A1A channels spirit of Buffett at The Plaza
The memory of Jimmy Buffett following his Friday, Sept. 1 death from a rare, aggressive form of skin cancer was an overarching and obvious presence Saturday night at The Plaza in Eatonton, where renowned Buffett tribute band A1A was performing just its second show since Buffett’s passing.
Band leader and singer Jeff Pike said he woke up that Saturday morning and turned on his phone to the news his mentor and inspiration had passed away overnight.
“I mean, I knew he was sick, and I knew things weren’t well, but I didn’t think he would die. I just really did not figure, I mean, he’s Jimmy,” Pike said before the Eatonton show.
He was waiting backstage in the Old School History Museum that was pulling double-duty that night as the band’s catering site.
“I know they had kept things pretty hush-hush, but I just wasn’t ready to know he’d passed away," Pike added.
Pike admitted it was very tough for him and his band to get through their set that Saturday night in Gainesville, just 24 hours after Buffett passed, but he said the audience there provided tremendous support and he believes it was a cathartic experience for everyone involved.
“I did think about canceling, but I knew that’s not what Jimmy would’ve done or wanted, so we went through with it and it ended up being extremely successful, sold out, turned people away,” he recalled. “The entire vibe of the whole theater, it was magical. It ended up being, I think for me as a performer, one of the top nights of my life.”
Pike said he was looking for a similar experience in Eatonton, too.
And he got it. More than 850 tickets were officially sold to the concert, performed atop the front steps of The Plaza, which serves double duty as the venue’s outdoor stage. Estimates put the crowd at pushing 1,000, though, making it easily one of – if not the – largest concert crowd in The Plaza’s 15-year history.
“You know, we’ve all been listening to Jimmy’s music for so long and it’s very strange being in a world without Jimmy now, but his last words were, ‘Have fun and somebody has to carry on the party.’ So that’s what we’re going to go with,” Pike said shortly before taking the stage. “It’s going to be a good time.”
No doubt, tears were shed by many several times throughout the show as various songs tugged on individual heartstrings, but Pike and his A1A bandmates kept the mood up and the energy going, performing straight through a more-than-two hour set, giving Putnam County parrot heads the night out they expected and had been hoping for.