POP MUSIC REVIEW : Buffett’s Music Stuck at Low Tide as Fans Wallow in ‘Margaritaville’

Here’s a tip: Next time Jimmy Buffett comes to town, buy stock in garish tropical print shirts.

That was--along with caps sporting shark fins--definitely the fashion statement Tuesday as Buffett (pop’s foremost nautical nabob) and his Coral Reefer Band played the first of two nights at the Universal Amphitheatre. (The crew also docks at the Pacific Amphitheatre for shows tonight and Saturday.)

Would that Buffett’s music was as colorful (if tacky) as his fans’ choice in attire. Instead, Monday’s offerings had the general hue and consistency of a pina colada, spiked only by the fluid harmonica of his longtime partner Fingers Taylor and the mild Caribbean flavoring of a steel drum. In nautical terms, Sailor Jimmy is in a dead calm.

Not only is he drifting aimlessly, but that seems to be the central theme of his canon. What’s more, he seems to think drifting is a good thing.

And drift he does, through a world in which the ideal love is a “Mermaid in the Night” (a song from his new “Off to See the Lizard” album) and his biggest concern is that he still can’t find that dang shaker of salt in “Margaritaville.” Well, Jim, if you just got up and looked you might be able to track the thing down!

“Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes,” he sang. “Nothing remains quite the same.” Except him, that is. Well, OK, he did shave off his mustache last year. But otherwise, his mix of old and new material showed little difference between Buffett past and Buffett present.

Yet the audience made the show seem like a rowdy frat party, singing along on nearly every song (often voicing the words ahead of Buffett, as the star pointed out with mock irritation). “Some of you people obviously don’t give a damn about working on Wednesday,” the singer noted, to the delight of the boisterous crowd.

What was all the shouting about? Apparently these people find Buffett’s gift for clever (though hardly insightful) turns of phrase and the notion of floating in the Tropics something to get excited about. But then, this paradox almost makes sense: It’s just the kind of go-figure occurrence that Buffett likes to write about.

Oh, yeah--if you do invest in those shirts, make sure a good number of them have room for beer bellies.

Whatever musical breeze did fill the sails on Tuesday could likely be credited to opening act the Neville Brothers. Drawing largely from its fine recent “Yellow Moon” album, the New Orleans institution’s polyrhythmic Mardi Gras mambo got the crowd quite fired up. Most impressive was how the Nevilles got the predominantly white audience to sing and clap along on its tribute to civil-rights movement spark Rosa Parks, perhaps even connecting with the idea that “our freedom fight” was as important to Caucasians as to African-Americans.

Jimmy Buffett and the Neville Brothers perform today and Saturday at 8 p.m. the Pacific Amphitheatre, 100 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $16.50 to $22.50. Information: (714) 634-1300.