3/4/2021 Jimmy Buffett, SIU Arena, Carbondale, IL


 40 years ago today...

March 4, 1981 - Carbondale, IL

Jimmy Buffett played his signature  trop rock show in bringing the Key West sound to the SIU Arena.

Regular readers of TSTT will notice this concert comes one year and one day from yesterday's entry at the same venue.

Buffett moved from theatres to arenas when his popularity exploded when "Margaritaville" hit the airwaves just a few years earlier.  He was now a major concert draw, and had captured his live show's energy and attitude with the double live album "You Had To Be There" released in 1978.

This tour was behind the "Coconut Telegraph" album which had been out only a few weeks.  I was thrilled when MCA Records sent me an advance promotional copy of the vinyl, and offered me the opportunity for a pre-concert interview!  

I listened to that record dozens of times to prep for the interview and had all my questions lined up.  Sadly, the interview was cancelled by his manager the day before the show, claiming fatigue and illness.  Ugh!

I wrote a positive review of the "Coconut Telegraph" album for the newspaper to advance the show.  The song "Growing Older But Not Up" from the record remains a truth today.  "The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful" sounds perfectly normal in the phone call home following seaside happy hour.  The concert was a party for SIU students, many fantasizing over upcoming spring break plans of pop tops and flip flops to a Buffett soundtrack.

Not one to miss a marketing opportunity, Jimmy made being a Parrot-head a lifestyle, and "Margaritaville" the place to get a Cheeseburger In Paradise, T-shirts, beach hats and that frozen concoction that helps you hang on.

Buffett opened his first Margaritaville restaurant and retail store in 1985, four years after this concert.  In 2008, a Margaritaville opened at the Westgate Plaza in Glendale, just across the courtyard from the hockey and concert arena.  Jimmy played a free invitation-only acoustic show in the courtyard for the grand opening event.  This was a fun show and scene and a true License to Chill.

In the end, goodtime Gulf & Western music and cool merchandising couldn't overcome average food, spotty service and mediocre margaritas (!) and the Glendale store closed after just six years.



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