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Jimmy Buffett "Baptizes"
Margaritaville Las Vegas!
Gone in 60 minutes
Jimmy was in a festive
mood, laughing, singing and even taking tequila shots.
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The band was often a blur, playing hot music on a cool Vegas evening.
Laughing, joking and even taking sips
of tequila from a cup at his side, Jimmy Buffett officially opened his
Margaritaville Cafe, Las Vegas, with a near-private show on January
22.
On a cool evening with a makeshift stage constructed in the pool area
of the Flamingo Hilton, Jimmy played for about 65 minutes to a constantly
cheering and happy crowd. It started promptly at 5 p.m. making "It's
5 O'clock Somewhere" an appropriate opening number. Actually,"
5 o'clock" had arrived much earlier, as beer and margaritas were
selling at a brisk pace beforehand.
 He
followed with "The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful"
and also included "Boat Drinks," "Coconut Telegraph,"
"Come Monday," "Fins" and "Let's Get Drunk."
The time flew by faster than the Hemisphere Dancer. Just as things were
getting going, Jimmy left to be a gypsy in his own palace, playing an
even more private show inside Margaritaviile.
There, he and the Coral Reefers went strong for two solid hours."We've
got to go baptize the place" is how Jimmy phrased it. Another half-hour
outside would have been nice.
Because of the weather, Jimmy came out not in the familiar shorts and
t-shirt but instead with jeans and a long-sleeve black turtleneck. He
even wore shoes! The bright lighting bounced off his shiny head –
the long, curly hair is a thing of the past – and for the first
time he began to show some of his age. Fifty-seven and kicking ass,
we believe. Occasionally, he reached behind him to take a sip of tequila,
which was hardly like the time in his early days when he got so buzzed
he fell off the stage and broke his leg, but it was nice to see him
do what the Parrotheads had been doing for hours. Again, Jimmy seemed
to be having as much fun as the audience.
The setting was incredible. The hotel filled most of the pool area
– including the pool itself – with sand, creating a large
beach framed by palm trees. There were no seats, so it was grab a few
brews and/or margaritas and get as close to the stage as possible. By
the start of the show, it was elbow-to-elbow by the stage. On the other
hand, some super laid-back folks preferred to just hang in the rear
where elbow room was plentiful and it was easy to shuffle back and forth
to the tiki bars. There were just a little more than 1,000 people at
the show. Definitely it was for the privileged few!
Lots of laughs – Jimmy was all smiles all the time.
This was not a public concert – tickets went to VIPs, charity
donors, as part of a three-day hotel package and Parrotheads dedicated
enough to find them and get off work to go to Vegas on a Thursday. Originally,
such tickets were going on E-Bay for as much a $300-400, though by the
beginning of the week, $125-150 was the norm.
While one would be foolish to think that seeing Buffett this casually
and up-close was not an incredible experience, PubClub.com did make
some notes on how the experience could have been enhanced. The most
obvious of these would have been to play Jimmy Buffett music at the
preparty. Instead, some Caribbean/reggae combination filled the air,
and not a good combination at that. The pre-party itself was pretty
lame; mostly it was spent securing prime positions for the show.
Also, after the private concert, we would have opened up Margaritaville
Cafe to the Parrotheads. Actually, with three levels, we would have
had at least one floor open for the outdoor ticket holders with the
more private show shown on video screens. Rather, after the second show,
Margaritaville closed. At 11 p.m. In Vegas! That made Tommy Rocker's
bar happy, because that's where most of the party Parrotheads headed.
Here, Jimmy takes a jab at Michael Utley, chastising him for some past
escapades.
Vegas Margaritaville Cafe Grand Opening Song List::
• It's 5 o'clock Somewhere
• The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful
• Tampico Trauma
• In The Shelter
• Boat Drinks
• Son of a Son of a Sailor
• Coconut Telegraph
• Come Monday
• Fins
• Let's Get Drunk (and Screw)
• Onoe Particular Harbor
• Cheesburger in Paradise
• Margaritaville (encore)
Jimmy and his Parrothead friends were dressed for the night.
The highlight of the "preparty" were the bikini-topped girls
passing out beads.
 Buffett
Tiki Time Tour, Anaheim Pond
Vegas
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