Playing in the Partying Lot

How enticing are the tailgate parties at Jimmy Buffett’s concerts? So enticing that this year most of his band has joined the festivities.

“When we were organizing this tour, Jimmy asked us if we had any ideas for adding more music to the shows,” Coral Reefer Band keyboardist Michael Utley said by phone from a stop in Phoenix on Buffett’s current “Banana Wind” tour, which concludes Friday and Saturday at Irvine Meadows. “We decided to perform fewer skits during the presentation and have no opening act.

“Then we thought, ‘Heck, why not go out there and play for our fans before the concert even starts?’ ” he said.

So a couple of hours before each concert, Utley and steel drummer Robert Greenidge cruise the parking lot in an oversized, banana-shaped golf cart. They’re joined by the “Mod Quad”--percussionist Ralph McDonald, drummer Roger Guth, guitarist Peter Mayer and bassist Jim Mayer--roaming the lot while playing tunes from their new album, “Club Trini,” on Buffett’s Margaritaville label.

“Sound-wise, it’s pretty crude because the keyboards, amp and everything else are all battery-powered. But it’s fun, and I think it’s challenging too because we have to stretch out musically.”

Fun is what Buffett fans, a.k.a. Parrot Heads, frequently go to extraordinary lengths to achieve before the concert begins. They share pina coladas, margaritas, beer and shots of tequila while relaxing under palm trees, between motor homes, and on the rum-spilled decks of towed yachts.

Inflatable bottles of Corona, Hawaiian print shirts and fish headgear contribute to the party-down, resort-like atmosphere. Some of the most ardent Parrot Heads set up sand volleyball courts, horseshoe pits and miniature-golf courses.

It’s all part of one of the most lucrative tours of the summer concert season. Like many other stops on this tour, both of Buffett’s Irvine Meadows shows are sold out.

For the pre-show entertainment, Utley, Greenidge and the rest play five or six instrumentals from “Club Trini,” their bubbly, Caribbean-flavored concoction that blends calypso, samba, funk and fusion. On occasion, they have been joined by the newest Coral Reefer member--former Arrested Development vocalist Nadirah Shakoor--to sing the soulful “Love Is Made of This.”

Utley, who joined the Coral Reefers in 1980, said another reason he wanted to play in the parking lots was to show appreciation to the Parrot Heads for their support.

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Still, it’s a love affair not without its critics. It’s been suggested that a hedonistic credo of drunken self-indulgence is embraced wholeheartedly by Buffett and his fans.

Said Utley: “Our show is a great form of escapism. For several hours, one day a year, it’s a release from their day-to-day responsibilities and anxieties.

“We don’t consider ourselves to be a serious-minded band,” he said, “but even if you go to see Alanis Morissette, Pearl Jam or Bob Dylan, you’re still basically going because you want to be entertained.”

Utley, who also works as the tour’s musical director and is vice president of artists and repertoire at Margaritaville Records, grew up in Arkansas under the influence of Memphis soul and New Orleans rhythm-and-blues and brass bands. Greenidge hails from the Caribbean island of Trinidad, where calypso, soca and zouk were his musical foundation.

“Club Trini” is the fourth album Greenidge and Utley have released since 1985.

“I enjoy branching out with Robert . . . dabbling in jazz, Afro-Caribbean sounds and new age music,” said Utley, who graduated from the University of Arkansas with a zoology degree. “But the most fun I have as a musician is touring with Jimmy and the Reefers. They’re all great to be around. You know, you can always surround yourself with good musicians, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good people too.”

* Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band perform Friday and Saturday at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. 8 p.m. SOLD OUT. (714) 855-4515.