Jimmy Buffett World Discussion Board

I have been to twenty eight concerts by Mr. Buffett and loved each and everyone either here at home in Florida or on the road in Las Vegas, Texas, Michigan. I always want to go to the next show like this last one I went to "Songs From St. Somewhere" I was hoping for some of the music I loved off of that CD like "Earls Dead", "Serpentine", "The Rocket Grandpa Drove", and "Useless and Important Information". I did not hear any of that, which I thought in Florida you would at lease do "Earl's Dead" because we all down here knows the Tamiami Trail. I also see the next concert coming is "This ones For You" as I look thru the set lists, again the same old songs. Not that I like everyone else, loves the old stuff, but please use more new music in concert, please and Thank You...........

I hear ya. I'd love for a little more variety. A couple times the past few years he's said he'd feature an old album on one night, then a different one the next night, and so on. Then I think he did that one or two nights and then abandoned it. I'd love to see certain staples like "Brown Eyed Girl" replaced by something out of the back catalog.

I say that, but then when I'm at a show, "Brown Eyed Girl" is actually a fun one to sing a long to at a show. So I imagine that's why he does it.

I think he does it to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It's what brings out the casual fans and fill arenas and amphitheaters. That said, I still think he could mix it up a bit. There are probably a dozen songs he has to play to bring out the casual fans. That means he's go another 15-18 songs in which he could really mix things up.

brown eyed, knee deep, and southern cross seem to get a lot of setlist time. Their should be a change there,
so many other tunes he could plug in.

The obvious reason is if you took a pole at a concert of the people who are able to answer the question what songs are you favorites and I would bet you 80% of the people would name all the songs off Songs You Know by Heart and 5 O'clock and probably Knee Deep.

To this day I have no idea what Knee Deep is.

If he never played Brown Eyed Girl again it would be too soon.

Southern Cross is good... on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. That was SIXTEEN YEARS AGO. Hell, into 17 years now.

He's been ignoring the majority of songs from the new LP he's touring since Fruitcakes came out. It makes zero sense. Maybe a majority of the crowd is a drunk idiot that only knows those SYKNBH and 5 O'Clock Somewhere but that's no reason to not make the rest of the set list a challenge. To do some actual good songs. To do some good songs that never or hardly get played.

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It actually makes perfect sense. Go to your local bar or venue that hosts live local bands. Ask them why they play cover songs. The MAJORITY of people don't go out on a Saturday night to spend their hard earned money and have a good time only to wind up listening to a bunch of songs they don't know. A local band, no matter how good they are, will CLEAR a dance floor with an original. They play Brown Eyed Girl, it's packed. It's simple you play what the masses want to hear. JB might be slightly different in that he has a large and loyal following of people who know his songs, but it still applies that the most popular songs will remain the most popular, and given there's limited set time those are the songs he will play.

I think the set list that is being voted on for the Key West show explains why Jimmy keeps playing the same songs year after year. Even when he gives the fans a chance to pick the set list it has the same old standards on it. The Buffett fans who know and appreciate his whole catalog are in the minority at the concerts so JB plays to the majority.

STL Parrot wrote:I think the set list that is being voted on for the Key West show explains why Jimmy keeps playing the same songs year after year. Even when he gives the fans a chance to pick the set list it has the same old standards on it. The Buffett fans who know and appreciate his whole catalog are in the minority at the concerts so JB plays to the majority.

And that is a goddamn shame. There are Parrotheads and JB fans.