Reviews of Jimmy Buffett Shows Past

The opening act, John Stewart, has been rescued from the limited following of cultdom by "Gold," a hit single made with Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Buckingham and Nicks' lush harmonies were defintely missed last night, for Stewart is a limited singer and his band has little range. But his lyrics were more substantial than a Fleetwood snack. On songs like "Fire in the Wind" and "Midnight Wind" Stewart's Roger McGuinn-like 12-string guitar and traditional roots made for folk-rock reminscent of the old Byrds.

Geoffrey Himes

The Washington Post

------------------------------------------

July 11, 1980
Jimmy Buffett, who opened a two-night stand at the Merriweather Post Pavillion last night, is going to have to work a little harder to outlast the critical acclaim accorded his early work. In the last three years, ever since the enormous success of Margaritaville," he's had a tendency to sail the same obvious waters, coasting on familiar musical currents.

Like the promising fiction writer who's found security gearing his work for the pulps, Buffett has dulled the edged that made his bench bums, paperless ship captains, smugglers, stranded tourists and seaward refugees vital and believable characters brought to life with caustic lyricism and wit. When Buffett moved from the edge of "A1A" to his 48-foot clipper, he distanced himself from the immediacy of his struggling vision.

Last night's performance concentrated on Buffett's uptempo successes, including "Magaritaville," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," and an old audience favorite,"God's Own Drunk" (courtesy of Lord Buckley). New songs like "Growing Older But Not Up" and "I Don't Know (What I'm Gonna Do When the Volcano Blows)" were predictably good-natured and just as typically unadventurous. Hs ballads, or more properly, laments, were far less effective since Buffett did them as solo as he dared. As Buffett the songwriter has weakened, Buffett the performer has been bolstered by the ever-larger Coral Reefer Band. They brought a finessed funkiness to Buffett's tropical but increasingly less topical langor. Buffett should tuff it.

Richard Harrington

The Washington Post

------------------------------------------

July 13, 1981
Rock's old salt Jimmy Buffett dropped anchor last night at Merriweather Post Pavilion, unloading a weathered cargo of hits and near missed accumulated over the past 10 years.

Buffett's concerts no longer hold any surprises, but it's hard to imagine a more relaxed, affable entertainer working a rock crowd. Dressed in a loose-fitting shirt and sporting his familiar walrus mustache, he sauntered onstage with just an acoustic guitar and casually opened for himself, much like he did in his early visits to the Cellar Door.