If you were in Portsmouth, R.I., and heard that Jimmy Buffett was in town, you may have not only seen him, you may have actually heard him.
Just a couple months after canceling a final make-up show in Charleston and also as the headliner for this July’s Summerfest Music Festival in Milwaukee, Jimmy Buffett was back on stage. He made a surprise appearance at Sunset Cove Waterfront Cafe on Sunday, July 2, during a scheduled performance by Coral Reefer Mac McAnally. It happened during “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere” and as McAnally sang the lyric “at a moment like this, I can’t help but wonder what would Jimmy Buffett do,” well, Buffett walked onto the stage, stunning everyone in the audience.
“How ‘bout I play it for you,” Buffett said. He did not stop there, either, playing six songs for about 45 minutes, including “A Pirate Looks At 40.” He told the audience, after being hospitalized twice in the previous six months and causing many Parrotheads to be concerned about his health and wondering if he would ever tour again, “well, it is good to see an audience, let me tell you that” Buffett said.
With that the crowd roared. Buffett happened to be in town, or close to it anyway. He was in Long Island and wanted to to “crash the party,” bar owner Mike MacFarlane told the Providence Journal. Buffett said he was “under the weather” and told MacFarlane he was “itching to get back on the road.”
Buffett was dressed in his usual attire: Hawaiian shirt, shorts and a white ball cap.
MacFarlane had become friends with McAnally, who agreed to play Sunset Cove. It was MacFarlane’s 50th birthday. What a birthday present, too.
“You can’t write a check for what happened,” MacFarlane said. “It’s a full moon tonight, and the stars aligned.”
Buffett’s last concert was in San Diego, and I was there.
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