In 2019, Lynyrd Skynyrd reportedly played their last Swiss concert in Hinwil. A year later, what was supposed to be their final concert was scheduled to take place in Wetzikon. It fell victim to the pandemic. On Wednesday, June 30, 2027, the Southern rockers from Jacksonville will return to Switzerland. They’ll perform at “The Hall” in Dübendorf, with “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Simple Man,” and a “Free Bird” that just won’t come down.
“We were completely inactive for a good 15 months, and during that time we missed the band, the songs, and the concerts,” singer Johnny Van Zant told the Austrian newspaper “Kronen Zeitung” in 2025. Guitarist Gary Rossington had always said that the band should exist forever. Van Zant: “As long as I still have breath in my lungs, I’ll sing these great songs.” The farewell tour turned into a never-ending tour.
The story begins in 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida, as a school band formed by Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Allen Collins. Their gym teacher, Leonard Skinner, hated long hair and made life difficult for the boys. The band playfully twisted his name and, starting in 1968, called themselves Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Their 1973 debut album already included “Free Bird” and “Simple Man.” “Sweet Home Alabama” followed a year later. Three songs that are still played today in every rock bar between Jacksonville and Jona.
On October 20, 1977, the band’s plane crashed near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and singer Cassie Gaines died. The fifth album, “Street Survivors,” had been on the market for three days. Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded.
Ten years later, the survivors returned, with Ronnie’s younger brother Johnny on vocals. At first, he couldn’t bring himself to sing “Free Bird.” That is, until Gary Rossington brought him on stage during an encore: “Your brother wrote this song—now let’s sing it together.” He’s been singing it every night ever since.
Gary Rossington died on March 5, 2023, at the age of 71. Since then, no founding members have remained. Today, the band is led by Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlocke, who briefly served as drummer in 1971 and has been a guitarist since 1996. They are joined by seven other musicians.
A new studio album isn’t on the horizon—the last one was released in 2012. What is available is a live album: “Celebrating 50 Years: Live at the Ryman,” recorded in Nashville in 2022 and released in 2025. Rossington joins the band for “That Smell” and stays on until the encore, “Free Bird.” “Without knowing it, we captured his final performance with us,” says Van Zant.
In the summer of 2027, the band will tour Europe: Austria, Germany, and Switzerland as well—on June 30 at The Hall in Dübendorf. The setlist has hardly changed in years, ranging from “Workin’ for MCA” to “Tuesday’s Gone” to “Sweet Home Alabama.” The show concludes with “Free Bird,” featuring three guitars, lasting about ten minutes.