Lucky Fans Kick Back with
Buffett |
| Listen up, Parrot Heads. It's official - summer's here. It arrived at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday when Jimmy Buffett sang "Margaritaville" at North Charleston Coliseum, part of the final rehearsal for his summer road show, which opens in Charlotte Tuesday. The song, with its images of a blown-out flip flop, a foot cut on a pop top and the smell of shrimp beginning to boil, is to beach season what "Jingle Bells" is to the winter holidays. "Memorial Day. Free beer. Free show. Get down," Buffett said with a laugh. The Corona was ice cold, the 14-piece band was red hot and Buffett was relaxed and playful as he delivered hits such as "Volcano," "Fins" and "Cheeseburger In Paradise." When it came time for an encore, he said to imagine he and the band had left the stage and now they were back so everybody yell a lot to show they're glad. And they were - particularly Ashley and Brian Nydish of Charlotte, who were vacationing in Charleston. They had a chance encounter with Buffett on Wednesday while having breakfast at Charleston Place. He invited them to the dress rehearsal show on Saturday. They hadn't been able to get tickets to Buffett's summer tour opening concert in Charlotte. Ashley Nydish said her husband, a pharmaceuticals salesman, was thrilled with the invitation. She said it was the perfect ending to their weeklong vacation in Charleston. "If Brian could be anybody else, he would be Jimmy Buffett," she said as her daughter, Lauren, slept in her arms. She called the pediatrician back home before the show to make sure the sound wouldn't hurt her kid's hearing. Brian Nydish said Buffett was nice to him at the restaurant. "He actually grabbed us on the way out to take a picture," Nydish said. The show was like a big family picnic. Mothers danced with their babies. Toddlers ran about as moms chased them. Teens and graybeards stood side by side, singing along to Buffett songs. At first, people sat in seats on the coliseum lower level or at tables on the floor. Toward the end of the show, a dancing crowd pressed against the stage. Buffett joked with the crowd of about 1,000 when he first walked on stage about 1:30 p.m. The concert was an invitation-only affair for friends and supporters. "It looks like high school graduation, doesn't it?" he said. During the show, he talked about how well he and the band had been treated during their two weeks in Charleston. It's the third year in a row he has rehearsed his hugely popular summer tour at the coliseum. "This is kind of like spring training for us. It's always a pleasure to come here every year. We'll keep doing this as long as we keep playing," he said. The show has an astronaut, a belly dancer and large-screen video of Walter Cronkite introducing the title track to Buffett's new album, "Beach House On The Moon." Cronkite appears as the anchorman of a show called "Margarita Vision." In his sonorous tones, he tells Buffett, "It's time to kick the tires and light those fires, son." In the video, Buffett then proceeds to launch his seaplane, which has larger-than life abilities to fly in outer space. The theme continues with a curtain at the rear of the stage painted with a distant vision of the Earth as seen from a tropical beach shack. "We're at the beach house on the moon sitting and waiting for something to happen," Buffett said on stage. What happened next was his performance of "Margaritaville." Buffett localized the song with references to "South Carolina cuties." The show also had some video of Charleston firemen standing in front of a fire truck while singing "Changes in Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes." At the end of the concert, Buffett wished everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day. He knelt on stage to sign autographs for a while before waving goodbye. He heads out on a tour that is one of the biggest draws of the summer. Last year, all 45 Buffett concerts - 900,000 tickets - sold out. The total gross was $24 million. Buffett has played two sold-out shows at the coliseum. So far, the coliseum is not listed on his current tour. |
|
|
