Margaritaville...and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

We celebrated a little early with Jimmy Buffett last week.

Kirsten saw her first concert, Buffett of course, when she was 4.

Tyler's first concert, Buffett at 14!

tailgaters...

serious tailgaters...

my little Parrotheads...

fins...

Jimmy Buffett is still playing for the parrot-heads

By Steve Pick

SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH

05/02/2010

To walk into a concert by Jimmy Buffett is to venture into a fantasy world, where the water is blue and still (unless you're looking for a wave to surf, in which case they are perfect breakers), the drinks are cool and sweet, the women are gorgeous and the men are loved despite their fashion sense (who knew there were so many different Hawaiian print shirts?).

Buffett seems relentlessly happy on stage, and he shared his enthusiasm with a virtually sold-out audience at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Thursday night.

Playing two sets of roughly 70 minutes apiece, Buffett led his Coral Reefer Band through its paces. Casual Parrotheads, who just remember "Cheeseburger In Paradise," "Margaritaville" and "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," were rewarded with the songs still played on the radio for 30-plus years. Odds are, though, that casual Parrotheads were few and far between, as deep album cuts prompted enthusiastic sing-alongs throughout the night.

The biggest surprise was a largely rewritten version of Buffett's 1979 song, "Volcano." It was one thing to add lyrics referencing the recent volcano eruption in Iceland and the disruption in European air flights; it was even more impressive to include lyrics about the bugs he said were flying on stage, and then get a local reference in on top of it: "All over Europe nobody could fly/ Spirit of St. Louis gonna lead my way."

Buffett's music draws from traditional styles spread all over the Caribbean. "Volcano" itself is a rhumba; "Where the Boat Leaves From" was a calypso; "Jamaica Mistaica" brought out obvious reggae rhythms; and "Cuban Crime of Passion" referenced old-school Cuban music from the '40s and '50s. Which is not to say he couldn't rock out now and again — guitarist Peter Mayer showed a mastery of Ventures licks on "Surfing in a Hurricane," which Buffett said he actually did when he was young.

Buffett gave special acknowledgment to three longtime members of his band who are from St. Louis. Guitarist Peter Mayer, his bass player brother Jim and drummer Roger Guth have been playing with him for 15 years, and they grounded the often lilting arrangements with rock-solid work. Michael Utley on keyboards and Robert Greenidge on steel drums were also especially impressive. Mac McAnally, the 2009 Country Music Association Musician of the Year, is another longtime member of the band.

The crowd ranged in age from 6 to 65, and Buffett said at one point, "Thank you for having and raising your children on this music." This was a tribal gathering, a place where everyone knew the rituals, and where pleasure was the only purpose.