Lynyrd Skynyrd at Mid-Hudson Civic Center — July 12, 1977

In the summer of 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd was the biggest Southern rock band in America and at the peak of its powers — Ronnie Van Zant out front, the three-guitar army behind him, “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird” already anthems. When they played the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie that July, no one could have known it was one of the band’s final months: the plane crash that killed Van Zant and two bandmates was just three months away, in October. This was the original Skynyrd, full throttle.