A Parrothead Reviews Discovery Channel’s Shark Week Performance
After years of going to see Jimmy Buffett, Jimmy Buffett finally came to see me!
He played practically in my front yard, right on the beach, here in Hermosa Beach, CA.
I live a quarter of a mile from where the Discovery Channel set up a stage on the south side of the pier to promote its Shark Week shows of 2014. It created an event called Fin Fest and who better to be a headliner of two days of bands than the man who has a sling called “Fins.”
And he did play “Fins,” of course, before about 5,000 or so on Saturday, Aug. 9. Our feet were in the sand, five minutes before the show I walked to within about 20 yards of the stage and some people just stayed in their beach chairs and towels next to their coolers.
He played for an hour and did many of the songs we know: :Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Come Monday,” “Volcano,” “Changes in Attitudes” among them. Frankly, he plays the same songs in every show and as any Parrothead will tell you it’s not Buffett himself that is so spectacular but the spectacle of having Buffett play.
It was as awesome as it sounds!
So how does it rank among the 60 or so shows I’ve seen in the past? Well, I would put it in the Top 5 of course, maybe as high as #3.
At the top I would have to put a show at a small venue in Santa Barbara. I happen to score tickets on the 19th row that very day, drove up from L.A., and Buffett wound up playing solo for a while, just him and his acoustic guitar doing a medley of Caribbean sailing songs.
As for #2 just about any Saturday show from the Irvine Meadows days would qualify. Those tailgate parties were awesome!
But I would have to put down the show when I managed to score tickets in the front row!
I was just happy to see him again, and do have it be for free an 10-minute walk from my house ON THE BEACH and FOR FREE still has me asking, “Did it really happen. Was I really there!?”
Phins UP!!!
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