I’m sober. This is news only because I attended my first Jimmy Buffett concert Saturday in Dallas and people who attend those concerts tend generally not to be sober.
I fell in with the wrong crowd of Parrotheads, about 25,000 of them. It was an experience I won’t soon forget. I just wish I remembered more about it.
I was there with a great group of guys, including my long-time friend Doug Baber. We drove down Saturday morning and got to Dallas around 1:30. We checked into our motel and figured we were going to arrive at the concert, scheduled to begin at 7:30, in plenty of time. When we pulled in, at around 4, the parking lots were almost full. We finally got a spot more than two miles from Pizza Hut Park, where Buffett was performing.
I saw Buffett in 1978 as a warm-up act for the Eagles. But Buffett is a much different creature these days. People travel from all over the country to see him at his concerts. There were countless RVs and motor homes and the pre-concert tailgate party was much bigger than anything I had ever seen before _ including a Chiefs game at Arrowhead.
Beer, beer and more beer flowed. Marguaritas made many a cup runneth over. It was a crazy scene, especially when you consider a bunch of people my age were the ones making it.
Once inside for the concert _ well, what can I say. People were crazy. Buffett was amazing. My personal favorite was his rendition of Southern Cross by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Of course, he played all of his standards. I loved Fins and Son of a Son of a Sailor most.
Incredible experience. The throbbing inside my head told me so.
2 Comments
Two mile walk to arena. Was that one way , round trip, or do you not remember. In Wichita, that would equate to parking north of the Sedgwick County jail then walking past the new Casino to get to the proposed arena. Sounds like a fun evening. Guess I will just go to the Casino and park in their garage.
Yeah, Gary, you tell ‘em. I mean, the idea of not being able to park right at the front door of a venue is just appalling. In fact, every time I have to walk when I go to a Chiefs game, a concert somewhere, an event in OKC, places like that–every time ihave to walk I just cringe at how many more times I will have to “Supersize” my Big Mac Meal to offset that exercise I am getting. Oh, the horror. I swear, I don’t get the complaining about having to walk to a parking place. How do the folks in Chicago survive? I talke my wife shopping on Michigan Ave a few times a year–she doesn’t seem to complain about having to walk all the way down the that long strech of shops…