The rumor was that the Knebworth Fair was to be the last Rolling Stones concert ever. At that time, Jagger, Richards and company were going through a stagnant period, caught up in the excesses of the '70s. Speculation in the British press ran rampant that this concert to thank the British fans for their past support would indeed be the grand finale to the illustrious career of "The World's Greatest Rock 'N Roll Band." However, according to the Stones' management, their appearance would simply be the last time the band woulkd play... at Knebworth.

It was August 21, 1976, and England was in the grip of one of the worst droughts in recent memory. The third annual Knebworth Fair was to be a massive all-day rock festival on the sprawling grounds of the Knebworth house country estate in Hertfordshire, England. In keeping with the scope of the concert's vast setting, 50,000 pounds had been spent to build a mammoth stage, modeled on the Stones' logo, which was canopied by a giant pair of inflatable red plastic lips, with two long runway catwalks that stuck out into the crowd like the logo's protuding tongue.

By the early morning hours of that blistering summer Saturday, nearly a quarter of a million rock-hungry fans had converged on Knebworth Park, filled with happy expectation, with many already sporting 'Stoned At Knebworth' t-shirts. People were literally hanging from the stately English oaks that dotted the estate, eagerly awaiting the 11:00 am start of the day long program of rock 'n' roll, which promised appearances by the Stones, 10cc, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Hot Tuna, the Don Harrison Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Knebworth would be Skynyrd's most important British gig ever...