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Last night I attended my 36th Buffett show and I have to say that it was one of the strangest that I have ever been to. Please keep in mind that all of my observations are from the 10th row and I do not drink which allows me to "see" a little more than people out on the lawn.

The first half of the show was great as usual. Pencil Thin Mustache sounds really terrific this year and hearing Saxophones, Knees of My Heart and 5 O'clock were real treats. The rest of the set was typical solid, although I really have no need for "Natives Are Restless" (though I recognize and respect that many people like it). Interesting that the Tiki Gods do not talk in between songs like they did at the beginning of the tour.

The second half started out great. "Tiki Bar Is Open" and "Everybody's Talkin'" were fantastic and it was really nice to hear Wino instead of Mental Floss. "It's My Job" then capped off the best part of the show for me.

That's when things got a little weird. When starting CILCIA, he had no "power" in his guitar. I have to admit that I do not understand how all of that works, but there clearly was something wrong with the power cords, his "box" or another piece of equipment. The power problems remained throughout the rest of the set (and did not seem to affect any of the Reefers at all).

To be completely honest with you (and it pains me to criticize JB), I thought that Jimmy lost concentration when the power problems started and could not get back on course. During the last 5 or 6 songs, their was a roadie on stage, standing or kneeling next to Jimmy, trying to get the power to work. The roadie kept bringing out new guitars and boxes and none seemed to work. At one point he actually pulled up the cords that were taped to the stage and tried to change them (right in the middle of Margaritaville).

When the roadie was not on stage trying to fix the problem, Jimmy was clearly yelling at him. He kept looking off the stage and yelling (quite angrily I might add). Finally, Mac looked at Jimmy and told him "Just play!" The problem is that JB was fixated on the power problems and seemed to forget that he was playing in front of 20k people.

Jimmy even referenced the situation when, during the first chorus of M'Ville, he said "It's all (roadie's name)'s fault."

Then came the soon to be infamous "item thrown" incident. Right before he was about to intro Utley, the cup of ice hit him square in the eye. HE WAS VEY ANGRY. He launched immediately into So. Cross, never introduced Utley, and seemed to want to get through the song as quickly as possible. Unlike other posters, I do not believe that he "quickly got over it."

The final encore, as you all know, was Lovely Cruise (one of my favs) but it did not have the same effect that the final encore usually has on me. Jimmy seemed totally distracted and it seemed as through he just wanted to get it over with.

So to sum up the show. Overall, it was very good (after all it WAS a Buffett show), but it certainly will not go down as one of the better shows that I have seen. That said, I cannot wait for Saturday!!!

I would be interested in other's take on the night...

One more point (hey, thanks for reading this far!!! ) Does anyone else think that the "She's Got You" - "Boomerang Love" sequence is perhaps his worst two-song sequence in years. JMHO, but I can think of hundreds of songs that I would rather hear (not to mention the fact that the power guitar on Boomerang is very unJimmylike.

Have a great day, all!

Whoa... That stinks.. I'm suprised JB didn't just vent out loud a little bit. I would expect him to make light of it and joke around about it rather than try to mask it. He musta just been having one of those days!
And I'll bet the idiot that threw the cup of ice won his tickets in a contest and took the seats from real Parrotheads who would have behaved themselves!

I remember a similar throwing incident in Charlotte (not at Carowinds, but at Memorial Stadium) in the late 80's/early 90's. In that case, it was a bottle and Jimmy semi-finished the song and left. The show had lasted about 45 minutes. As angry as I was, I was not angry at him. Some tool put him in jeopardy and he had every right to walk away. He unofficially boycotted Charlotte for a few years after that.

Sorry, about the power problems.

Thanks for the insights and bringing some understanding. Sometimes listening on RM some of the events don't translate too well.

As to the "She's got you" - "Boomerang Love" sequence... I'm not sure I would say it's the worst (don't have enough experience for that), but it strikes me as a bit awkward. I like the way they play She's got you... but boomerang love sometimes strikes me as out of place.

And the wino and I know was a nice treat last night

I hope Sat is more energetic for you (and us).

I was there in the 5th row and thought it was a string of beads? Whatever it was it was WRONG and the good thing is that they nabbed the guy who did it and rather "forcefully" removed him from the arena.

KOSH

KOSH,

Since you were so close, I was wondering whether you noticed all of the power problems.

I think anyone who endangers a performer is not a fan. The offending concert-goer should have been brought onstage and pelted by the crowd!
Nothing like a good public stoning!

frosted fins wrote:I think anyone who endangers a performer is not a fan. The offending concert-goer should have been brought onstage and pelted by the crowd!
Nothing like a good public stoning!

wow! weird

last night was my 1st concert via radio Margaritaville..

I thought he was kinda off on come monday like he was always a note behind

How about some other stories from the concert? even before & after ones

Thanks for the great post "cudjoekey". It SUCKS that something like that has to happen... I hope Jimmy just chalks it up to a bad show and moves on... It will be interesting to see what happens on Saturday... Keep us posted....

When you consider the amount of money Jimmy must spend to ensure that things DON'T go wrong, I'd be p*** too.

Evidently something similar (the throwing thing) happened at Merriweather. When we went to go into Nissan we brought a bottle of water per person (it was about 95 degrees) as per Nissan rules. We were told we couldn't bring them in and no bottles were allowed throughout the concert. They said Jimmy banned them for the rest of the tour, somebody was throwing them onstage during the Merriweather concert.

I can think of two people he's not too pleased with this morning.

NYCPORT wrote:I can think of two people he's not too pleased with this morning.

WHO...

I'll leave their names out, but they are the two guys who stand on either side of the stage to prevent just such an incident.

Think somebody will be in the Unenjoyment line on Monday?

Can't imagine he'd blame them... how do you PREVENT someone from throwing something out of the crowd?!

frosted fins wrote:Think somebody will be in the Unenjoyment line on Monday?

I don't think it will come to that. Like Lee said they certainly can't stop it from happening, but they are supposed to prevent it. They are always watching the crowd for signs of just such a thing.

bbarba3 wrote:Evidently something similar (the throwing thing) happened at Merriweather. When we went to go into Nissan we brought a bottle of water per person (it was about 95 degrees) as per Nissan rules. We were told we couldn't bring them in and no bottles were allowed throughout the concert. They said Jimmy banned them for the rest of the tour, somebody was throwing them onstage during the Merriweather concert.

Interesting. I was there, and I don't recall that. Then again, I was on the lawn and don't remember too much other than I had a GREAT time.

Only way to make sure nothing gets thrown is to prevent ANYTHING from being brought in and not sell food or beverages. Only takes one second to launch something, and as good as those two are, even they're not THAT quick.

I'm sure they assisted or at least directed the ejection however.