THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608150406
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music review
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 62 lines
When Moses came down from the mountain, he had 10 commandments. When Jimmy Buffett came down from the spacious lawn of the Virginia Beach Amphitheater, where he kicked off Wednesday's sold-out concert, he only had one:
Thou shalt have fun.
And the Parrot Heads, all 20,000 of them, obeyed.
They wore loud shirts and silly hats adorned with parrots and sharks. They batted around balloons, beach balls and blow-up fish.
They did the ``Fins'' dance, swayed in unison to ``Come Monday'' and sang along to new songs like ``Holiday'' and ``Schoolboy Heart,'' and such chestnuts as ``A Pirate Looks at 40,'' ``Pencil Thin Moustache'' and ``Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.'' They didn't sit down the whole time.
It's a pretty safe bet, however, that no one had more fun than Buffett himself. He's been whipping up a tropical breeze for more than two decades now, but you'd never know it to watch him bouncing around and clowning on stage.
Dressed for the occasion in a T-shirt, shorts and deck shoes, he opened the two-hour show in high gear.
``The Pascagoula Run'' was followed by ``Grapefruit Juicy Fruit.'' He turned over the microphone on ``Why Don't We Get Drunk'' to Larry Wood of Virginia Beach and Nannette Raymond of Norfolk, winners of a contest sponsored by radio station WAFX-FM - but not before telling the audience that the song ``introduced me to Hunter Thompson and got me on Jerry Falwell's hit list.''
A rowdy ``Cheeseburger in Paradise'' closed the first half.
After intermission, Buffett reaffirmed that he is really a storyteller at heart. Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and joined by Robert Greenidge on steel drums, he made ``Son of a Son of a Sailor'' sound as poignant as it did in 1978.
Harpist ``Fingers'' Taylor, one of the original Coral Reefers, provided the backup for the equally touching ``Sending the Old Man Home.'' ``It's My Job,'' a duet with the gifted guitarist Mac McAnally, ranked as one of the evening's highlights.
From there, Buffett picked up the pace again, covering Van Morrison's ``Brown Eyed Girl'' and bringing the show to a close with the one song everybody knows by heart: ``Margaritaville.''
Wednesday night's party began hours before Buffett took the stage. Parrot Heads in vans, motor homes and U-Hauls were lined up along Concert Drive by 3 p.m. Gene Taylor of Richmond was at the front of the line.
``We went up to Nissan Pavilion (outside Manassas) last year,'' said Taylor, 43.
``And there must have been 10,000 people in the parking lot three or four hours before the concert started. We were absolutely amazed. We came early for the tailgating party.''
Stuart Jones, 49, joined Taylor for the trip to Virginia Beach.
``He lives the life everybody wants to live,'' Jones said of Buffett. ``No socks, warm weather, clear water. Sweet and easy. Margaritaville.'' ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Earl Bolden of Newport News waits in line at the amphitheater. Fans
started lining up on Concert Drive by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
About 20,000 fans, many wearing loud shirts and silly hats adorned
with parrots and sharks, came to hear Jimmy Buffett at the Virginia
Beach Amphitheater, above. At left, Shawn Quinn of Poquoson rides to
the parking lot in Parrot Head style. by CNB