXM since Feb. 8 will also have the chance to win a fully paid trip to Atlanta, in addition to a pair of tickets to the show (details at siriusxm.com/FreeBird).
To complement the performance, SiriusXM will launch the "Free Bird" channel on March 2 on Channel 30 (currently airing an encore of the Billy Joel Channel). Programming will showcase music from Skynyrd's career, as well as interviews and hosting sessions with band members Gary Rossington, Rickey Medlocke and Johnny Van Zant. The channel will include southern rock classics from artists including The Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker Band, 38 Special, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot and ZZ Top.
The Buckhead Theatre concert will also air live at 9 p.m. March 15 on the "Free Bird" channel, online, via the SiriusXM mobile app and at home on devices including smart TVs, Amazon Alexa, Apple TV, PlayStation, Roku, Sonos speakers and more. Go to www.SiriusXM.com/streaming for more information.
Lynyrd Skynyrd previously announced their two-year farewell tour; the 2018 leg will kick off May 4 in West Palm Beach, Fla., and wrap Sept. 1 in Atlanta at Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood.
Tickets for the Lakewood concert – with guests Hank Williams Jr., The Marshall Tucker Band and Blackberry Smoke – are on sale now for $29.50-$150 via www.livenation.com and by calling 1-800-745-3000.
