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"Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" will be on the playlist at an outdoor rock concert in Spotsylvania County next month, but the band playing the songs bears only a slight resemblance to the one that made them hits.
Southern Rock Wood Stock will feature a band made up of former members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Foot and .38 Special who play a 21/2-hour set of those groups' greatest hits, said Steve Cantrell, one of the concert's promoters.
"You're really getting the original people, just not all of them," Cantrell said yesterday.
Spotsylvania County supervisors approved a special event permit for the concert Tuesday. The information provided to the board listed the three bands' names, but did not explain that they won't actually be there--just one band that includes some former members of those groups.
There is a touring band called Lynyrd Skynyrd, which includes two original members, but it is playing elsewhere that day.
The group's lineup has changed constantly over the years since it burst onto the scene with such hits as "Sweet Home Alabama." Three band members, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt, were killed in a 1977 plane crash.
Cantrell said he does not have the complete list of performers for the Spotsylvania concert yet, but he knows former Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle is among them.
The Sept. 20 show will run from noon to midnight and is expected to draw about 4,000 people to the Izaak Walton League's 120-acre park on Herndon Drive, off Brock Road. Other scheduled performers include The Atlanta Rhythm Section and Brian Howe, former lead singer of Bad Company. Radio personality The Greaseman will appear, courtesy of the event's radio sponsor, WGRX-Thunder 104.5 FM.
Regional bands on the bill include The Road Ducks, J.D. and the Players, Leadbelly, Homegrown and Jackson Cage.
The radio station has arranged for Country Music Television to have a VIP lounge on site. Budweiser also will have one there, and access to both will be given to door-prize winners, Cantrell said.
Other door prizes will include a guitar signed by all of the artists at the show, which Pickers Supply is donating.
Southern Rock Wood Stock concerts have been held for the past six years in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Cantrell said the park, which has been the site of bluegrass and wine festivals, can accommodate about 2,500 cars.
Overflow parking will be available in the commuter lot at State Route 3 and Gordon Road, with a shuttle bus to ferry concert-goers to the site.
Gates will open at 11 a.m. Shuttle buses will start running midafternoon. The music starts at noon and continues until midnight.
No coolers are allowed, but refreshments will be on sale inside the park, Cantrell said. Vendors will be peddling various kinds of merchandise as well.
The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office will have a presence at the event. Concert organizers are reimbursing the county for the expense.
Cantrell said he expects the event to be family-friendly. Some of the proceeds from the concert will benefit the Izaak Walton League, which is a conservation organization, as well as the Children's Miracle Network, the Fredericksburg Food Bank and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Cantrell, who attended the original Woodstock, said the Izaak Walton League park reminds him of that pastoral New York setting. "It looks like a miniature Woodstock," he said.
The promoters would like to do several shows a year in the Fredericksburg region, Cantrell said. They hope to bring country stars Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart to town in late spring 2004.
Ticket information
Tickets are $30 through Sunday, $35 from Monday until Sept. 19, and $40 at the gate.
Tickets can be bought online at typroduction.com and at Cantrell's Allstate Insurance office, Pickers Supply in Fredericksburg, all Sam's Pizza locations, Bang Music in North Stafford, the Forum restaurant on Lafayette Boulevard and Zero's Pizza and Subs in the Lee's Hill shopping center. Tickets were supposed to be sold at area Food Lion stores, but there has been a problem getting that set up. Other locations are being added.
For more information, call a 24-hour hot line at 703/338-5228.