1980

Concert

At the end of January two of my favorite bands at the time, the Eagles and Jimmy Buffet were going to be together for a concert at Florida Field in Gainesville for the Eagles Long Run album tour.  I had to go.  After talking to several of my buddies who I worked with at Harris we decided to go see them.  I drove since I was first, familiar with the trip and stadium, but also because I had my ’76 Chevy “hippy” van, carpeted wall to wall with a bench seat in back that folded down into a bed.  Someone threw in a couple of beanbag chairs and we were ready to go.  I had driven to Gainesville and back so many times alone it was nice to have others in the van with me, plus we smoked several joints on the way.   I was familiar with the stadium, having sold cokes and going to football games there as a kid and then working across the street from the stadium at Weil Hall so when we arrived I soon found parking and we entered the stadium.  A large stage was setup on the field facing the west stands where the audience were seated, we had seats right in the middle, just off the 50 yard line about 40 rows up so we had a great view looking down on the stage. We got to our seats early, joints were passed around, sometimes being passed from someone who was even in our group. As soon as one was done another was soon started, not just our small group, but just about everyone in the stands. You hardly needed to take a toke on the joint as it passed by as so much smoke hung in the air, which slowly settled down the side of the stadium to the stage.   We were in a good state of mind when Buffett came on and played some of his best songs, Margaritaville being one of my favorites. Buffett was great, but then the Eagles came on and were even greater, playing songs The Long Run and other songs from their new album but also many of their best songs including my favorite Hotel California