I was stationed in the South for two years (1974-75) and I saw Skynyrd several times. I remember a concert with them and Marshall Tucker where Van Zant came out on stage, drunk on his ass carrying a bottle, and began singing with them.
38 Special was from Jacksonville, too, and they made some pretty good music also.
I saw them once in the time frame, in Louisville, and they were drinking black Jack from the bottle and physically fighting with each other on stage. They stunk.
Despite this, I went and saw them a year or two later, probably a year or two at most before the plane crash, and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.