The OC Register has a review of Thursday’s show in Irvine: “Jimmy Buffett keeps summer alive with final, guest-filled party of Verizon’s 2010 season”
But, for me, what continues to salvage all Buffett shows from lapsing into too much cornball silliness are the gentler gems, those moments that remind you what an accomplished songwriter he is and what a remarkably nuanced folk singer he still can be. An almost hymn-like version of “A Pirate Looks at 40” and an especially languid “Come Monday,” for instance, were both exceptional, and the show-closing coda of Jesse Winchester’s “Defying Gravity” was a fitting sendoff from a guy who has taught millions how to look at life on “this big round ball” through a gleefully cockeyed haze.
Yet nothing compared to a sublime solo-acoustic handling of “Banana Republics” — it was beautiful, poignant, more resonant than ever, with Buffett channeling a whole new level of world-weariness wrapped in shrugging optimism. Yeah, I get a kick out of the weed jokes, too, and if it had been a warmer night I might have skanked instead of swayed along to the reggae rhythm of “Volcano.” But amid those blissful, tender few minutes, I don’t think I’ve ever loved Jimmy Buffett more.
And I left wistfully wondering which sad event will come first: the day Buffett retires or the final show before Verizon ultimately gets razed. Gotta figure one or the other or both will happen this decade.