Lynyrd Skynyrd is dealing with a series of health bumps, this time running into the COVID-19 pandemic and dropping out of a planned co-headlining appearance at the 2021 Hall of Fame concert in Canton, Ohio. The Hall of Fame cancellation is one of four shows the band has been forced to cancel.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lynyrd Skynyrd is unable to perform the next four shows,” a statement from the band reads. “Longtime band member Rickey Medlocke has tested positive for COVID-19. Rickey is home resting and responding well to treatment.”
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Brad Paisley was set to co-headline the show with the legendary southern rock band, with Jimmie Allen opening the show. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame official site, Allen agreed to extend his setlist a bit to fill in for the loss leading into Paisley’s show.
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s remaining canceled shows haven’t been revealed officially, but their schedule had them traveling to Jackson, Mississippi, followed by Atlanta and Cullman, Alabama.
Medlocke, 71, was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and is best known outside of Lynyrd Skynyrd as the frontman and guitarist for Blackfoot. Medlocke initially joined Skynyrd in 1971 before leaving a year later to rejoin Blackfoot. He would remain outside of Skynyrd until rejoining in 1996.
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Medlocke is the second member of the band to test positive for COVID-19, with Johnny Van Zant revealing he contracted the disease in May. Van Zant was in the process of receiving the Pfizer vaccine shots when diagnosed. “We are all on quarantine around here due to me coming down with the virus first,” Van Zant says in a video announcing the news. “And I spread it to everybody else. And I had no clue I had it. That’s the scary thing about this virus.”
The news of the COVID-19 diagnosis follows guitarist Gary Rossington undergoing emergency heart surgery weeks ago. The band wished a speedy recovery to Rossington and noted they’d continue to perform without him as he recovered, but this could change with the news about Medlocke.
