Early Tour Thoughts

[SharkysMV1]

Just curious if anyone on here has had a chance to watch/listen to the first few shows of the I Don't Know Tour? I caught the stream of the Frisco show, and while the song selection was pretty good, I did feel the show overall was a bit more gimmicky than usual. I do like the 4 song per album treatment, but some of the other stuff just seemed a bit "off" or rusty. The talking coconut (that is supposed to sound like the "Dude" from The Big Lebowski) was just not my thing and has come off a bit cheesy in my mind. JB also seems to be pushing some political agendas more so than in previous years, which I understand are important to him, but I feel have the potential to alienate some fans. And a Summerzcool opener? Hmm.

Maybe i'm in the minority here, but at this point I kind of wish the shows would get back to the basics, Bars, Boats, Beaches, and Ballads, per se. I get he is trying to keep gaining new fans and age groups, but it just seems a bit, hmm, much.

This year I really wanted to see how the tour shapes up and maybe splurge for some Mansfield tickets. I dont know if that will happen though. I'm sorry if i'm a debbie-downer here. I guess i miss the old days (which actually werent too long ago). I also dont want to spoil it for anyone who is seeing their first buffett show this year. Crossing my fingers the rust comes off soon!! I will be listening and watching all the shows i can, dont worry!

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Jeff Bridges is in fact the voice of the coconut

[CrowleyGator]

I was at the Frisco show and yes, the "Clairvoyant Coconut" came off as really hokey.

I think Jimmy said he was battling some sort of cold at the show that night - made sense, as what I had heard of the Nashville show and parts of the Frisco show he sounded a bit "off." The set list felt like some of the standards were just crammed in toward the end of the show to make sure he got them all in.

And when he wasn't talking to that coconut, he didn't have a lot of between song banter or commentary. At one point he went from Cheeseburger to Pirate to CiLCiA to OPHarbour with nothing more than a Memorial Day mention for the troops at the intro to Harbour. No Hula hula hula, no talking about grass skirts or pirate country. It felt like he was just trying to get to the end of the show.

I chalked it up to maybe still not feeling well from the cold. Hope he's feeling better and that the show improves. Don't get me wrong, we still had a blast and loved being there. But it didn't feel like the Master Storyteller was on top of his game that night. And I'm afraid we'll see/hear more from that danged coconut the rest of the tour.

[slimerbacca]

I listened to the Frisco show, it was great

I drove up for the Atlanta show last night. Lots of great times even though the venue is far away!

[HurricaneSeason]

I haven't heard anything so I can't comment there but the set lists, they seem to be better than the previous few years. There are still exceptions, like BEG being played at all, but overall it seems pretty good. Summerzcool as an opener is awesome! It's a great tune and it's good that he's doing a recent song. TWIH,WYWB is one of my faves. Delaney is a nice song but there are better songs on FRUITCAKES that I'd prefer to hear (EGACIM or Lone Palm) but whatever, at least it's not Vampires. TTRWHS is nice, as is Tin Cup. Bama Breeze, Life Is Just A Tire Swing, Meet Me In Memphis, Barometer Soup - holy crap! Awesome! Only Time Will Tell? Love that song, it kicks. Rancho Deluxe? Everybody's On The Phone? Awesome.

Sure he threw in the SYKBH stretch with 5 O'Clock, OPH, CIP, APLAF, SC, V and CILCIA but at least it was at the end. And SOASOAS has been earlier in the set list.

So hopefully he'll continue to throw in gems like these because it's as good as it will ever get.

[Air M'Ville Cap'n]

Man I've really had a Buffett drought lately. I haven't seen him in maybe 3 years. Whenever there has been a close show I've been out of town. This year the closest he came was Dallas, and that's really not that close