Both the Riverfront Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch covered the Buffett show in St. Louis Thursday night:

Riverfront Times – “Parrotheads In The Parking Lot”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – “Jimmy Buffett Concert Review”

Here’s a snipit from the Post-Dispatch article:

In many ways, Jimmy Buffett’s show Thursday night was typical, from the costumed, party-primed, Parrothead crowd to Buffett’s spirited performance of must-play favorites to the contributions of his magnificent, veteran Coral Reefer Band.

But something has happened in the eight years since the mayor of “Margaritaville” — now, unbelievably, 61 years old — last played St. Louis: He seems to have reconnected with the romantic core of his music.

Irony and a kind of nudge-nudge-wink-wink edge has often hovered over Buffett’s music in concert. But this time, a straightforward, emotional honesty had more than a toehold, especially during a sequence that came late in his “Year of Still Here” show at sold-out Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

Be sure to check out the slideshow in the Riverfront Times article.

View our very own review by Justin here.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an article on Coral Reefer Band members Roger Guth, Peter Mayer, and Jim Mayer: “Former St. Louisan backs up Jimmy Buffett, keeps own career going”

“We walked out on stage for the first time, and it looked like a Fellini casting call,” says former St. Louisan Peter Mayer, lead guitarist for Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band since 1989. “I mean, it was strange costumes. You had lawyers in parrot outfits and doctors with shark fins on their heads. And of course, we were dressed in kind of late ’80s, early ’90s garb from the Thompson Twins to Peter Gabriel.”

“We” refers to Mayer and the Coral Reefer rhythm section: fellow former St. Louisans Jim Mayer (bass) and Roger Guth (drums). Jim, Peter Mayer’s brother, reports on Buffett’s margaritaville.com website that he almost couldn’t play that first show in San Diego because he was laughing so hard at “a giant conga line wearing enough grass skirts to cover the set of South Pacific.”

——

For the Mayer brothers and Guth, who were a Warner Bros. recording act called PM, the Parrothead phenomenon was a surprise even after they were first hired to play on Buffett’s 1989 album, “Off to See the Lizard.”

”We knew who Jimmy Buffett was, but we had no idea how popular he was or what kind of crowd came to the shows,” Peter Mayer said by phone a couple of weeks ago before appearing with his band at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room. ”And he had actually instructed his crew not to tell us what was going on.”

——

With Buffett, Mayer has been amazed at how much hard work goes into making it all look so easy and laid back.

”It’s a real gift,” Mayer says. ”I know it is, because I’ve been a performer for many years and never found it that easy.

”Jimmy is an entertainer. I asked him once when we were really new to the group, because we were kind of floored with the audience and all that, and said, ‘What’s the deal with this whole thing? How did you get into this?’

“And he said, ‘Well, you know, Pete, I’m not a very good guitar player, and other people can out-sing me, but I’m a damn good Jimmy Buffett.”’

Read the entire article here.

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band perform at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis this coming Thursday. Get your tickets now!

Today (Monday, March 10th) is a big day, with tickets going on sale for fives shows. You can use the TicketMaster direct purchase links below to score your tickets:

4.24.08 – St. Louis, MO – TicketMaster Purchase Link
6.05.08 – Atlanta, GA – TicketMaster Purchase Link
6.14.08 – Philadelphia, PA – ComcastTix Purchase Link
9.04.08 – Mansfield, MA – TicketMaster Purchase Link
9.06.08 – Mansfield, MA – TicketMaster Purchase Link

All shows go on sale at 10 am EDT, except for St. Louis which goes on sale at 10 am CDT.

Good luck!

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will perform at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis on Thursday, April 24th.

Tickets will go on sale this coming Monday, March 10th at 10 am CST through TicketMaster.

This will mark the first time since 2000 that Buffett has played a show in St. Louis.

(hat tip to Bardo17 for passing this along)