The straw skirts were few, the booze was aplenty, plenty got lei'd and many probably had the hellish hangovers Thursday morning to show for it.

In other words it was just your typical Jimmy Buffett concert.

Buffett hit Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre Wednesday evening as part of his Bama Breeze tour with more than two dozen of his signature warm, island-flavored, carefree tunes to a near sell-out crowd for well over two hours.

Supported by the dozen-piece Coral Reefer Band, the 61-year-old singer/business mogul drove a rickety looking bicycle around the stage before parking it and kicking off with Willie Nelson's slow-chugging On The Road Again.

"I told you we were coming back," Buffett said with the elaborate stage setup of a "Bama Breeze" saloon with its '50s era jukebox and surfboards complementing the vast ocean backdrop. And it was this laidback, fun feeling which worked early and often with License To Chill and the folksy Son Of A Son Of A Sailor with the lone miscue being a cover of Crowded House's Weather With You.

While the songs often took you to the Caribbean, Buffett made a point of noting his Canadian ancestry from Newfoundland and also mentioning relatives from Nova Scotia. Hell, he even managed to spontaneously include the Cape Breton mining town of Glace Bay into the lyrics for Fins which had fans imitating a shark fin with hands overhead.

He also paid tribute to Neil Young by performing Heart Of Gold which had thousands singing along as the song went over perhaps better than even Buffett might have expected. But the singer also ended the first half with a bevy of his own crowd pleasers including the inane but popular Cheeseburger In Paradise, Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes and the catchy Elvis Presley Blues.

Following a 20-minute intermission which featured a plug for yet another live album entitled Live In Anguilla due in November, Buffett and company returned with Stars On The Water and also Boat Drinks which is the only Buffett song with a hockey slant. By this time though he could have yodeled or played the spoons the rest of the evening and his devoted loyal fans known as Parrotheads wouldn't have complained.

Fortunately for all parties involved, he didn't. Instead Buffett kept churning out a horde of breezy summer tunes beginning with the Alan Jackson number It's Five O'Clock Somewhere that had Buffett laughing his way through parts of the song. When he did stumble though, backing musicians including guitarist Mac McAnally and keyboardist Michael Utley came to the fore.

The biggest star of the supporting cast though was vocalist Nadir Shakoor, who nailed a portion of Bob Marley's Redemption Song which concluded the softer A Pirate Looks At Forty that had many couples swaying throughout. This was in contrast to the party atmosphere evident during One Particular Harbour, Volcano and the staple Margaritaville which closed the main set.

3.5 stars