Monday, June 12, 2006; 1:19 PM
Perhaps no performer better represents summer than Jimmy Buffett. His songs with the Coral Reefer Band, conjure up visions of lazy days spent on the beach in "Margaritaville." As the years have passed, his performances haven't changed too much, but that hasn't stopped his loyal parrotheads from flocking to see him every summer.
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July 14, 1978
Someone once said that Jimmy Buffett placed America's musical history squarely between Hank Williams and Xavier Cugat. Wednesday night, before a turn-away crowd at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Buffett demonstrated how appealing that mix can be.
With a broken leg and the original Coral Reefer Band in tow, Buffett treated his audience to an unusually long set, choosing materials evenly from his live albums. He offered, among others, the whimsy of "Pencil Thin Mustache," the cynical feet of "Banana Republics," a raucous "Margaritaville," and a stunning version of "God's Own Drunk," dedicated to the late Morris the Cat.
Part of Buffett's immense appeal is his ability to write honky-tonk pieces like 'Livingston Saturday Night," and contrast them with the sensibility of "A Pirate Looks at 40."
Wednesday's performance must be as fine a show as Merriweather Post has ever staged. The sell-out crowd left longing only for the songs Buffett hadn't sung.
Steve Daley
The Washington Post
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August 16, 1979
Jimmy Buffett is the singer laureate of beach bums. His songs extol the virtues of ocean, tequila and marijuana. What saves him from terminal mellowness is his ability to laugh at himself. Last night at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, Buffett's humor was clicking better than it ever has on record and he made the lounge lizard's life sound lovely.
Buffett's walrus mustache made him look like a bemused Mark Twain as he tossed off hilarious stories between songs. His comedic talent was clearest on his many embellishments to Lord Buckley's old talking blues, "God's Own Drunk." But most of his songs sparkle with the humor of absurdity, ranging from "Cheesburger in Paradise," about junk food, to "Fins," about beach bar sharks.
But a number of Buffett's songs looked at the underside of the vagabond's life. Missed opportunities and fading possibilities showed up in songs like "Margueritaville," "A Pirate Looks at Forty" and "Sending the Old Man Away." The last was one of several songs previewed from a new album due out next week. One of them was an enchanting lullaby with counterpointed choruses, "Song for the Children, Song for the World."
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
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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
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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.
"Changes in Attitude" brought the first roar of recognition from the crowd, and soon the singer and his Choral Reefer Band had the Hawaiian-shirted multitudes gobbling down "Cheeseburgers in Paradise," wasting away in "Margaritaville" and "Havana Daydreaming."
Buffett skillfully contrasted the raucous crowd pleasers like "It's My Job" and "God's Own Drunk" with some of his most sensitive writing. "A Pirate Looks at 40" was haunting, and his "national anthem for war babies" entitled "We're Growing Older But Not Up" captured a similar poignancy.
In short, Buffett's concerts are like visiting an ocean resort after Labor Day. It may not be the most exciting place to be, but it's a welcome and refreshing change of pace. He returns tonight.
Mike Joyce
The Washington Post
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July 3, 1982
Anyone who thinks Jimmy Buffett would rather be sailing this holiday weekend knows him by reputation only. Last night at Merriwether Post Pavilion (where he returns tonight), Buffett was in his true element, appeasing the rock 'n' roll hunger of thousands of fans who were vocally primed for his celebration of sun, surf and suds.
Buffett hasn't had a hit in five years but it matters little to his fans who greeted even a beer commercial he wrote recently with a standing ovation. What matters, really, are the old songs and the easy, charmed life style they suggest. "Margueritaville," "Changes in Latitudes . . .," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," all delivered with power and enormous enthusiasm last night, hardly have lyrics for the ages. But in Buffett's hands, with a fine "Coral Reefer Band" behind him, these songs are quickly transformed into rousing summertime anthems.
The evening's only drawback came during Buffett's all too brief acoustic set. Though it included the lovely "Banana Republic," it focused on an especially long-winded version of "God's Own Drunk." Buffett could have easily spent the time on some of his better ballads, but then subtlety wasn't much in demand last night.
Mike Joyce
The Washington Post
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July 6, 1984
Once upon a time Jimmy Buffett was a fresh, witty singer-songwriter who undermined his own celebration of Florida's hippie boat bums by pointing out their delusions and dissipation. In recent years, though, Buffett has learned to get easy cheers and ovations by tossing out the subtlety and going for the broadest gags about getting high and lying about.
Last night at the packed Merriweather Post Pavilion, Buffett's old songs sounded like tired formulas that aimed at the lowest common denominator, and his newer songs sounded like pale imitations of the old ones.
The music sounded much more varied and inventive than it should have, thanks to a sparkling all-star band that included ex-Eagle singer-bassist Timothy B. Shmit, ex-Little Feat percussionist Sam Clayton, Nashville session pianist Mike Utley, steel drum virtuoso Robert Greenidge, and solo artist Josh Leo.
When Buffett sang several songs unaccompanied, it became clear how similar all the melodies were and how lazy his vocals had become. He even transforms a great song like "A Pirate Looks at 40" from irony into sentiment.
Though he is stuck in a rut, Buffett resists other approaches to music, as evidenced by his tasteless parody and put-down of the Jacksons last night.
Geoffrey Himes
The Washington Post
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July 13, 1985
Neither rain nor thunder nor lightning prevented Jimmy Buffett, pop music's other Beach Boy, from conjuring up images of fun in the Caribbean sun at Merriweather Post Pavilion last night.
Although it took Buffett well over two hours to reach one of his more obvious destinations -- "Margaritaville" -- the journey was enjoyable. The amiable singer and songwriter began by recalling his days as a solo act, playing a tune from his first album on acoustic guitar. He was then joined by harmonica ace Greg "Fingers" Taylor and, gradually, by the other members of the Choral Reefer Band, who enlivened the show considerably.
In fact, the band not only assisted Buffett in colorfully summarizing his career, but also provided one of the evening's indisputable highlights: a rollicking tribute to Lowell George and Little Feat. Of course, nothing rivaled the responses Buffett drew from the crowd when he zeroed in on hits like "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise."
Mike Joyce
The Washington Post
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July 3, 1986
Though Jimmy Buffett's recording career has been stalled for the last seven years, he still mounts an entertaining concert thanks to his intact showman instincts and his good taste in musicians. He introduced his show at the Merriweather Post Pavilion last night dressed as the Statue of Liberty in a foam rubber crown, a yellow blanket and a half-peeled banana held aloft as a torch.
Also making an appearance in pink sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt was Godzilla himself, who played congas and delivered a comic monologue. If Buffett never recaptured the poignancy of his early career, his patter and novelty tunes made him seem like the Bill Murray of pop music.
Many of the newer songs work better in concert than they did in the studio, thanks to the loose, high spirits enjoyed by the all-star, 12-man band. The show opened with a couple of dizzying calypso duets by Trinidad's steel-drum master, Robert Greenidge, and Buffett's longtime keyboardist Michael Utley. The rhythms were bolstered by Little Feat percussionist Sam Clayton and perhaps the best bassist in pop music, New Orleans' incomparably funky George Porter.
The icing on the cake was the appearance of the fabled Memphis Horns, saxophonist Andrew Love and trumpeter Wayne Jackson. When the whole band cut loose on new songs like "I Love the Now," old songs like "Fins" or on covers like Little Feat's "Old Folks Boogie," Buffett rocked more convincingly than he ever had before.
Geoffrey Himes
The Washington Post
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June 29, 1987
About the only thing missing from Jimmy Buffett's annual lawn party at Merriweather Post Pavilion this weekend was his trademark walrus moustache. Backed by a rousingly festive rock-cum-steel drum band, the clean-shaven singer again celebrated life as an endless vacation, a notion that the crowd feverishly embraced.
And you can chalk up the size of Saturday night's capacity crowd to word of mouth. For while Buffett hasn't exactly lit up the record charts in the '80s, his concerts are still de rigueur for would-be beach bums.
Not that there weren't some silver moments along the way. For all the success of "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburgers in Paradise," songs that still elicit romping ovations, some of Buffett's best songs are ballads like "A Pirate Looks at Forty." He added another reflective tune to the list, "That's What Living Is to Me," one of several songs he played on acoustic guitar with little or no accompaniment.
Mostly, though, Buffet sang of life in the fun lane, turning out one steel-drum-ringingly sunny anthem after another. Several of the band's stalwarts, including harmonica player Greg (Fingers) Taylor, keyboardist Mike Utley and percussionists Robert Greenridge and Sam Clayton, joined Buffett and recent recruit Marshall Chapman in making sure the crowd's spirits never flagged.
Mike Joyce
The Washington Post
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July 8, 1989
Jimmy Buffett always keeps good company on the road, and that was doubly true at Merriweather Post Pavilion Thursday night.
For starters, the Neville Brothers opened the concert by showcasing Aaron Neville's breathtaking tenor on "Tell It Like It Is" and then, relying mostly on congas and timbales, rhythmically expanding the new "Yellow Moon" and "Blood" to the point where the recorded versions seemed pale by comparison.
Given the time constraints, the set wasn't as lively or as colorful as some of the band's club dates, but the performance, complete with a joyful medley of "Brother John" and "Iko Iko," was hard to resist just the same.
When the curtain went up on the Buffett show, the singer was flanked by mock palm trees, a couple of dancers in island costumes and a solid edition of his Coral Reefer Band.
Amiable as ever, Buffett thanked the crowd for giving him a "summer job" for the past 24 years, and then rewarded it with a typically boisterous summary of hits that invariably drew rousing ovations.
Amid all the hosannas to cheeseburgers, summer, sailing and the good life was a refreshing acoustic set that recalled the days when Buffett's name wasn't synonymous with frothy fun in the sun.
Mike Joyce
The Washington Post
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May 23, 1992
True to form, Jimmy Buffett's performance at Merriweather Post Pavilion last night was more of a ritual than a concert, a chance for his legion of fans -- or "parrot heads," as he calls them -- to don silly balloon hats and toss beach balls and the occasional inflatable shark to and fro.
It also confirmed Buffett's phenomenal summertime popularity, which remains undiminished despite his long absence from Top 40 charts. To see virtually everyone in the crowded arena and on the packed lawn mimicking sharks during "Fins" was to witness Buffett's command of his audience in all its beach party glory. Nor was the crowd any less appreciative when the singer and a horn-bolstered Coral Reefer Band dished up the obligatory "Cheeseburgers in Paradise" and "Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit" or recalled "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," "Volcano," "Why Don't We Get Drunk" and the song that inspired the evening's barroom staging, "Margaritaville." With help from keyboardist Michael Utley, steel drummer Robert Greenridge and harmonica ace Greg "Fingers" Taylor, Buffett energetically reprised most of what the crowd clearly came to hear, but some of his best moments came when he sang subdued ballads.
Mike Joyce
The Washington Post
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August 3, 1998
The usual knock on the seafaring, beach-bumming troubadour Jimmy Buffett is that his lyrics are formulaic and his musical range as limited as a country-western radio station. That should mean his live performances are more of the same old same old -- even when he kicks in new material.
But Friday night's show at the sold-out Nissan Pavilion proved once again that that kind of appraisal comes only from those who listen with their misconceptions instead of their ears. (Saturday's show at Nissan was also sold out, as are shows scheduled for Aug. 21 and 22 at Merriweather Post Pavilion.)
Backed by the 13-member Coral Reefer Band, Buffett played this stop on his summer "Carnival" tour as familiar, exotic and new as the sparkle of sunrise on the Caribbean. A faithful audience of 20,000-some "Parrotheads" arrived via backed-up Interstate 66, many decked out in tropical attire and goofy shark hats.
Buffett opened with the island-styled "Kinja." The lead tune off his newest album "Carnival" -- from the musical "Don't Stop the Carnival," which Buffett adapted with novelist Herman Wouk -- the catchy intro dived headfirst into the long-Buffetted theme of escape to the tropics. Other than a "Kinja" reprise ending the first set, only one other song came from this new material -- the final heartfelt encore of "Time to Go Home."
Perfectly fitting covers of James Taylor's "Mexico" and Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross," plus Coral Reefer guitarist Mac MacNally's so-so singing of his own "In the City," were the only pieces to venture far from classic Buffett.
As Parrotheads sang along with the refrains of "The Weather Is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful" and the reflective "Son of a Son of a Sailor," the musician with the surest smile in the business strummed his six-string and staged playful antics with costumed band members. In a tie-dye T-shirt, shorts, white socks and tennis shoes, Buffett looks 50 but doesn't act it. In beach-dharma songs with tongue-in-cheeky lyrics, like "If the Phone Doesn't Ring It's Me" and "Last Mango in Paris," he looks as though he's having the best time in the house.
The only disappointments: Buffett shared more lead lyrics with Coral Reefers than usual, and his boys on the sound board could have tinkered for better clarity before the night got away.
But Buffett's voice was in fine and frolicking form commanding his minions in the obligatory "Cheeseburger in Paradise" back-to-back with the steel-drum-driven "Changes in Latitude." Tender ballads like "Come Monday" and the funky "This Hotel Room" set up raucous shouters like "Fins," where the audience mimics sharks.
Even at the first two of three encores -- "Brown-Eyed Girl," which Buffett has co-opted in the key of Key West from early Van Morrison, and the eruptive "Volcano" -- the charismatic Buffett promised more songs. He delivered all night.
Don Oldenburg
The Washington Post
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June 12, 1999
A school of sharks, the inflatable or stuffed kind, was seen circling the Nissan Pavilion Thursday night. So were lots of women, young and old, in grass skirts or cut-off jeans or bikinis, toting salt-stained margarita glasses and clearly looking for a good time. Their boyfriends and husbands, not to be outdone, obviously spent much of the day making a spectacle of themselves, too, trying on plastic leis, fin-shaped caps and straw hats laden with enough faux fruit to choke a pink flamingo. Yes, Jimmy Buffett was coming to town.
Accustomed to being upstaged by his fans, Buffett even videotaped the tailgate parties and played back the footage from the Felliniesque beach party during the show. He also delivered a theatrical experience of his own. Inspired by his new album, "Beach House on the Moon," the concert was loosely--very loosely--built around a lunar journey, complete with thunderous blastoff, taped "Special Reports" from Walter Cronkite, and footage of astronaut Buffett trying to wolf down a cheeseburger under zero-gravity conditions.
Apart from an appealing cameo by the Tams, the animated shag-dancing vocal quintet, the new album didn't add much boost or thrust to the concert--"Math Suks" even generated a sluggish encore. But Buffett compensated by giving the packed and endlessly cheering house exactly what it wanted: a frothy concoction of Top 40 hits, including "Margaritaville" and "Changes in Latitudes," along with a chaser of career novelties, well-crafted ballads and at least one unprintable barroom anthem.
Clearly, Buffett's patented party mix hasn't lost its potency as far as his fans are concerned. The 2 1/2-hour performance nearly sustained a standing ovation from beginning to end, thanks in part to a seasoned 14-piece band that moved gracefully from Caribbean rhythms to Nashville twang. Yet there were plenty of moments when the cheesy costume scenarios being played out on the lawn were a lot more diverting than the music performed onstage.
Mike Joyce
The Washington Post
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September 11, 2001
The pursuit of life's-a-beach escapism seemed more intense than usual Saturday night at the Jimmy Buffett concert at Nissan Pavilion, maybe because the sold-out audience of more than 25,000 felt early autumn stealing away their summer dreams.
With his 14-piece Coral Reefer Band spanning the stage, Buffett opened with a lively "Only Time Will Tell," followed by "One Particular Harbour," which had fans chanting the "Ia ora te natura" chorus as two hula dancers gyrated across the stage.
"I hope you had as much fun on your vacation as I had on my vacation, but it's nice to be back at work," shouted Buffett, before breaking into a thunderous "Brown Eyed Girl," the Van Morrison classic.
Acoustic versions of the Caribbean ballad "Jolly Mon" and the seasonal lament "When the Coast Is Clear" started the second set before the always smiling Buffett turned rowdier with "Boat Drinks" and the country-western laugher "Why Don't We Get Drunk." Buffett also introduced the soon-to-be standard "Far Side of the World," the strong title track from his new album scheduled for release in late October.
Then came the past standards. Buffett perfectly paced the 26-song, 2 1/2-hour show toward the climactic crowd-pleaser "Fins," the Crosby, Stills and Nash masterpiece "Southern Cross," which Buffett has made his own, and "Margaritaville," his best-known wastin'-away classic.
Don Oldenburg
The Washington Post
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June 17, 2005
The giant airborne shark that meandered into Nissan Pavilion on Wednesday night is an apt metaphor for Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band: oversize, goofy and entertaining.
What the flying fish didn't have in common with the 58-year-old troubadour: It meandered. Buffett and his cast of more than a dozen performers presented a spectacle as tightly scripted as "Cats" -- complete with enough local references to make it clear the man does his homework between tanning sessions. Every song was announced, one way or another (in the case of "Fins," by shark balloon), giving the Parrotheads that much more time to wriggle their grass skirts in anticipation.
Buffett's voice has lost none of its workmanlike efficiency over thirty-odd years. But if he's a good guitarist, it's hard to tell, since the sound of his acoustic was engulfed by the merry, melodic din, which included such tropical touches as steel drum and ukulele.
He's a brilliant musical ethnographer, though. The show included not only his own famous tales of boozing, boating and bronzing, but also like-minded songs by others, from Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross" to Van Morrison's playful "Brown-Eyed Girl." A range of songs from his 1974 album "A-1-A" to his 2004 "License to Chill" showed his impressive consistency. The only real surprise was a video tribute to Johnny Carson, featuring Buffett reminiscing about his appearances on Carson's show.
Come to think of it, Carson's a better analogy for Buffett than that shark was. The concert provided cozy reassurance to people who endured two or more hours of the evening rush hour to dream of catching a wave, people whose last sight of the ocean was probably on a screen saver.
Pamela Murray Winters
The Washington Post
