USA Today Interviews Jimmy Before Jiffy Lube Live Show

Before Jimmy Buffett took the stage on Thursday night at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia, he spoke briefly with USA Today:

He told USA TODAY that only “300” fans had complained about the no tailgating policy, out of 25,000 tickets originally sold for the show.

While he knows it ticked a lot of fans off, he says, “I can’t argue with the reasoning behind it,” a reference to the fact that four post-concert drunk driving deaths in the last two years prompted the no tailgating policy.

However, inside the Jiffy Lube concert venue, which is owned and operated by Live Nation, fans could buy $14 margaritas, $10 glasses of wine and $10-$13 cups of beers right up through Buffett’s third encore song, just before they would get in their cars to drive home.

As for why the show seemed emptier than usual, Buffett said “10,000 people asked for refunds.” That, however, he attributed to Hurricane Irene, which pushed Saturday’s concert to Thursday, noting that a lot of his fans make the show “a destination.”