POP MUSIC REVIEW : Buffett Takes a Limited Cruise

When Jimmy Buffett first made his mark two decades ago, he wrote and sang of lassitude and leisure so evocatively that it wasn’t outlandish to think that when he got around to assaying deeper waters, he might be in the same league as John Prine. But those two languorous notes are evidently the only ones his ship’s whistle will sound, and his musical pleasure craft never strayed far from port in his show on Saturday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

As the colorfully garbed, boisterous “parrot head” fans who packed the place would attest, Buffett and his 13-piece group put on an entertaining show, though in a corporate theme-restaurant kind of way. There were big jabbering shark heads, audience sing-alongs and a mini-opera intro to “Why Don’t We Get Drunk?” His breezy songs capture some of the allure of travel and exotic places, though they more often advocate a shallow consumer adventurism: Gimme a Mexican beer, gimme the local dive’s T-shirt, I’m outta here.

The show’s 25 songs provided about as much relaxed downtime as a body could stand. Along with the unavoidable staples “Margaritaville,” “Fins,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “Volcano,” he served up “California Promises,” “Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season” (which seemed particularly lightweight given that he dedicated it to the recent hurricane victims) and, of all things, the heavy Vanilla Fudge arrangement of the Supreme’s “You Keep Me Hanging On.”

Jimmy Buffett also appears tonight, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at the Greek Theatre, and returns to Irvine Meadows on Sunday.