Jimmy Buffett [ tickets ], who has successfully parlayed songs about pirates, partying and nautical nuances into an industry, closed out his 2008 touring schedule by sharing an intimate club show with several hundred ecstatic guests and members of the press Saturday (11/8) at his Margaritaville Mohegan Sun.

After thrilling tens of thousands of "parrotheads" at venues across the globe this year, Buffett repaired to the shore of the Thames River, bringing an hour or so of tropical sunshine into an otherwise gray and dreary fall afternoon in Eastern Connecticut.

Warming up the fans who were invited to pay tribute at the sprawling, split level cafe, servers circulated with never ending supplies of coconut shrimp sandwiches, and mini cheeseburgers (in paradise), along with hurricanes, margaritas and Buffett's own brand of brew to help wash it all down.

At the stage level, plucky waitresses wound their way among revelers decked out in tropical garb being entertained by giant stilt walkers who fashioned tubular balloons into shark-fin hats. Meanwhile, a video of Buffett visiting American troops aboard an aircraft carrier played on dozens of big screen televisions.

Even without his highness on hand to supply authentic music, the club is decked out for good times daily, with several full-sized fishing boats complete with deck chairs and dangling outriggers nestled up across from a dockside stage. The dizzying decor also includes racks of surfboards, plenty of palms, a full-sized whale cavorting across the ceiling, a model of Buffett's Hemisphere Dancer seaplane banking in for a landing, and a swirling, strobe-lit "hurricane" that spins into motion regularly, spitting white smoke while dispensing simulated tequila into an eight-foot-tall blender below.

Now that was a crowd-pleaser.

At around 4:45 p.m., a huge howl went up from the audience as the Coral Reefer Band squeezed its way up onto the somewhat confined stage area, followed by their barefoot leader, who welcomed all while launching into an infectious Bo Diddley beat for his opening number, "Piece of Work." Alabama axe man Will Kimbrough was on hand to see his song, featured on Buffett's album "License to Chill," come off splendidly, with his expert accompaniment.

Buffett then fired up that album's title track, which features Kenny Chesney on the studio version. As the clock struck 5, it was time for "It's Five O' Clock Somewhere," Buffett's tribute to the end of the work day--whenever it may come.

Being the first big hit of the set, this took an already elevated spirit in the room to new heights. Pouring it on from there, it was Buffett relegated to singing backup for several hundred land sharks and tail gators who clearly had command of the lyrical content, drowning him out for nearly the entire run of "Changes in Attitude (Changes in Latitude)."

With Boston Red Sox power hitter David "Big Papi" Ortiz looking on beaming, Cape Verde's own Ilo Ferreira was invited to share the spotlight during "Volcano." Ferreira is a classic music industry success story, discovered singing in a small island bar one day, and invited to accompany Buffett before an audience of 60,000 at Gillette Stadium outside Boston just a few weeks later.

Buffett took the "back seat" position a few minutes later to let Kimbrough and his striking, soulful backup singer Nadirah Shakoor wail away about "Makin' Music for Money," before stepping up and offering his own particular brand of marketing for the great American meal, "Cheeseburger In Paradise."

His steel drum-flavored "Brown Eyed Girl" was the only cover song of the set, before an uncharacteristic calm gripped the crowd long enough for Buffett to croon his anthem to middle-aged overachievers everywhere, "A Pirate Looks at 40."

The encore would not have been complete without two of Buffett's biggest hits and most popular concert staples: "Fins," and of course, "Margaritaville." And just when everyone thought the show was over, Buffett strapped on "one more guitar" and took a few moments to remember Anthony "Tony" Tarracino, a former mayor of Key West and legendary bar owner of "Captain Tony's Saloon"--whose life was memorialized in a Buffett song--who died a few days earlier at the age of 92.

"He had 14 kids by eight wives," Buffett recalled, "so canonization, maybe not--but still very cool!"
Then the audience got one more chance to sing along, memorializing "Captain Tony" as the notes of "Last Mango in Paris" danced across the bar to wrap up this one-of-a-kind concert experience that most Jimmy Buffett fans only dream about.