By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Music Blogger
I am still somewhat in denial mode but eventually I will accept the fact that Jimmy Buffett is no longer with us. It’s tough because even right now I am listening to him sing “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes” on Radio Margaritaville.
But, as the signature lyric in that song states, “if we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane,” and that is the approach us Parrotheads must take when it comes to Jimmy. And while there are no more concerts – for several years, I organized party buses to his LA shows at Irvine Meadows and on MY the memories!– we do have alternatives. And thank goodness, because not only is the Coral Reefer Band keeping the party going by playing shows but locally in cities around the country there are Jimmy Buffett tribute bands.
They vary to a degree. Here in Southern California we have Mark Wood, who is kind of mellow type of singer with a backup band and The Jimmy’s Buffet (prounounced like the food buffet; Instagram: @thejimmysbuffet) a high-energy group that puts on a get-involved show. I hear the latter whenever I can and one recent show in San Diego’s Ocean Beach was above all the others.
I can’t quite say what sparked it but the band was ON that night. It was very tight and precise and performed with an extra level of energy. The stage setup inside the live music venue The Holding Company looked like the tropics with palm trees and a video of waves rolling up to a beach. The lighting gave the place a tiki bar vibe and the band’s roadie (the husband of the steel drum player) came out in a fast food uniform and started flipping “cheeseburgers” to the crowd with a spatula during “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and then donned a shark suit for “Fins.”
But more than that, it was the song selection that took it over the top. The show started off with “Boat Drinks” and then moved to Pencil Thin Mustache, “Changes in Latitudes” and also tossed in some classics that only true Buffett fans know and can appreciate and you don’t ofter hear tribute bands play. Those songs were “Barometer Soup” (a personal favorite), “Coconut Telegraph,” “Livingston Saturday Night” (which, ironically, was playing on Radio Margaritaville as I typed this section), “Cuban Crime of Passion,” “Why Don’t We Get Drunk (And Screw),” “The Weather Is Here” and “Lage Nom Ai.”
All this got to me emotionally so much so that I started to cry. I cried because those songs reminded me of all the great times on party buses, all the concerts I attended and all the good friends I was with at the shows. I told myself it was silly to cry over such things but at the same time, there are times you have to let your emotions go and not hold in things. When that moment passed, I was back to singing and enjoying the performance. At times, I felt could have closed my eyes and been back at Irvine Meadows.
The Jimmy’s Buffets come about as close as possible to replicating what it was like at a Buffett concert. They are not Jimmy but they and other Buffett tribute bands are all we have now, and I am grateful for them.
Kevin Wilkerson is a self-confessed Parrothead who attended some 60 Jimmy Buffett shows, including the final concert in San Diego. He often writes about his Jimmy Buffett experiences here on PubClub.com. No AI or ChatGTP was used to write this story.
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