Jimmy Buffett: Celebrating Changes in Latitudes

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  04.28.06 | 3:45 PM ET

image
Last Saturday, on a drizzly Southern California evening, I took in my first Jimmy Buffett concert, joining thousands of rabid Parrotheads festooned with Aloha shirts, shark-fin hats and other tropical-inspired accoutrements. I invested in the requisite margarita. A couple of friends wearing grass skirts greeted me and my wife with offerings of plastic leis. And as Buffett launched into his classics—“Margaritaville,” “Coconut Telegraph,” “Volcano,” and my favorite, his cover of the Crosby, Stills & Nash song evoking a ruminative sailing trip to Papeete, “Southern Cross”—I was transported.

It’s easy to be cynical about Buffett. Sure, he’s a savvy businessman cashing in on the tropical fantasies of overworked, landlocked pop fans yearning for a vacation. And no, he’s not exactly a musical genius.

But I’m a sucker for his songs, the best of which tell sweet little travel stories. He’s a master showman. Even when a cool rain began to fall, soaking straw hats and dampening flip-flops, few people left.

Buffett is touring the U.S. well into September this year. For anyone who can’t get away to an island for a couple of weeks (and even for those who can), a Jimmy Buffett show just might offer a little tropical escape.