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First live show was at a place on Maderia Beach FLorida (between St Pete and CLearwater Beaches) called Hooties. Circa 1975. I was a sophmore in HS and was playing sand volleyball! Jimmy was solo..outside on the beach, on a bar stool singing with a tip jar nearby.

Heard Come Monday when it first came out but didnt put 2 and 2 together.

Saw him in 1976 play SunFest in Lakeland Fl. Like a mini Woodstock.... with Orleans, ARS, Poco, Melanie and a slew of others.

Then he opened for the Eagles in Tampa in 1977. I was so hooked I made the drive to Gainesvile the next day for the next show at Florida Field!

Thats how it all began!

My first concert was at Alpine. My husband surprised me with the notion of buying tickets for me for Mother's day. Little did we know that tickets always sell out. He called Ticketmaster and was told to keep trying - that sometimes tickets become available later on. He tried for a week, and was able to get tickets. Imagine my surprise when we were 12 rows from the stage. I was in tears when he came out on stage. I got a cd of the concert later that year, and my kids could pick out my whistle in the crowd. It was unreal.

My mom became a Parrothead this year in Tampa. We wanted to see Jimmy in Florida last year, but I just couldn't make it. This year, my weekend was free and there was a place for me on a plane, so I was there. We had a great time, although the week before was a little uncomfortable with the hearing that was to take place the morning before the concert. But, the concert was awesome, and my mom had a great time. (She's 63 by the way) The theatre was great. Very clean and comfortable. I beats Alpine - that's for sure. Can't tell you how glad I am that I was able to make that concert. No Alpine this year is making a lot of parrotheads very very very unhappy.

Simple and to the point.

1996. First concert.

I've done this before, but happy to do it again.

I'm about as old as Jimmy. Used to watch him plays gigs up and down Old Greenville Avenue when I was in college and Jimmy had hair. One of my college friends recently told me that we saw him BEFORE Margaritaville. I find that hard to believe, but she swears he was just a cute southern guy with a guitar in a bar who sang great songs that told great stories!

My first was in the early 70’s at a small bar in South Padre. I was with my parents on vacation, and they wanted to go out and have a drink. My parents talked to the bar manager, and he said as long as our parents didn’t mind, and we behaved, we could stay (try that today). The manager tells my parents there’s entertainment that evening, so if we were going to play the jukebox, that there was a chance they’d have to turn it off.

Jimmy played a couple of sets (don’t even remember what he sang), and we called it a night. My parents didn’t know who he was, and I really didn’t either. Years later, I put it together after hearing a couple of his early albums. Wish I’d known at the time, but that just makes the memory even better.

My first concert was in Pittsburgh '94- the Fruitcakes tour. My fiance and I went because my parents had gone to *their* first Bufffett show the previous year and had such a good time they pretty much kidnapped us and took us the following year.

Needless to say, it was a blast and two more parrotheads were created. (I also married the fiance later that year).

The Lost Manatee wrote:
Paige, it's not the uptight attitudes, it's the Delta center and how bad everyone sounds in it. Hopefully someone can convince him to try the USANA ampitheater or even Deer Valley would be fun.

I was at the Park West Show and I still remember watching the moon come up over the Synderville Hill behind the stage. It was a great night and a fun show. Do you remember Jimmy's comments to Robert about Michael Jackson and the moonwalk?

USANA would be awesome.....I remember when it was first built they were throwing Jimmy's name out.....sigh, what a dream that would be! As for the Delta Center...it's a sports arena, that's about it...

I don't remember the Michael Jackson comments, but I do remember the MOON....Park West used to have the best shows....so much fun and so beautiful....

Mine dates back to 1976. I met Jimmy and Jane at the bar I managed in Columbia, SC. Of course the intro was a little shaky because at the time I was married to a HS, how should I say this, not-a-friend of Jane's. Thank godness they didn't hold that against me. Later that night I went to his show at the old Columbia Auditorium (I believe that's the name. I do know that that's where the pro wrestling matches were held).
OBTW pbans I too was at the Park West Concert. I was living in Evanston, WY at the time and the only parrothead in town. After taking a few friends to the show the PH population of Evanston increase dramatically.

August '95.
At the time I knew of Margaritaville and Come Monday but that was about it. I went through a phase in the mid 90s of seeing just about every concert I could and had always heard how much fun a Buffett show was. I got a couple tickets (it was easier then). I had to talk my best friend at the time into going; he had just graduated high school and might not have even known who JB was.
We showed up at Lakewood around 5pm for an 8pm show. Both our jaws dropped when we saw how packed the lot was and all the decorations. We were able to get a spot waayy in the back and I still remember the look on his face as he got out of the car. We wandered through the tailgating like little kids on their first trip to Disney World. We weren't expecting all the grass skirts and coconut bras. Much less the kiddie pools and garage-made working volcanoes. And we certainly not expecting there to be so many people there our age. Walking around looking like a couple of preppy kids going to Lollapoolza it was obvious we were Buffett virgins. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. We didn't know to bring, um, tailgating supplies, but plenty of people offered to partake from their cooler or grill.
The show itself was bit of blur, not because of alcohol but because so much was going on up on the lawn. My friend disappeared with this girl for a while but I just danced like a fool with anyone who danced back. Even waiting for the traffic to clear on the way out seemed enjoyable.
Needless to say we both bought SYKBH within a few days and since my Buffett collection has grown considerably. We went back the next year with a couple more people and better prepared. Every year we had a few more going; we had to talk almost everyone into their first time but never the second. Until our circle of friends split up the Buffett concert was always a big deal and at least to me it still is.

My very first concert was in Chicago right after 9/11. Was very memorable on many levels.....

i saw JB in Austin,TX in the 70's,on a fake ID,Sunday night, $1 cover at some hole in the wall downtown...hardly anyone there......Hey Connie, Armadillo World Headquarters was a great place,huh?!!!

The first time I heard Jimmy was in early 1996, YHTBT, while visiting a friend in Corpus Christi. It was in his cassette player in his car. I was hooked!

My first show was Vegas later that year. My then boyfriend refused to go with. I found a friend at work who agreed to go. We had a designated meeting place, but after the second song, she never showed so I went in alone. Turns out, she got picked up by a dude who had front row seats while she was waiting for me to arrive. Can't blame her can ya? Anyway, I sat next to a fellow Buffett concert virgin and had a fantastic time. It is one of my fondest concert memories...

First concert was '92 at the Hollywood Bowl. The BBB&B tour.

My wife and I were in LA March of '83. We were staying with phriends. They were at work when we arrived, so they left us the fixens for daquris' with instructions to play the song on the turntable. It was Boatdrinks. 20 degress and the hockey games on. We sat by the pool soaking our feet, knowing that is was cold and snowy in Chicago. The next day all of us were headed to Mexico. Had the time of our lives Our children were not for the next 3 years. I love our kids more than life itself, but what a great time we had! We been Buffett phans since. Having seen him almost every year since.

Anyone else out there remember Portland in the early 70's??
The few brain cells I have left from those days seem to recall
Bubba and the boys rolling out of a smoky bus at the Euphoria Tavern?
(I think the name stuck with him!!)
Several years later ('78?) he landed his sea plane on the Willamette River, leg cast and all, I watched him put on kind of a one man show sitting in a chair onstage with his leg propped up at Civic Auditorium.

I have a nameless, faceless DJ to thank. In college, late 80's, at the Knight Club in New brunswick, NJ. He played mostly Buffett, every night. I'd love to find that man and buy him a beer! He changed my life!

I've been listening to him for about 5 years now, but my first concert was only last year in Fort Lauderdale, great show. I hope this year in Toronto will be as good, that'll be my first outdoor show... no tailgating though.

1st met the Buffett style in KW in 2000
1st concert Feb 1, 2003 Philips arena Atlanta, GA
1st tailgating experiance 2004 Charlotte, NC
1st Phlocking (non-concert) Creeky tour of America 2003 Atlanta, GA

I had been a Buffett fan since I was in the 8th grade (early '90s). But never really understood why tix were so hard to come by when i tried to get them in high school.

That all changed summer after my senior year. I went with a girl that I was dating at the time. Long story short, she got so drunk before the concert and I was extremely mad . I left her with her friends and friends of friends and was off to roam the lawn at Lakewood.

I was 18 at the time and I ended up making out with and having an extremely enjoyable 1st half of the concert with a 24 year-old vixen that I had just met. She didn't believe me when I told her that I was 23, so I showed her my fake ID to prove it.

By this time, it had started raining and the intermission was upon us. This girl left with her friends to go to the bathroom. I waited and when she came back, she was with another guy. So what else should you do other than just go after her friend--who was 26 ...and wearing a soaking wet bikini top .

The rest of the concert was spent with her. They even invited me out to their car for a beer, but refused to give me a ride home (honestly it would have been a long way). So I had to track down my girlfriend's friends.

What an adventurous and great evening! Thanks for bringing back old memories.