“Yes I am pirate, 200 years too late, the canons don’t thunder, there’s nothing to plunder, I’m an over 40 victim of fate… [from Jimmy Buffett’s 1974 release, A1A.
Many folks observed the earring. Coming home, the next day, going through security, “You saw Buffett last night? It was good, wasn’t it!”
There were a couple of high points from the show, especially in the first of two sets. Might have been some high points in the second set, but I can’t vouch for veracity after intermission.
That favorite lyric, from a “Pirate Looks at Forty,” that was done as a dual performance, just two guitars to entertain what looked like a sold out Dallas Music Center. Recently, those lyrics have really moved me. There was an old-style bluegrass version of “Boat Drinks,” and then, an unusual commentary for his bawdy anthem.
“This is the song that got me kicked out of Nashville,” Buffett claimed, “and you people said, ‘Come on down to Texas,’ (Why don’t we get drunk and screw)….”
Good, good show. It was a tad cool under the stars, but Boat Drinks abounded, two good old boys from Lubbock feed me cheeseburgers, life was grand under the stars. Or under the Dallas clouds, it never really cleared up.
The Dallas crowd surprised me, I’ve seen shows there before, but the crowd Thursday night was into it, like, in a big way. For example, we were almost on the back row of the reserved seating, and yet, when “Fins” started, there was a solid sea of hand held up in the traditional Parrothead style.
The Dallas-area Parrotheads seemed more enthusiastic than ever before. The show was that comfortable, almost predictable mix of old and new, and strange crowd, as ever there was. Old folks, folks who’ve probably been to Buffett shows from the beginning. Then younger, maybe newer devotees of the genre.
During the set change, I was standing in the beer line (part and parcel of the designated driver, you know,) fetching what has to be the most expensive draft beer I’ve ever seen, and I missed part of the basketball reference. I did get to see the space shuttle video clip, talk about Parrotheads all over the place.
