On Missing Jimmy Buffett in Philly

I’m currently agitated with my friends.   While I’m enduring my second day in the classroom, they’re spending the afternoon/night populating Facebook and my text inbox with posts and pictures from a Jimmy Buffett concert currently occurring in Philly (really, the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, but Philly works).

Attending a Jimmy Buffett concert is something I encourage anyone to do at least once in your lifetime.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a huge fan, or even if you know his music.  A Jimmy Buffett concert is just as much about the atmosphere as it is what he sings.

I attended my first show last year with my brother, cousin, and group of friends.  I was told by those who’d been before that I should at the minimum dress like I was going to a luau.  My cousin and I, who were coming down from Scranton, got some Hawaiian shirts at Salvation Army and made a pit stop at a Party City in Conshohocken for leis.  We were also seeing a show in Camden, and bar hopped center city Philly prior to meeting our friends, who were coming from the Northern Liberty area, and my brother who was meeting us after work, at the ferry to the NJ side.  The closer we got to the ferry, the more we saw fellow “parrot-heads,” decked out in similar garb.  On the ferry, it was apparent why luau-wear was the “minimum.”

People go all out for Jimmy Buffett: bathing suits, leis, coconut bras, fake parrots, and grass skirts, and the outfits aren’t even the main spectacle: that’s the tailgate.

The Jimmy Buffett tailgate is like no other I’ve ever seen.   People compete to see whose parking spot can be more tropical.   We saw blow up palm trees, real palm trees in pots, kiddie pools, sprinklers, tiki torches, whole roasting pigs, imported sands, boats (not in the water, tied to cars, or used as coolers), and of course lots and lots of frozen drinks.

My friends this year outdid themselves.  Using VRBO, they rented a houseboat on the Delaware river where they pregamed with more frozen drinks and kebobs, and I’m sure where a party will continue afterwards.

Me, I’m stuck listening to “Boat Drinks” on repeat and hopefully passing out before they start posting videos.