Jimmy Buffett is one of my favorite people to hate. I wrote this post a year ago if you are interested in some background. In short, Jimmy Buffett personally, and the business enterprise he has become are at odds with each other. I’m not sure where his moral compass is, but I don’t think it is calibrated.
Jimmy fits into what I call “Old man rock.” I’ve got nothing against guys going out on tour in their 70s and 80s. Fans seem to enjoy seeing the old stars. My personal experience with Elton John and Donald Fagan didn’t impress, but that’s not what this is about.
This is about Key West, and the contribution one of the city’s favorite sons has made to the conundrum the city has become. Many locations and characters from my Mac Travis Adventure series are in or from Key West. The characters seem to represent the city's current flavor, which seems to be equally divided between going all in on tourism or killing it completely. The chasm was pointed out in a presentation I saw at the Key West theater, a 278-seat venue on Eaton Street. Ironically this is the same place where Jimmy is playing two shows for “residents” to kick off his 2023 Second Wind Tour.
Dr. Robert Kerstein, author of Key West On The Edge: Inventing the Conch Republic spoke for an hour on the history and economic drivers for the city. From wreckers, to a naval base, to a cigar manufacturing hub, to a tourist hub, to a naval base again, to a commercial fishery, to a tourist hub again the Southernmost city in the continental US has evolved to meet the times.
What has remained constant is the unique atmosphere of the city which has had more than its share of artists and writers call it home. The eccentric community gave the city a flavor that became a taste that became a cuisine.
And then came Jimmy Buffett and the cruise ships, which could be the name of his band. In 1985 Buffett opened the first Margaritaville restaurant on Duval Street. The now billion-dollar franchise of restaurants, resorts, and cruise ships has taken a song, which was based on a drink he had in Austin, TX, not Key West, and turned it into a business with annual sales in the hundreds of millions.
With Margaritaville came a new breed of tourists. The cruise ships and SUVs heading south (or actually west) on US 1 were after a tropical feeling. Nothing wrong with that, but the retiree and family visitors are more or less opposite to the old Conch flavor of the island.
Jimmy Buffett’s latest tour will open at the Key West Theatre with tickets being available only in person with a two-seat and one-show limit per person. A local ID is required to purchase and enter. A few days later he has two shows for the rest of us with average ticket prices about $400- per seat (plus Ticketmaster fees of course.) I’m not sure, and can’t find the ticket prices for the shows at the theatre, but let’s assume they are inexpensive.
That he would sell out the 556 seats in a matter of hours is a foregone conclusion. That 278 “locals” had to wait in line for hours to get them is part of the problem. I get what I think he is trying to do by selling exclusively to locals at the box office, and it’s not to avoid Ticketmaster’s fees or why the other shows. I’m wondering how many people who waited in line had already paid for the “public” shows and will now sell their tickets through one of the resale sites, which I think is what Jimmy is trying to prevent.
In trying to be the cool Key West guy that he used to be, Jimmy has lost touch.If he wanted to play Key West, and be honest to his roots, he should do some free shows there, not separate the locals from the tourists, which in the process is excluding locals due to the small number of seats available. I see this as a publicity stunt that Buffett thinks is a cool thing to do. For the 556 people who will see him in the small venue after waiting on line for hours, it might be. For the rest of us, not so much.
With you all the way. 🎣
Jimmy has gotten to commercialized.. Forgotten his roots when it comes to the Keys, so to speak. Be a cold day in hell before I she'll out big bucks to see anybody anymore. Cost of concert tickets is ridiculous.