The Outlaws bring the Florida Guitar Army back to Lynn

The Southern rock band's first Boston-area show since 2019 returns to the same room, Lynn Memorial Auditorium, on Friday, March 19, 2027.

The last time The Outlaws played around Boston was Nov. 3, 2019, at Lynn Memorial Auditorium. Then came the long gap. When they come back, it's to the same stage in Lynn, which says something about how that night went.

The Outlaws play Lynn Memorial Auditorium on Friday, March 19, 2027. Doors are at 7pm and the show starts at 8pm. Tickets run $46.35 to $67.50 through Ticketmaster, and the hall holds about 2,000. The date was announced Oct. 20.

Lynn is one stop on a tight northeastern swing. According to Live Nation's listings, the band plays Daryl's House in Pawling, N.Y., the night before, then Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe, Pa., on March 20, the Tally Ho Theater in Leesburg, Va., on March 24 and The Paramount in Huntington, N.Y., on March 26. The Pawling and Huntington dates carry the name The Hurry Sundown Tour. Before all that, they're booked for the Southern Fried Swamp Jam in Immokalee, Fla., in January.

For anyone who knows the band only from classic rock radio, the history is worth a minute. The Outlaws came out of Tampa, where the group was formed in 1967 by guitarists and vocalists Frank Guidry, Hughie Thomasson, Herbie Pino and Hobie O'Brien. Henry Paul joined in 1972, and the band built its following in Tampa clubs, among students at the University of South Florida and Tampa College.

They earned the nickname the Florida Guitar Army.

The 1975 debut, *Outlaws*, rose to No. 13 on Billboard and sold more than 500,000 copies, carried by the guitar-jam anthem "Green Grass & High Tides" and the single "There Goes Another Love Song." With that guitar firepower and three- and four-part vocal harmonies, they earned the nickname the Florida Guitar Army.

What has changed since is mostly who's on stage. A Tampa Bay music history archive counts at least 45 different members between 1967 and 2015, which is a lot even by Southern rock standards. Hughie Thomasson has since died. Paul left to form the Henry Paul Band, later co-founded the country group Blackhawk, and returned to the Outlaws, who have been active again since 2005. Paul has spoken about the band's legacy as a group that could sing like the Eagles and play like the Allmans, and that's still the pitch.

That's what makes a night like this worth the drive up Route 1A. You get a band whose catalog is half guitar duel and half harmony, in a 2,000-seat municipal hall where the sound has room to breathe. Expect "Green Grass & High Tides" to run long. It always does.

A Friday in March, doors at 7, the Florida Guitar Army back in Lynn. Bring earplugs and a friend who still air-guitars.

Sources: JamBase: The Outlaws at Lynn Memorial Auditorium (jambase.com); Ticketmaster: The Outlaws, Lynn (ticketmaster.com); Live Nation: The Outlaws events (livenation.com); Outlaws (band) - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Henry Paul (singer) - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); St. Pete Catalyst: Sing like the Eagles, play like the Allmans: Henry Paul and the legacy of the Outlaws (stpetecatalyst.com); The Outlaws at the Winterland Ballroom, 1975 (Tampa Bay music archive) (richesmi.cah.ucf.edu); In the Studio: The Outlaws - Henry Paul, the late Hughie Thomasson (inthestudio.net); Outlaws Music: The Outlaws Bring Sounds of the South to Paramount (outlawsmusic.com)