Jimmy Buffett Brings Margaritaville to Central Arkansas in Little Rock Show

by Julian Spivey
Despite the dreary, wet weather and nearby record flooding the mood inside Verizon Arena on Thursday night, June 6 was all sunshine, ocean waves and the fun of Margaritaville as Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band bought the Son of a Son of a Sailor – High Tide tour to North Little Rock, Ark. for a night of his biggest hits.
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The performance was Buffett’s first in Arkansas since 2012, though he had another scheduled show since then canceled due to wintry weather.

Parrotheads were ready to party and some had been doing so since 11 a.m. that morning tailgating near the venue despite the less than stellar weather.

When Buffett began his show a few minutes after 8 p.m. he kicked things off with “License to Chill,” the title track off his 2004 collaborative album with a who’s who of country music superstars of that era. That album came hot off the trail of his 2003 collaboration with Alan Jackson, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” which was a no. 1 country hit (the first no. 1 song of Buffett’s career – his only other would also be a country collaboration of “Knee Deep” with Zac Brown Band in 2011). Buffett routinely performs “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” in concert with his right-hand man Mac McAnally, a terrific songwriter in his own right.

Parrotheads everywhere likely know that Buffett has what’s know as “The Big 8” – eight songs that he performs at every show – and those were, of course, many of the highlights of his show at Verizon as the so-called “Songs You Know By Heart” of his discography. Seven of these songs have pretty much gone unchanged over the years and are: “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Come Monday,” “Fins,” “Margaritaville” and “Volcano.”

For many years “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” was a part of the standard ‘Big 8,’ but is only played occasionally by Buffett these days, he did grace the Little Rock crowd with this song’s appearance Thursday night to great applause. The song that often replaces it in the set is “One Particular Harbour,” also performed on Thursday.

“The Big 8” truly has everything for the Parrotheads from what’s essentially Buffett’s theme song “Margaritaville,” which he performed as the final song in his regular set before his encore, to party novelty hits like “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and fantastically written ballads like “Come Monday,” my personal favorite of his work,” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty.” Personally, I’ve always been a bigger fan of Buffett’s ballads than his party songs, that sometimes are overdone in concert. Also, how is “Son of a Son of a Sailor” not considered one of his “Big” songs?

Something Buffett has been doing on tour lately, that I don’t believe he was doing the last time I saw him live seven years ago, is stripping things down just a bit in a midsection part of his show where he gets back to his New Orleans roots a bit with a more jazzy feel where he regaled the audience with some stuff you might not often hear at a Buffett show like “Dreamsicle,” “Pencil Thin Mustache,” “Frenchman for the Night” and a newer Will Kimbrough penned song “Half Drunk,” which Buffett described as a “Why Don’t We Get Drunk Lite.”

This is the type of thing I’d love to see Buffett do more in concert – in fact I’d like to see him do an entire tour of it. I think he could play his “Big 8” – party songs and all – and still do a show mostly of introspective ballads and rarities that he rarely, if ever, does live. I think true Parrotheads would not only be OK with this type of tour from Buffett but might actually love hearing some of those great songs from nearly perfect albums like A-1-A, Living and Dying in ¾ Time, Havana Daydreamin’ and Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes that aren’t often seen.

A few performances I really enjoyed hearing on Thursday night that I wasn’t necessarily expecting were Buffett’s take on Rodney Crowell’s “Stars on the Water,” which he cut on his 1983 album One Particular Harbour, “Grapefruit – Juicy Fruit,” off 1973’s A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (one of the all-time great album titles) and “Last Mango in Paris,” off his 1985 album of the same name. Buffett also played his usual great cover of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s 1982 top-20 hit “Southern Cross.”

After his uproarious performance of “Margaritaville,” and a lot of the audience dumbfoundedly filed out like it was the only song they came to see, Buffett returned to the stage with the supremely talented Coral Reefer Band, that includes longtime keyboardist and Blytheville, Ark. born and University of Arkansas graduate Michael Utley, for a great encore that included “We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About,” “Love and Luck” and a cover of Bob Marley’s “One Love.”

“One Love” has been the finisher at almost all of Buffett’s recent shows so I was incredibly surprised and completely appreciative when he stayed on stage after the rest of his band left and performed “Tin Cup Chalice,” off A-1-A (my favorite Buffett album), just him and his acoustic guitar. That’s my favorite Jimmy Buffett and it was a beautiful way to end a great night of music.

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