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Well we made quite a weekend of it...


Spent Saturday in Chicago seeing the sights, then made it to the parking lot and show at Tinley Park.


What a show! We brought some friends along who had never been to a Buffett concert and were not even huge Buffett fans... by the end of the night they were starting to make plans for next year.


Next day we had lunch at the Cubby Bear, then went to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play the D'backs. Game was good, but the coolest part was seeing Mac McAnally himself walk in just before the 7th inning. They had seats 8 rows in front of us (still the cheap seats ) and it didn't seem like anybody else there really knew who they were. Sure sent a buzz through our group, though.


Although it would have been nice to meet him, we didn't bother the big guy - he seemed to be there with friends and we didn't want to be a nuisance. Cool enough for us just the way it was.


Great weekend, great show. Only downer was that my computer froze while we were at the show, so I didn't get it recorded. If anybody managed to do so, we could sure use your help down in the Concert Trading area. So far, nobody seems to have gotten the thing recorded.

(BTW, if you've got the show but don't want to be the vine-starter, PM me - I'll be glad to take care of all the details/hassles. )

According to the Chicago Tribune, Buffett was great as usual. The venue sucks (still). The Tinley Park police threatened to tow cars that were not "lined up properly" The entrances opened late so most phans could have missed the start. I can't post the review, Smaybe some one else can. Thats why I think that Tinley Park is the WORST place to see a concert.

moeron wrote:According to the Chicago Tribune, Buffett was great as usual. The venue sucks (still). The Tinley Park police threatened to tow cars that were not "lined up properly" The entrances opened late so most phans could have missed the start. I can't post the review, Smaybe some one else can. Thats why I think that Tinley Park is the WORST place to see a concert.

Sorry you've had bad experiences at Tinley. For our part, it all went smoothly and was a really enjoyable evening. The parking lot was phenomenal, the police were friendly and inconspicuous, the gates to the pavilion opened at 6:30 as promised and the pat-downs were no more unenjoyable than usual.

That being said, we DID get to the parking lot fairly early, and then to the pavilion gate early - we were in line by about 6:00 or so. Made getting a front-row lawn seat pretty easy.

Our first Tinley visit. The cops busted some criminals that were casing cars. There were 3 rent a cops, and 2 undercover dudes. The criminal's car was parked right behind us. The cops had the criminal call his buddy in on his cell, and then busted him too. The undercover dudes drove the car away after the police escorted both crooks to jail. I guess alot of people's stuff got stolen last year in the parking lot.
I wasn't impressed with the venue, but hell a Buffett show is a Buffett show! We had fun as usual and I am still dragging today!

Wow, sorry for some who didn't plan as well as us. We were first timers and due to all the help from others here had no problems and had the time of our lives.

Flowerfield Girl wrote:Our first Tinley visit. The cops busted some criminals that were casing cars. There were 3 rent a cops, and 2 undercover dudes. The criminal's car was parked right behind us. The cops had the criminal call his buddy in on his cell, and then busted him too. The undercover dudes drove the car away after the police escorted both crooks to jail. I guess alot of people's stuff got stolen last year in the parking lot.
I wasn't impressed with the venue, but hell a Buffett show is a Buffett show! We had fun as usual and I am still dragging today!

Wow FFG, sounds like you've had quite a weekend... first the Holiday Inn thing and then a front-row seat for nasty events in the parking lot.

Hope the show made up for it. We had a great time and were blissfully unaware of bad things going on.

If I could first give a shout out to all the Bn’ers in the RV lot…. we past you guys on the way in to Tinley Park, I saw Loneplam buzzing around that great setup you had. Sorry we didn’t stop by, we wound up parking on the other side of the venue and didn’t think we had the time, we promise to stop by at Alpine.

Now on to the show……If Alpine is half the show that Tinley Park was you ‘d would have to peel me off the ceiling, Jimmy was great! I was really happy with the set list, the Bama Breeze set, but mostly I thought the fans were one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. For once it seemed like there we’re more true fans then corporate hand outs. The crowd sang every word of every song throughout the entire concert. At one point, some time around Son of a son of a sailor Jimmy acknowledged the crowds sing along and seemed to be really into it. So when that happened you knew it was going to be a great night. And it was……

Thanks for the great weekend Jimmy, I needed it!

krusin1 wrote:

moeron wrote:According to the Chicago Tribune, Buffett was great as usual. The venue sucks (still). The Tinley Park police threatened to tow cars that were not "lined up properly" The entrances opened late so most phans could have missed the start. I can't post the review, Smaybe some one else can. Thats why I think that Tinley Park is the WORST place to see a concert.

Sorry you've had bad experiences at Tinley. For our part, it all went smoothly and was a really enjoyable evening. The parking lot was phenomenal, the police were friendly and inconspicuous, the gates to the pavilion opened at 6:30 as promised and the pat-downs were no more unenjoyable than usual.

That being said, we DID get to the parking lot fairly early, and then to the pavilion gate early - we were in line by about 6:00 or so. Made getting a front-row lawn seat pretty easy.

I am copying the review and posting it below. The gates were supposed to open at 6, and opened about 30 minutes late.

Review from Chicago Tribune:

Multiple wrongs unfolded at Saturday night's fun-loving Jimmy Buffett concert at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, and they weren't limited to the sight of grown men wearing coconut-shell bras. The suburban venue, which in recent years has struggled to fill its seats, hosted a rare sellout but failed to adequately handle the demand.

Entrance gates opened a half-hour late, leaving thousands of ticket-holders waiting in lengthy serpentine-shaped lines minutes before the scheduled start. Tailgaters arrived early and packed parking lots, leading to traffic jams and cars being diverted to overflow areas, where Tinley Park police threatened to tow vehicles that weren't lined up just so.

Yet, thanks to the party atmosphere, fans remained tolerant. A delayed beginning didn't hurt either. After riding onstage on a bicycle, Buffett turned the concrete-and-steel shed into the world's largest outdoor bar. Backed by a 12-piece band that included blues-guitar whiz Sonny Landreth, whose bottleneck-slide playing gave a swampy edge to fruity party favorites such as "License to Chill," Buffett looked as relaxed as he sounded. A nasal accent and slight Southern twang spiced his straightforward delivery, which seldom rose above a shout.



And why should it? Anger and negativity never factored into Buffett's original and cover tunes, a breezy mix of soft rock, country-flecked folk and island music salted with steel-drum percussion and tropical rhythms. The 60-year-old sailing fanatic promoted worry-free moods and name-dropped local haunts into songs. With a lifestyle built around ideal climates ("Weather With You"), getaways ("One Particular Harbour") and happy hours ("It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"), no wonder Buffett flashed an ear-to-ear smile throughout the 130-minute performance.

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ctc-tempo@tribune.com

krusin1 wrote:

Flowerfield Girl wrote:Our first Tinley visit. The cops busted some criminals that were casing cars. There were 3 rent a cops, and 2 undercover dudes. The criminal's car was parked right behind us. The cops had the criminal call his buddy in on his cell, and then busted him too. The undercover dudes drove the car away after the police escorted both crooks to jail. I guess alot of people's stuff got stolen last year in the parking lot.
I wasn't impressed with the venue, but hell a Buffett show is a Buffett show! We had fun as usual and I am still dragging today!

Wow FFG, sounds like you've had quite a weekend... first the Holiday Inn thing and then a front-row seat for nasty events in the parking lot.

Hope the show made up for it. We had a great time and were blissfully unaware of bad things going on.

We had a great time at the show, the hotel we ended up staying in was actually closer to the venue. I hope I didn't come across negative, because we had a really good time as usual. The guys getting busted was actually entertaining! At first we thought they got busted for selling boot leg T-shirts, but that wasn't the case.