Margaritaville coming to Wrigleyville

By Benjy Lipsman in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 19, 2005 4:21PM

As Chicagoist mentioned here a while back, there had been some discussions about holding concerts at Wrigley Field this summer. It's now sounding like it's a likely to happen.

Having received an OK from the stadium grounds crew and having worked out a deal with the neighbors, Jimmy Buffet could be playing two Labor Day weekend at Wrigley. The city still needs to approve the plan and the contract with Buffet needs to be finalized, but should that occur Buffet will perform Friday, September 2nd and Sunday, September 4th in the Friendly Confines.

The biggest hurdle to the concerts, the East Lakeview Neighbors board voted 5-4 in favor of the concerts after certain promised were made. The Cubs will dontate 3,000 tickets to neighbors of the park and $150,000 of the gate receipts to the local schools. Attendance will be capped at 39,000 -- same as at a Cubs game despite the possibility of additional capacity on-field -- and early end times. The Friday show must end by 10:30pm and the Sunday show by 10:00pm. The vote only covered the specific Buffet shows as a one-time event.

Chicagoist wonders how much Buffet's concerts in Boston last year played into the "yes" votes. Boston's Fenway Park hosted a couple Jimmy Buffet concerts last year, and then the Red Sox went on the win the World Series and end their curse. Do Wrigley's neighbors hope the longtime Cubs fan Buffet can work the same magic for the Cubs?