“Gary wasn't feeling too good, but he was at rehearsal, and I played his solo. I saw a twinkle in his eye when I played that”: Marcus King recalls playing with Gary Rossington at the late Lynyrd Skynyrd legend’s final show

Back in November 13, 2022, Gary Rossington took to the stage for what would be his last-ever live Lynyrd Skynyrd performance before he passed away at the age of 71 in March last year.

For the occasion, Rossington was joined at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium by an all-star array of guest stars, which included the likes of John Osborne, Jelly Roll, Donnie Van Zant and Brent Smith.

Electric guitar hero Marcus King had also been invited to attend the star-studded show, and joined in to perform Saturday Night Special – a track that had hugely influenced King as a guitar player.

In a new interview with Guitar World, King reflects on the experience of playing at Gary Rossington’s last-ever live show – and what it was like playing a track that had been so profoundly important to him in front of the man who originally performed it.

“They'd [Lynyrd Skynyrd] done a PBS thing and had a bunch of friends sit in," King recalls. “They asked me what song I wanted to do, and I said, ‘We gotta do Saturday Night Special!'

“Gary [Rossington] wasn't feeling too good at the time, but he was at rehearsal, and I played Gary's solo because that's the solo I grew up with and learned. I saw a twinkle in his eye when I played that.”

“When we played it for the show, he came over and played it with me, and 12-year-old me was just floating on a cloud,” King continues. “He and I connected in this real spiritual way, and through divine intervention – it was like our souls were tangled in the astral realm. He left that night; that was his last gig, he passed away shortly thereafter.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd & Marcus King | Saturday Night Special | Live at Ryman Auditorium 2022 - YouTube

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Playing with Rossington was no doubt a special experience for King, but playing Saturday Night Special with one his biggest heroes made the whole night even sweeter.

In the same Guitar World interview, King name-dropped the 1975 Skynyrd cut as one of his favorite riffs.

Marcus King: The Six Riffs That Influenced Me - YouTube

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“When I was a kid, my father still had a straight job working 9 to 5, so he'd leave me with a record. Not necessarily as homework, but as something we'd kinda go over later,” he says.

“One of those songs was Saturday Night Special, and you know, when it finally drops, the verse is just so heavy, and it's got this gut-bustin', almost like a Mountain riff played with three guitar players.

“They had tremendous restraint in giving the song what it needed. When it finally drops into the groove, it's so welcomed.”