The Xfinity Center Parking lot turned into a giant beach party this month, with tailgaters arriving early to transform the pavement into a vacation fun-land. Thousands of Hawaiian or tie-dyed shirts brought color to the lot, with tropical flowers and leis around people’s necks, grass skirts, raffia hats and Margaritaville shirts from everywhere around the globe. There were makeshift tiki bars everywhere, and like what you’d expect from the “parrothead” community, I was offered free drinks by several of them as I walked by.

There were giant inflatable parrots, kiddie pools filled with adults in their swimsuits and even a pick-up truck bed filled with sand and beach chairs. Coconut-scented sunscreen and rum permeated the air, and everyone was as happy as drunken clams, whether they were 23 or 73. I even saw one man assisting a woman well in her 90s up to the line, and she was decked out, too. It’s one of those kinds of shows where you see people walking with canes and people riding on skateboards. There is no age limit for a Buffett fan.

I met Fran and Terry in line, a very nice couple from upstate New York who have been to eight Jimmy Buffett concerts across the country, including Nevada (Vegas), Florida, California and Massachusetts. They told me that they don’t believe they will hit true parrothead status until they reach the double digits, so they are well on their way to that goal.

Inside the venue, you almost felt like you were in Key West. The stage was covered with tropical plants and island instruments like steel drums and bongos. The large screen behind the stage had a beach scene, and the crowd before it, now having been enjoying drinks for hours, was hilarious. You expect to see people tossing beach balls at a concert, but I have never seen so many in all my show-going years. You honestly felt as if you were on spring break.

Buffet hit the stage, saying “It’s so nice to be at Great Woods again.” For those of you who haven’t been around that long, Xfinity Center was called Great Woods from 1986-1998 and most of us remember it that way.

He puts on his guitar, complete with a strap that says “SummerzCool” with palm trees on it, and begins to play, igniting the crowd who immediately throws their hands up, singing and cheering. He comments about the “amount of glaucoma medicine” floating around in the air and calls the amount of beach balls making their way to the stage a “meteor shower.”

Explaining why the tour was titled the I Don’t Know Tour, Buffet laughed as he said that is often his response when asked questions. “Where will they go next? What songs should we sing? I don’t know,” he quipped. There are big decorated question marks on the stage, bringing the whole idea home. Of course he followed with the “I Don’t Know” song, made famous by the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

“You know,” said Buffet. “I’ve really just been living on love and luck for a long time.” His statement was met with applause, as he broke into “Love and Luck.” He smiled the entire time he performed, which was a sharp contrast to the man on the steel drums, who kept a serious face the whole time (hey, maybe that was his happy face), ands the big screen behind them moved through scenes from everything to Key West to California, from Boston to Outer Space.

By that time, the “meteor shower” brought more than 30 beach balls onto the stage, and Buffet started kicking them back into the audience. I was amazed at his high-energy (he turns 70 on Christmas Day) as he sang “Fins,” getting the crowd energized with all of the actions that go with the song, as the whole crowd became like an ocean of dancing sharks with their arms above their heads. He followed this up by crowd favorite, “Margaritaville,” causing the audience to chant “Salt! Salt! Salt!” as they spilled their drinks on their neighbors, who didn’t seem to mind at all.

He then slowed things down a little to allow people to catch their breath, and he explained that for each show, they have a vote online to play a song that hasn’t been played live in 10+ years, and that the winner, “Quietly Making Noise,” is from his “French Period – aka a time when I was staying at a cheap hotel in Paris that Oscar Wilde once stayed at.”

Buffet switched to an acoustic as roadies rearranged the stage a bit and joined the side of the stage with several of the other musicians taking on different instruments. This side band, called the Show Ponies, and their cover of The Eagle’s “Take it Easy” was beautifully done.

He told a funny story about a time his caretaker crashed his car into the creek and how that incident inspired the song “Gypsies in the Palace,” which was a great rendition with the bluegrass spin on it.

Other songs included “Mother Ocean,” which he opened by saying he “hopes appeals to your piratical souls since Boston leads the way in pirate towns” and his hit, “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” And while some raised their phones and others raised their drinks, opposite arms around each other with a sense of family and friendship, he sang “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.” It led me to believe that there would be so much less hate in the world if people had a tropical drink, their butts in the sand and listened to Jimmy Buffett every day.

Photo and story by Jennifer Russo