The Exit 111 Festival Looks Amazing

This October the Exit 111 Festival will go down in Manchester, Tennessee. Def Leppard and Guns n' Roses will headline! I wish I could go to this, but there's no way Eric will agree to it. The weather should be nice too, since this is set for October 11 - 13. Sounds really fun.

Comments

[Bkallday]

Any festival that can have Black Stone Cherry, Black Label Society, Megadeth, Slayer, & Skynyrd all playing on the same day, is a festival for me! \m/

[Brian C.]

Let’s go!!!!! :-)

[steverox]

Saturday looks good with Def Leppard, Ghost and ZZ Top. But that's it for me, and not enough for the drive down tbh. Plus I'd rather see GNR in Louisville on a Saturday night then in Tennessee on a Sunday night.

[JCD]

Come on down !! The weather should be good and warm during the day and just a bit chilly at night. We typically don't get a lot of rain in the fall. Lots to do in Nashville if you're only going to one day of the fest. It's about an hour from Nashville to Manchester.

[Metalboy!]

Now THIS is a line-up?!

How cool is it to see Cheap Trick wedged in between GHOST, Mastodon, Gojira, and Black Berry Smoke!

[Metalboy!]

The only questionable main act in the line-up is Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Aren’t they nothing more than a scab band at this point?

[Bkallday]

Just curious, have you ever been a fan of Skynyrd, MB? If so, have you ever seen this particular lineup, live?

[Metalboy!]

On TV, BK, for about 5 minutes.

Forgive my harshness but I saw Skynyrd POINT BLANK leave Aerosmith blowing in the wind at RFK Stadium on Sunday, May 30th, 1976.

It had been drizzling most of the day which seemed to have no real impact on the crowd. The show opened with Nazareth playing a scorching set including their hit, “Love Hurts” floating in the Top 10 Billboard Charts the same moment they performed it on stage.

Next up was Ted Nugent hot off back-to-back hit albums, “Ted Nugent” (1975) and “Free For All” (1976) followed by Lynyrd Skynyrd who blew him off the stage and set up Aerosmith to fail after a legendary Skynyrd performance including megahits “Freebird”, “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Gimme Back My Bullets” and “Call Me The Breeze”, among others.

Ronnie Van Zant announced the band right when they took the stage, proclaiming “Leave it to Lynyrd Skynyrd to bring out the sunshine on Washington D.C.!” Maybe it was because it was the day before their last date on their “Gimme Back My Bullets” tour or maybe because the sun only came out for their set while all the other bands had to play in the drizzling rain, but Skynyrd executes what could only be termed as a scorched earth policy on RFK that day with an absolutely legendary performance, highlighted by “Freebird”.

That song was the magnum opus of the concert with Allen Collins spending most of the song in what seemed like mid air, jumping high with his white Gibson Flying V, white bell bottoms and white stack heels, the embodiment of “BADA*S!

Poor Aerosmith then came out and it started drizzling again almost at the exact moment they took the stage. Even though they were riding high of their release of their pinnacle album “ROCKS” just two weeks prior to this concert, they didn't stand a chance against Skynyrd and their set fell flat with Tyler arguing with Perry throughout the set, even throwing one of those large GE Electric fans off the stage and spitting on the audience while they played in a manner which could only be described as half-as*ed.

The reason I mention all of this is because it’s hard for me to watch Skynyrd once Van Zant and Gaines were gone and the band just never really being the same.

[Bkallday]

That’s an awesome story, MB. Unfortunately I was born only 5 yrs before the plane crash, so I missed my chance to see the original lineup. & for yrs I was like you and kept passing on the opportunity to see them, cuz of what you just said in your first post. Well I love their music so much that back in November, I had to go see them and give em a chance. It was either see that lineup or never see any lineup of the band. Easy choice! To make a long story short, they absolutely killed it that night and were so phenomenal that they blew my mind, and I’m a lifelong fan that didn’t wanna ever hafta admit anything like that. I actually hope to see them again sometime soon!

[Metalboy!]

Appreciate it, BK.

Skynyrd comes to my area quite a bit. After I recounted the story of when I saw them at RFK, I realize the line-up that is now Skynyrd are all pretty much part of the Skynyrd family or were/are related to past/current members through longtime friendships within the band’s inner circle.

They’ve also come together to honor the legacy, not just for the money. So, I will check ‘em out even if it brings a certain sadness for me because it will conjure the memory of the original line-up I witnessed back in the day, but the positive memories it will bring far outweigh all the excuses not to go see ‘em now.