Hank Williams, Jr., Lynyrd Skynyrd To Hit The Road
January 31, 2007
- Touring
by Ray Waddell, Nashville
Hank Williams, Jr., and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Lynyrd Skynyrd will co-headline the Rowdy Frynds arena tour, Billboard.biz has learned. The initial run of shows includes 20 dates, beginning April 11 at the VBCC Arena in Huntsville, Ala. Other markets include Tampa, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Nashville, Detroit, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Atlanta. Initial dates go on sale Feb. 10.
38 Special will open the first 10 shows, and Chris Janson will open the
second 10.
Both Skynyrd and Williams are booked by Greg Oswald at William Morris Agency
and managed by Ross Schilling at Vector Management. The two acts will help
kick off the tour announcement with performances on the Late Late Show with
Craig Ferguson on CBS on Sunday (Feb. 4), after the Super Bowl, and Monday (Feb. 5) nights.
Skynyrd and Hank teamed up for a brief but successful run several years ago, and Schilling says Williams' appearance on the VH1 Classics show with Skynyrd last summer revived their synergy. "When Hank and Skynyrd got back together again, every one went ‘we need to go out and tour together again and have a good time'," he tells Billboard.biz.
Skynyrd are notorious road warriors, but Williams' modus operandi the past decade has been to work only 20-25 nights a year in choice markets for top dollar. Williams generally only plays weekends, and on the upcoming Frynds
tour all dates are on Friday or Saturday night, save the Wednesday opener in
Huntsville.
"We want to maximize fan base so people can come out, have a good time and
not worry about going to work the next morning," says Schilling. Indeed, both Skynyrd and Williams are known for ringing up huge alcohol and beer sales at their shows, holding records in several venues.
The entire tour is promoted by John Ruffino and Gary Weinberger of Red Mountain Entertainment in Birmingham, Ala. "We're excited to be working with
them," says Schilling. "They bought a good number of Skynryd dates and a
handful of Hank dates last year, and they all went gangbusters. They really
know how to micro-market and micro-promote the tour."
Schilling says Red Mountain "really stepped out and put together a substantial offer that made everyone want to go do this. The money was solid, but at the end of the day, it was more about their track record for Hank and Skynyrd in buildings."
The Rowdy Frynds Tour Dates:
April 11 - Huntsville, Ala., VBCC Arena
April 13 - Tampa, Fla., St Petersburg Times Forum
April 20 - Indianapolis, Conseco Fieldhouse
April 21 - Peoria, (Ill.) Civic Center
April 27 - Baltimore, Md., First Mariner Center
April 28 - Raleigh, N.C., RBC Center
May 4 - Nashville, Gaylord Entertainment Center
May 5 - Charleston (W.V.) Civic Center
May 11 - Dayton, Ohio, Nutter Center
May 12 - the Palace of Auburn Hills (Mich.)
May 18 - Sioux City, Iowa, Tyson Events Center Gateway Arena
May 19 - Minneapolis, Minn., Target Center
May 25 - New Orleans Arena
May 26 - Orange Beach, Fla., the Wharf Amphitheater
June 1 - Atlanta, Ga., the Arena at Gwinnett Center
June 2 - Greenville, S.C., Bi-Lo Center
June 8 - University Park, Pa., Bryce Jordan Center
June 9 - Albany, N.Y., Times Union Center
June 15 - Louisvile, Ky., Freedom Hall
June 16 - St. Charles, Mo, Family Arena
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