Parrotheads in paradise

TAMPA -- Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band kept Tampa's party rocking for another weekend Saturday as they hit the St. Pete Times Forum for nearly three hours of rollicking music.

"I'm glad that we're just kind of bringing up the tail end of this train," Buffett said to a screaming, sellout crowd of 21,609, a new attendance record for the arena.

"You've got the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. ... Gasparilla just got done. Along comes the Coral Reefer Band. Good God!"

The diehards, known as Parrotheads, were more than ready.

That's because the beach party started nearly 12 hours before the band played the first notes of Tequila just after 8 p.m. Margaritas were flowing and barbecues (and fans) were smoking in the parking lots outside the Forum, all part of the preconcert Parrothead ritual.

So when the lei-festooned, beer-toting fans brought their fun inside, they were primed and ready for fins to the left, fins to the right, and all the songs they know by heart.

And the fit, trim, 56-year-old Buffett, who first hit the charts 30 years ago, still had it. This cultural icon can't help but conjure lazy summer afternoons on the beach, cool drink in hand, with his laid-back Florida sound.

During the two sets, Buffett offered about 30 songs. Though most never get mainstream radio play, all were singalongs. Sometimes the crowd finished first.

Many of the tunes were unchanged from the versions all knew and loved. As Buffett pointed out before launching into Come Monday, "I think you like it just the way it was."

But sometimes, he said, a song needs some revamping. He likened it to scraping the barnacles off an old boat to find that an excellent machine still exists underneath.

The band spent some time in Key West redefining some of the classics, he said, for a new CD that will come out "some time between now and the end of the world." They then played a lilting, Caribbean-tinged version of In the Shelter, and later, Saxophones with a new horn solo.

These were nice alternatives to the originals. He also took James Taylor's Mexico and Crosby Stills and Nash's Southern Cross and made them his own.

Of course, no Jimmy Buffett concert would be complete without Margaritaville, Volcano and Cheeseburger in Paradise. He did not disappoint. The Parrotheads definitely went home happy ... if they ever went home.

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