Live by the Bay

Live by the Bay
Cover of the VHS release
Directed byJack Cole
Produced byTammara Wells
StarringJimmy Buffett
Music byJimmy Buffett
Distributed byMCA
Release date
  • March 1, 1986 (1986-03-01)
Running time
87 minutes
LanguageEnglish

Live by the Bay is a 1986 direct-to-video[1] concert film of American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band.[2] It was released in 1986 by MCA Entertainment.[3] The 87-minute film was recorded from back to back concerts in Miami, Florida on August 16 and 17, 1985, at Miami Marine Stadium[2] and is the first concert video released by Buffett.[4] Miami Vice star Don Johnson introduced Buffett to the crowd.[5] A brief rain shower during the middle of the Friday night show prompted Buffett to retreat to his sailboat (docked by the stage) and caused a majority of the final video release to feature the Saturday night show. After the rain cleared on Friday, the band played Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken" to demonstrate the equipment still functioned before Buffett returned to the stage.

A screenshot of the opening titles of Live by the Bay; in the foreground are partly filled bleachers (stands); the center of the image is the canvas-covered stage of Miami Marine Stadium; in the water surrounding the stage are numerous pleasure boats; the skyline of Miami is barely visible in the top left of the frame; the text "Jimmy Buffett Live by the Bay" appears capitalized in plain text superimposed on the frame
Live by the Bay opening titles with a shot of Miami Marine Stadium as the concert is beginning

The stadium was originally built for powerboat racing. It used a floating stage in front of the grandstand that allowed additional concertgoers to listen from their boats in the water behind the stage, as seen in video. The video introduction includes extended footage of "parrothead" fans on boats and in the water with "Gypsies in the Palace" playing in the background. Buffett returned to Miami Marine Stadium in 1987 for a concert with the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra,[6] but the stadium was ultimately condemned after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and remains an abandoned hulk to this day. In 2009, Buffett recorded a short video supporting efforts to restore the stadium.[7]

Released on March 1, 1986,[1] the video of Live by the Bay was directed by Jack Cole, produced by Tammara Wells, while the audio was recorded and mixed by Elliot Scheiner. The film was released on VHS, Betamax[1] and LaserDisc. As of 2022, the video is out of print and has not been released on DVD. It was occasionally shown on television by the now-defunct VH1 Classic cable network as part of its Classic in Concert series.

At the time, reviewers called the concert video "an amiable mix of folk, rock, country and calypso that conjures up images of good times and tropical breezes"[8] played before "thousands of fans, most of whom seem to have had one too many".[9]

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