Jimmy Buffett has said on more than one occasion to his devoted audience: "Remember, I am spending your money foolishly." Parrotheads don't seem to care how many boats and airplanes he buys. They believe they are making a sound investment in a good time with one of the most successful touring acts in music.

Thousands dressed in shark hats, grass skirts and coconut bras spilled into First Niagara Pavilion Thursday night for the final leg of the Under the Big Top Tour. The consummate troubadour took the crowd on a generous 2 1/2-hour journey.

Mr. Buffett's bread and butter are songs your parents probably know and he rarely leaves his comfort zone. Cuts from the new album "Buffet Hotel" (pronounced buff-fay) retain his signature easy-going Caribbean vibe with lots of steel drum work from Robert Greenridge. Mr. Buffett was backed ably by the current incarnation of the Coral Reefer Band, which includes guitarist Mac McAnally, percussionist Ralph MacDonald and vocalists Tina Gullickson and Nadirah Shakoor.

"Buffet Hotel" started life with the recording of the title track in Mali when Mr. Buffett attended the Festival in the Desert (and discovered the album's namesake, Hotel De La Gare Buffet, in the Bamako train station).

The show began with a rocking version of "Nobody From Nowhere," the first track off of the new album. He then slid easily into "License to Chill" which the band played in an easy swing/country-rock style. The radio-friendly "It's Five O'clock Somewhere" was introduced by McAnally as an ode to the "theory of drunkativity" to the roar of the crowd, uncharacteristically mellow at times, perhaps from the earlier rain and stifling humidity coupled with the effects of tailgating. "We could use a 'Bama Breeze here tonight," Mr. Buffett said before playing the hit in a fun, slow groove.

The first set ended with "Big Top," another cut from the new album. The show's highlight was a super sexy version of "Creola" sung by backing vocalist Ms. Shakoor in the second set.

McAnally's recognizable "Back Where I Come From," a career maker for Kenny Chesney, was a hit with the crowd.

Of course, his classics were in ample supply, including "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Son of a Son of a Sailor," "Volcano" and the simplistic "Why Don't We Get Drunk." Not surprisingly, "Margaritaville" closed out the second set before the encore of "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Fins," which turned the scene into a sea of arms shifting left and right in unison.

If nothing else, a Jimmy Buffett show is great fun -- and who doesn't love a respite to the low latitudes? The charismatic 63-year-old performer was refreshingly a little less formulaic but just as entertaining.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.