Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 8:32 a.m.
Jimmy Buffett has taken root in Las Vegas, and Thursday night the Floridian singer/songwriter reminded fans why his act works so well on the Strip.
The man knows how to throw a good party.
Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band celebrated the opening of the new restaurant/bar Margaritaville with two entertaining, albeit rather exclusive, live shows at the Flamingo Las Vegas.
The first drew 6,000 Parrot Heads (as Buffett's followers are known) to the hotel's main pool area, redesigned as a tropical locale at the foot of a massive stage setup.
Inflatable beer bottles and sea birds hung in the air. Men and women on stilts wandered through the crowd while handing out twisted-up balloon hats.
And the swimming pool itself? Filled in, with 2,500 tons of sand.
"I love what they've done with the pool at the Flamingo," Buffett joked early in his 70-minute set.
Attendees were contest winners, or those willing to spend hundreds to pry tickets from contest winners. Many of those closest to the stage traveled from out of state for the occasion.
Later in the night Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band packed onto the stage at Margaritaville, a new joint venture shared by the 57-year-old musician and the Flamingo.
"We are open for business!" Buffett proclaimed near the end of the 95-minute performance, as a mermaid slid down a volcano of margarita mix and into a massive blender.
Entry to the indoor event was even more limited, with around 600 invited guests on hand to witness the intimate spectacle.
Musically, Buffett took different approaches to his two Thursday concerts, the mark of a headliner with a cult-like fanbase keeping tabs on every song he plays.
For the main show, he played it fairly straight, serving up lots of familiar material featured on his greatest hits package "Songs You Know by Heart."
The bouncy steel drum and pedal-steel guitar island beats of "Fins," "Boat Drinks," "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and a "Margaritaville" encore had the audience singing and dancing and high-fiving in the sand.
"OK, everybody out of the pool," Buffett joked. "I've been waiting to say that all afternoon. Sorry, I thought I was Dennis Miller for a second there."
Later, Buffett made a wisecrack about Britney Spears' brief Las Vegas marriage, then remembered the concert was going out live over the Internet. "Well, it was nice having a club here for a week," he said.
As always, Buffett's strange sense of humor also worked its way into his music. "The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful" was cleverly witty. The same could not be said for "Why Don't We Get Drunk (and Screw)," a song that always seems to bring out horrific displays of public affection in audiences.
At the later show, Buffett transformed himself into something more akin to a lounge act, leading his mammoth 13-piece band through a series of esoteric material.
A few more hits were included, namely "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" and "Volcano," but most of the night was spent covering songs made famous by other artists.
Among them: James Taylor's "Mexico," Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Southern Cross," the Grateful Dead's "Scarlet Begonias," Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" and Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl."
The band even took a shot at James Brown's funk classic "I Feel Good," with the soulful Nadirah Shakoor handling lead vocals.
"For those of you who haven't seen us in a club before, welcome," Buffett said before reminding the room, "We came out of this environment years ago."
More musically adventurous in their bar band incarnation than in the confines of a large setting, the Coral Reefers were also aided by impressive acoustics inside Margaritaville.
As for the hordes of Parrot Heads turned away from the VIP event, or those unable to score tickets to the main concert, your chance to catch Buffett perform may not be far off.
"We've adopted (Las Vegas) as a second home," Buffett said. "I guess that means we have to come back more often."
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