Lynyrd Skynyrd brought the Classic Rock Roll of Honour to a close last night (13.11.12) with a scintillating set.
The Southern US rockers – anchored by Johnny Van Zant, Gary Rossington and Rickey Medlocke – picked up the Comeback Award during the ceremony at the Roundhouse in London and celebrated with a performance of their greatest hits including ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and a 15-minute rendition of ‘Free Bird’.
Gary – who is a founding member of the group – was delighted with the accolade and pleased the band’s new material has also proved to be a success.
He told BANG Showbiz: "We’re going to keep this music alive and keep it going. That’s what it’s about. We just love it over here and the British people and all of Europe. We are definitely coming back, we’ll be back next year I’m sure. The new songs are going down really good."
Johnny added: "We go out and do our thing – you either like it or you don’t. A lot of the crowd are our friends so I’m glad they enjoyed it. It was great to see so many people out there tonight, Billy Gibbons is a great friend of ours, and loads of other people were there, too."
Billy and his fellow ZZ Top band members collected the Living Legend Award at the awards – hosted by Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan – and Nick Mason picked up the Reissue Of The Year for ‘Immersion’ and Film/DVD Award on behalf of his group Pink Floyd.
Rush won Band Of The Year and Album of the Year for ‘Clockwork Angels’ and Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx – who recorded his radio show Sixx Sense from the awards – won Showman Of The Year.
Rival Sons and Tracer won Breakthrough Act of the Year and Best New Band respectively, while Status Quo collected the Classic Album Award for their 1977 record ‘Live!’.
Classic Rock Roll Of Honour – full list of winners:
The Living Legend Award – ZZ Top
Event Of The Year – Ginger Raises £250k
Breakthrough Act Of The Year – Rival Sons
The Musicians’ Union Maestro Award – Phil Manzanera
Tommy Vance Inspiration Award – Jon Lord
Classic Songwriter Award – Russ Ballard
Outstanding Contribution – The Damned
Classic Album Award – Status Quo ‘Live!’
V.I.P. Award – Tony Smith
Metal Guru Award – Anthrax
Best New Band – Tracer
Album Of The Year – Rush ‘Clockwork Angels’
Reissue Of The Year (sponsored by Alchemy)
Pink Floyd’s ‘Immersion’
Film/DVD Award – Pink Floyd ‘The Story Of Wish You Were Here’
Band Of The Year – Rush
Spirit Of Prog Award – Family
Showman Of The Year – Nikki Sixx
Comeback Award – Lynyrd Skynyrd