The developers of the Margaritaville Cafe at Navy Pier in Chicago hope to open the new restaurant by Memorial Day weekend, Navy Pier said in an email:

The owners of Margaritaville hope to be open by Memorial Day weekend. Construction on this new Navy Pier restaurant is currently underway. The restaurant management is working to complete construction, and have the restaurant stocked and staffed for that weekend. At this time, they do not anticipate any delays, but in any new construction, unforeseen circumstances may delay the opening.

When first announced last fall, Buffett said “I couldn’t be more excited about Margaritaville arriving on the shores of Lake Michigan. From my earliest days in the city, playing the Quiet Knight on Belmont, to the pinnacle of live performances to me, singing in front of the ivy wall at Wrigley Field, I have had a long and wonderful history and affection for the people, the music, the art and the food of the Windy City. I have always thought Chicago as a beach town, a pretty big one, but still a beach town. I am happy to call Navy Pier home to Margaritaville. Fins Up Chicago.”

(hat tip truckie823)

A great addition to this year’s tour is the Margarillas page on Facebook. They ride along with the tour buses to every show and post pictures and videos from behind the scenes.

Here’s a video they put together from the Tampa show:

North Carolinians were in need of a good time after tornadoes killed more than 20 people in the state over the weekend. On Tuesday night, Jimmy Buffett delivered with his Welcome to Fin Land Tour stopping at the Time Warner Cable Pavilion in Raleigh.

As promised, Buffett played a few more songs from this week’s featured album Volcano, including the first known performance of “Lady I Can’t Explain”. He also did “Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants”, “Sending The Old Man Home”, and “Survive” as the final encore.

The only two songs from Volcano that haven’t been played yet are “Boat Drinks” and “Dreamsicle.”

Other notable songs from the set lit included “School Boy Heart,” “Coast of Carolina,” and “Last Man Standing.”

View the entire set list and Justin’s show notes here.

The tour continues on Thursday in Charlotte before heading back to Florida on Saturday for a show in West Palm Beach. View the full tour schedule here and get your tickets now!

The 2011 Welcome to Fin Land Tour continues tonight as Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band take the show to the Time Warner Cable Pavilion in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The show will start shortly after 8 pm ET and you can listen live on Radio Margaritaville on Sirius 31 / XM 55 or on the web for free at radiomargaritaville.com. Be sure to tune in at 7 pm ET for the pre-show.

We’ll have a chat going on our forum if you’d like to follow along with the set list and chat with other parrotheads during the show.

See the full tour schedule here and get tickets now!

If there were any doubts about Jimmy’s health from that scary fall in Australia last January, they were quickly erased as Jimmy performed an energetic show in Tampa to kick off the 2011 Welcome to Fin Land Tour.

The set list contained more gems than usual. Buffett started the show off with “The Wino and I Know” a song that he hadn’t played with the full band since 2003. The third song was “Off to See The Lizard”, and Buffett added an extra verse on his fall:

I had problems with my brain
When I took that big stage dive
I had an ass like Kim Kardashian
But at least I’m still alive
Stitches in my elbow
Stitches in my head
So I healed up by the ocean
Not in some hospital bed
Whirling whirling song lines in my head

So I took off for Hawaii
Saw the acupuncture man
I ate a lot of grilled fish tacos
But retiring ain’t the plan
On a beach down in Jamaica
Found a bottle in the sand
When I opened it and read the note
It said “Welcome to Fin Land!”

Other notable songs included “Havana Daydreamin,” “Life is Just a Tire Swing,” “Peanut Butter Conspiracy,” and “The Great Filling Station Holdup.”

Halfway through (there was no intermission) Buffett said that they plan to play some songs they haven’t played in a while. He then said that they’d feature an album every week or so, and this week it’s Volcano. So Jimmy and the band played “Stranded on a Sandbar,” “Volcano,” and a great rendition of “Treat Her Like A Lady.” He said that they’ll play the full album by the end of the week.

The up-beat version of “Floridays” was in the first encore, and “Lovely Cruise” was the finale.

View the full set list here along with Justin’s show notes.

The Welcome to Fin Land Tour continues on Tuesday in Raleigh, NC. Find tickets to that show and others here.