Jimmy Buffett Brings Life on Flip Side to Arkansas

Julian Spivey Photo

by Julian Spivey
Jimmy Buffet and The Coral Reefer Band brought their brand of fun-loving, beach oriented music to the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers, Ark. on Thursday, June 9 as part of the Life on the Flip Side Redux tour.

The Rogers date was originally scheduled for the summer of 2021, but was postponed to this summer due to ongoing waves of Covid-19 last year throughout the U.S. The Life on the Flip Side Redux tour is to support Buffett’s 2020 album Life on the Flip Side, his 30th studio album.

Buffett would perform three songs off his newest album during his show, including the show opening “Down at the Lah De Dah,” which isn’t honestly something that interested me a whole bunch, even though I kind of hate to fall into the “play the hits” stereotype, but the majority of the packed crowd didn’t seem to mind much. Buffett would also play “The Slow Lane,” one of the few highlights from that album, and “Mailbox Money” during the set.

This was my third time seeing Jimmy Buffett, all in the last decade, and he’s always a pleasure to see because you know you’re going to have a fun time and you know you’re going to get a certain amount of hits mixed in as Buffett has what’s known as “The Big Eight,” which are part of his tongue-in-cheek “Songs You Know By Heart” and he plays at every show. These are, of course, fan-favorites and among the biggest “hits” of his career. There are other songs that have found their way into most of Buffett’s setlists over the years like “Son of a Son of a Sailor” (thankfully) and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” with Buffett sharing vocals with his sideman Mac McAnally, which I don’t need to hear at every Buffett show, but I understand it was a massive collaborative hit between him and country music legend Alan Jackson.

Buffett got to his first of “The Big Eight” early on in his set performing “Fins,” from his 1979 album Volcano, as the second song in his set. This would be followed by the obligatory “Hog Call,” as every concert in Arkansas seems to have with locals paying tribute to their favorite team – the Razorbacks from the University of Arkansas. It’s something I’ve come accustomed to from shows in Little Rock, but is certainly a necessity in Rogers, less than 30 miles up the road from Fayetteville (home of the Hogs). Buffett’s keyboardist Mike Utley is a graduate from the U of A and a Blytheville, Ark. native, so it was big for him to lead the crowd in the chant.

I’ve long wanted to see Buffett perform more deeper cuts in his concerts in place of stuff like “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” and covers like “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Southern Cross” (even though they’re great), but at 75 years old it doesn’t seem like something that’s going to happen. It might not be a popular choice among the party crowd that frequents his shows.

This is one of the reasons why “Pencil Thin Mustache,” off 1974’s Living and Dying in ¾ Time, which he played early in the show was one of my favorite performances of the evening. It’s a deeper cut, but one that still fits into the vibe of his live shows.

Buffett’s best era was his ‘70s output with every album from 1973’s A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean through 1977’s Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes being classics. Buffett would perform eight tracks from these albums throughout the night and most were among my favorites of the evening (I can do without “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” – a song I didn’t even realize existed until I was an adult, as my Parrothead father who introduced me to Buffett’s music would always fast-forward or skip on family trips). The five tracks performed from Son of a Son of a Sailor and Volcano, Buffett’s later ‘70s albums of mostly quality material were also good choices, including “Cowboy in the Jungle,” which is a nice surprise to hear live, though I think I’ve heard him do it in concert previously.

My favorite Buffett song – and thus my favorite performance of the show – was “Come Monday,” which was Buffett’s first career Top 40 hit topping out at No. 30 on the pop chart in 1974 and also got cross-airplay on country music stations. It was a bit bittersweet for me though, as I always attend live shows with my wife, Aprille, but she was unable to attend due to contracting Covid earlier in the week. I still got to share this one performance with her via FaceTime.

Other songs I always love to hear Buffett perform live are “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” and “Son of a Son of a Sailor.”

Buffett would finish his set with the song that isn’t just his biggest and most known hit, but truly led to a multi-millionaire business and lifestyle for the artist – “Margaritaville.” “Margaritaville” is always a great live performance with the crowd truly going apeshit to hear it. Buffett performed the “Australia” version of the song with a verse about the time he fell off a stage and hurt himself during an Australian concert.

Buffett would return to uproarious applause for a two-song encore that included the Crosby, Stills and Nash cover “Southern Cross” with the Coral Reefer Band and then a wonderful solo performance of “Tin Cup Chalice,” from my all-time favorite Buffett album A-1-A.

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