Keep the Party Going, as the show is billed, takes place seven months after Buffett died from skin cancer in September at age 76, leaving behind a lifestyle empire that reportedly made him a billionaire — and, of course, a deep catalog of wryly literate songs that blend country, pop, folk, rock and Caribbean music.
In the wake of his death came warm remembrances from the likes of former President Clinton, who said Buffett’s work “brought happiness to millions of people,” and Alan Jackson, with whom Buffett recorded the No. 1 country hit “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” Elton John called him “a unique and treasured entertainer”; LL Cool J said he was “glad we had time to vibe.”
Among the many acts set to perform at the Bowl are Paul McCartney, the Eagles, Jon Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Brandi Carlile, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Sheryl Crow, Zac Brown, Jack Johnson, Pitbull and members of Buffett’s longtime Coral Reefer Band.
7:11 p.m. Greetings from Margaritaville! (Sorry, I had no choice.) With a lineup long on boomer icons — and an audience full of the fans Buffett often compared to Deadheads with credit cards — tonight’s show promises to be like a stylishly graying Coachella, a prospect for which I’m all in. I’m Mikael Wood, The Times’ pop music critic, and I’m happy to be here with my colleagues August Brown and Erin Osmon to play-by-play this tribute to the man who did as much as anyone to bring fruity drinks and sandy desperation into the pop vernacular. — Mikael Wood
As the native Floridian on the Times team here, I am thrilled to see tonight as the beginning of a Buffett-sance among LA’s songwriter set. Parrothead wear is the look of the summer to come. — August Brown
And we’re off with a festive take on “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” by Buffett’s stalwart backup crew, the Coral Reefer Band. — M.W.
Introducing himself as a Florida boy, Jake Owen says he knows “a lot about citrus” — his way to queue up “Grapefruit – Juicy Fruit.” — M.W.
The Coral Reefer Band puts a brass-infused NOLA spin on “Pencil Thin Mustache,” opener of Buffett catalog highlight “Living and Dying in 3/4 Time.” This colorful crowd — the Bowl looks like a pastel kaleidoscope of leis and Hawaiian shirts — is on its feet and loving it. I wore my Hush Puppies for the occasion. Perhaps I’ll join them. — Erin Osmon
7:26 p.m. Woody Harrelson is here in a beat-up cowboy hat recalling the time he and Buffett smoked a joint on the roof of the Vatican. “That’s not true of course,” he adds, “but wouldn’t that be a great story?” As one of the night’s first celeb presenters, the actor goes on to extol Buffett’s creation of “a new genre of music — and hotels and restaurants and old folks’ homes.” — M.W.
7:32 p.m. Kenny Chesney takes “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” — which, as bite-size philosophies go, is up there with the best. — M.W.
7:33 p.m. Kenny Chesney says that, as a kid growing up in east Tennessee, Jimmy Buffett was the first person who showed him that a person can paint pictures with words; a touching and fitting sentiment before he launched into “Where I Come From,” a song that evokes the powerful, everyday images of Buffett’s (and Chesney’s) rural upbringings. — E.O.
7:35 p.m. In a video tribute, Dolly Parton emphasizes Buffett’s multi-hyphenate brilliance — songwriter, author, mogul — and that he was more than just a dude in flip flops. — E.O.
7:42 p.m. The Jimmy Buffett lifestyle crosses seas and transcends continents, as Angélique Kidjo proved on a regal take of “One Particular Harbour.” The two were old pals and collaborators on “Ti Punch Café,” from Jimmy’s final album “Equal Strain on All Parts,” and the respect and camaraderie between them is really delightful. — A.B.
7:58 p.m. Zac Brown debuts a tender new song “Pirates and Parrots” at the Bowl tonight, written about and dedicated to Jimmy as Brown promises he is “picking up where you left off..when the sun goes down we’ll raise our drinks.” Very sweet reminder that this music really meant a lot to a lot of songwriters who took it to new places. Another fitting tribute – Brown changing into shorts onstage. —A.B.
8:01 p.m. A sepia-tone Indiana Jones-style video, titled “Quest for the Shaker of Salt,” tees up the night’s next presenter: Harrison Ford. “Jimmy Buffett was a cool guy,” he says. Ford recalled a “boozy lunch” with Buffett and Ed Bradley that inspired him to get his ear pierced (because they both had earrings and he thought that was SO cool). He clarifies that for a “cool guy” Buffett was also singularly kind and loyal. “There will never be anyone else like him.” — E.O.
8:04 p.m. Longtime Miami Heat coach Pat Riley recounting the time Jimmy Buffett got ejected from a game for calling the ref a Parrothead.”That’s not an insult, that’s a compliment,” Riley recalled yelling back. Truly a crime against Florida to throw him out. —A.B.
8:08 p.m. Eric Church intros a lightly snarling “Son of a Son of a Sailor” with a remembrance of the many summers he and Buffett spent in California, where they’d hike, enjoy “afternoon wine” and then end the day drinking “tequila till there wasn’t anymore tequila.” — M.W.
8:011 p.m. Timothy B. Schmit, ex member of Poco, the Eagles and the Coral Reefer Band, leads the band and the Bowl in a spirited performance of “Volcano,” a tune custom-tailored for crowd participation. He’s also, apparently, the first person to say “Parrothead.” I didn’t know; I didn’t know. — E.O.
8:14 p.m. Jane Fonda wants to set the record straight, she says as she takes the stage to introduce Brandi Carlile: “I was actually the one that smoked a bowl with Jimmy on the roof of the Vatican.” Big laugh in the crowd. Fonda hails Buffett’s generosity of spirit and his “ability, like Tinkerbell, to sprinkle happiness” wherever he went. — M.W.
8:18 p.m. Reliable as always, Carlile does her tender-soulful ‘70s folk-rock thing in “Tin Cup Chalice,” then talks about her experiences fishing with Buffett, whom she says impressed many a lesbian fisherwoman by bragging that he was friends with Brandi Carlile. — M.W.
8:20 p.m. Reliable as always, Carlile does her tender-soulful ‘70s folk-rock thing in “Tin Cup Chalice,” then talks about her experiences fishing with Buffett, whom she says impressed many a lesbian fisherwoman by bragging that he was friends with Brandi Carlile. — M.W.
8:22 p.m. If I’m being completely honest, I had hoped that Jackson Browne would be the celeb pal to sing “Come Monday” this evening — refracting Buffett’s most tender composition through his soft-rock pedigree and “These Days” poignancy. Instead, it was Brandi Carlile, who led the Coral Reefer Band on acoustic guitar. She explained that Buffett’s widow Jane is one of her “most precious friends,” which makes it make more sense, as Buffett wrote the song for her. Carlile’s vocals were characteristically smooth and her love for Buffett evident. In other words, it was a job well done. — E.O.
8:28 p.m. “Exactly the person you expected to see,” said actor Will Arnett, an unlikely parrothead. “I have so many awesome memories of Jimmy. “I was staying with him in the Caribbean, he said ‘I gotta get certified in takeoffs and landings at the St Barts Airport, you wanna go? I gotta do like 30 of them.’ Jimmy has been in like three plane crashes. I bailed.” —AB
8:34 p.m. The Coral Reefer Band takes “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” Buffett’s hardest-rocking hit — at least until the classic bridge about how Buffett likes his burger, at which point the assembled Parrotheads threaten to drown out the pros onstage. —M.W.
8:39 p.m. Instead of “Come Monday” Jackson Browne played “He Went to Paris” — after a little stumble with his in-ear monitors. “You know what?” he said with a laugh. “I can’t hear any levels because I forgot to put these in my ears.” After course correcting, he offered a mellow rendition of Bob Dylan’s favorite Buffett tune. It’s not always a good sign when folks sit down during a song, but here it read like a necessary vigil, a kind of reverence — with the twinkle of neon necklaces instead of the flicker of candles. — E.O.