After all these years, "Margaritaville" finally opened for business at San Francisco's hallowed Fillmore. And, to put it mildly, business was very good.

Jimmy Buffett [ tickets ], who will turn 59 on Christmas Day, made his Fillmore debut on Thursday (10/20) to perform a special benefit concert for Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief. Both artistically and financially, the show was a smash success.

In terms of the former, Buffett and his 13-piece Coral Reefer Band sounded great as they skillfully transported their regular arena-sized show to the comparatively comfy confines of the Fillmore.

As far as the latter goes, which is even more significant, the sold-out show is expected to have raised some $200,000 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Parrotheads (the moniker of choice for Buffett's crazed fans) had to pay $200 per ticket for the ultra-rare chance to see the singer in this intimate setting--and they leapt at the opportunity. Fans flew in from all around the country to see Buffett strike up the band in the 1,100-capacity Fillmore.

It would have been nearly impossible to find a single Parrothead in attendance who didn't think his or her ticket was worth every penny paid. In all honesty, it wasn't an absurd amount given all the factors (the average income level of Buffett's fans, the price to attend one of his regular concerts, simple principles of supply and demand, etc.). It's pretty certain that organizers could have gotten away with charging even more money.

Maybe it had something to do with the margaritas, given that the venue had set up a special booth serving frozen concoctions with salt, but this was certainly one of the most joyful and exuberant crowds that I've ever seen at the Fillmore. And that includes other big-artist-plays-small-venue shows here, including Coldplay's hotly anticipated performance in May.

Kicking off with "Only Time Will Tell" from 1996's "Banana Wind" CD, Buffett didn't disappoint his loyal legion of fans as he ran through polished versions of such salty favorites as "Fruitcakes," "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," "Jamaica Mistaica" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise."

As usual, Buffett stuck pretty close to greatest-hits territory and charmed hula-skirt-clad fans with the likes of "Come Monday," "Brown Eyed Girl" and "One Particular Harbour."

The biggest musical difference between this show and a standard Buffett concert was the reliance on cover songs. Thankfully, unlike some other big artists who play small venues, he had his band practice the material before playing it before paying customers.

With a few exceptions, the cover selections all made perfect sense for the venue.

He honored the Fillmore's old house band, The Grateful Dead, with a pair of tie-dyed favorites: "Uncle John's Band" and "Scarlet Begonias." Buffett sounded very comfortable with the material, which isn't surprising given that he recorded "Uncle John's Band" on 1994's "Fruitcakes" and "Scarlet Begonias" on 2004's "License to Chill."

Other appropriate cover selections included Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" and Jimi Hendrix's "Wind Cries Mary." The singer probably surprised some by trying on the Dave Matthews Band's "Tripping Billies" for size. But, given that he's been covering Jack Johnson’s "The Horizon Has Been Defeated" recently, the DMB track hardly qualified as a true shocker.

Buffett, however, is at his best when he's not trying to shock. That's why his best-known greatest-hits album is called "Songs You Know by Heart." A Buffett show is about familiarity and reassurance. Those two things were in no short supply as the singer filled the second half of the show with the likes of "Son of a Son of a Sailor," "Fins" and, of course, "Margaritaville."

The response from the crowd members was likewise filled with familiarity and reassurance: These Parrotheads simply couldn't get enough.