Nissan Retrospect

[Fred]

2009 Buffett at Nissan ...

It was a great, great time, with everyone who came for the Thursday show ... our group was small, but BIG on friendship and fun! Food was great, and everyone on "Tailgate Row" became a family before the afternoon was finished.

I met folks from all over Virginia from Roanoke to Tidewater, Fredrecksburg to Pulaski. There were lots from Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and I met folk from as far away as Nashville, Chicago, and New Orleans. There were people speaking Hindu in the bar-b-que line!

SPECIAL THANKS to the Washington D.C. Parrot Head club for the nice invitation to their "Celebrity" party tent to meet the Coral Reefers ... from the photos you can see I got rather friendly with Nadirah! Ooba Dooba.

The band was fabulous ... as usual ... and the megatron screens had an awesome video presentation of super close-ups mixed tastefully with video from the Band's road experiences, shots from the tailgating crowds, spectacular sailing footage and island locations. I would have to confess, the media was possibly BETTER than the actual group performing. Jimmy played a different guitar for nearly every song. I lost count at 8.

Good times, good people, good food and good music! A good time was had by all.

I did enjoy myself in spite of the challenges and pitfalls.

Buffett remote, pitchy

Buffett performed a good mix of old and new tunes, and the audience was ready and willing to sing along, whether in tune or not. During the encore Jimmy debuted the song "Beautiful Swimmers" which was recorded as a demo track cut from the Far Side of the World CD but never released.

In the days following, we had an opportunity to chat with a number of attendees, and there seemed to be an underlying feeling of "not quite fulfilling." Several 'locals' admitted that the Doobie Brothers show the week before was "much better."

None of the usual interaction with the audience was there. Although Buffett did mention Virginia locations and attractions in some of the songs, he didn't really speak to the audience. Only once or twice did he 'chat' about the event or an upcoming song. Other than Pirate at 40, none of the 'history' was mentioned, as we hear on some of the albums and videos. Same old, same old.

Buffett was pitchy in many of the songs -- and many familiar lines in songs were shouted rather the sung. Many of the high passages have been replaced an octave lower, or spoken. The lyrics of "Margaritaville" -- the laid-back song we all know and love -- were replaced by shouts -- purely for crowd appeasement. He did add in the new verse.

Many of Jimmy’s lyrics were swallowed, muddy or distorted. He would frequently turn toward the band and entire passages of lyrics were lost to the crowd. You could not hear backup vocals either. Nadirah couldn’t be heard except her solo in "Sailer" ... for the bulk of the show, she was reduced to stage decoration.

The audio sound mix for the performance was not well balanced, a huge disappointment. For the millions worth of sound equipment one might certainly expect it to be PERFECT. Well, it wasn't. Doyle may as well not have been there except for "Get Drunk." Steel guitar, keyboards and steel drums were heard only on quiet band passages. I don't even know why there was an organ on stage, you couldn't hear it. Bass and drums were over-mic'd, squashing most of the nuances of the music. Subtle riffs were lost in the din of drums and guitars scrubbed in unison, or audience noise. (When all three guitars are scrubbing the same chords, you don't really need two of them.)

A number of comments all echoed the sentiment that Buffett seemed to "just be going through the motions" or "it's just a job... get paid and move on." One died-in-the-wool parrot head rendered the lame excuse: "... typical Buffett show." I, for one, was there for the music, the spectacle was secondary. When the music suffers, "typical Buffett show" just doesn't cut it.

Buffett concerts in the future? I'll go to a much smaller venue -- or not at all.

Tarnished by the inept Nissan management

$30-bucks to park on PUBLIC EASEMENT to the highway -- rather than the legal Nissan parking lot was inexcusable. In fact, illegal in most highway jurisdictions. I had to wonder who looked the other way, or who got the $30 because technically it should have been collected by the county. It is strictly illegal to collect fees to park in public space. Period.

Then there was the stupid water bottle policy in the venue. You were 'allowed' one, sealed water bottle inside -- the rules read. Except, at the gate you were forced to pour out into a flimsy plastic cup the latex-gloved gate guards provided. This caused a huge bottleneck at getting in (no pun intended) so we missed the first three numbers of the show. Nothing "green" about Nissan - double the waste for 10,000 plastic bottles -- with plastic cups.

For the most part, the staff was clueless. Several we asked didn't know where seats were, nor isles through the lawn. One 'usher' said straight out ... "how do you expect me to know where the seats are?" To top it off, those attempting to exit in the last moments of the final applause, found the gates locked -- no exit until an 'official' unlocked the gate. FIRE CODE VIOLATIONS on locked exits at the end of the show is not acceptable -- and illegal. We've all heard of tragedies with crowds trying to get out quickly, only to be blocked by locked egress!

While it's not Nissan's fault -- everyone stood up for the entire concert ... I found it odd they paid $139 for a seat and then didn't sit in it. People too drunk to complain, or to busy throwing up or passing out to realize there was anything to complain about...

All is fair in love and war . . . and rock concerts.

I will NOT go back to Nissan, unless MAYBE to see Jimi Hendrix or the Beatles.