Aren’t you glad they moved the traffic switch over the Route 29 railroad crossing to next weekend?
The rescheduling was in part to accommodate the thousands of Parrotheads who traveled from all over the East Coast to celebrate the unofficial end of summer with Jimmy Buffett.
The line of cars stretched from Linton Hall Road to the venue just prior to the opening of the parking lot 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Some sat for hours in front of the venue beginning their tailgating early in the morning.
The venue parking lot was filled, as expected, with a sea of floral leis, hula skirts and coconut bras—some even worn by the ladies.
No one was a stranger; each encampment was inhabited by festive tailgaters playing games and offering food and beverages to any Parrothead who happened by.
There was even a gentleman who bore a passing resemblance to the master of ceremonies himself.
Keith Diehl from Annapolis said he is often mistaken for Jimmy Buffett.
“I never try to fool anyone,” he said. “Maybe, once or twice.”
It was indeed the largest party in Bristow.
“Who else could draw tens of thousands of northerners and southerners to invade Bristow and not fight,” John Shoffner from Franklinville, N.J. said.
By the time the gates to the venue opened at 6 p.m., the party was in full swing.
Buffetts’s 2-hour set took the audience on journeys to exotic locales filled with fun, sun, sand, margaritas and carefree attitudes.
There was not a single soul in the audience who couldn’t subscribe to the philosophy of "It’s Five o’Clock Somewhere” and everything will be alright “Come Monday.”
But that’s what his music has always been about, living the stress-free life in the tropics.
Touring in support of his new album, the Songs from St. Somewhere Tour contained typical Buffett fare, old favorites with a few new songs.
He acknowledged that this year’s show was not on Labor Day like in the past few years, but the audience didn’t mind starting the party a few weeks early.
Buffett connected to the local fans by comparing his return from a 2011 stage accident in Sydney, Australia, to Redskins Quarterback Robert Griffin III.
“After jumping off the stage in Australia, I’m back. I’m good as RGIII,” he said.
Also included in this tour was a cover of Crowded House’s “Weather with You,” which Buffett used to comment on due to the wonderful un-August-like weather that blessed the evening.
As is typical with Jimmy Buffett’s shows, he regaled his audiences with the tales behind his songs.
Before he launched into his new “Too Drunk to Karaoke,” he related the story of being kicked off the stage of a Nantucket Karaoke bar for screwing up his own song.
“It was my own song; I couldn’t remember the lyrics,” he said.
Buffett ended his regular set with his version of Lionel Richie's “All Night Long,” on which the audience joyfully accompanied him.
“Margaritaville” came during the encore of the evening. However, just when the audience thought the party was over, Buffett returned to the stage alone to perform “Nautical Wheelers,” which he said he wanted to do at the request of 400 fans who signed a petition.
Buffett graciously thanked the Virginia Department of Transportation for having the forethought to delay the closing of part of Route 29 in neighboring Gainesville as it would have caused mass havoc with the concert traffic.
As the crowd dispersed after the show, some definitely still in the mood to continue the party, most took comfort in the fact that they’d see Buffett and all the Parrotheads in Bristow again next year.
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