Buffett Kicks off Tour in Houston

“Hello Houston, I think it’s time for some Homemade Music tonight!” and with that the Year Of Still Here Tour kicked off in fine fashion.

“Homemade Music” did indeed get us started, the first outing for it since June 30, 1989 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. How’s that for rare? Other first set gems included “The Tiki Bar is Open,” the great John Hiatt song, with Jimmy working in a nice reference to his lost friend, Larry Gray, who “sailed the seven seas,” and “Fruitcakes” with lots of new updated lyrics including references to Dr. Phil and thanking the astronauts for all the work they do.

Other treats in the first set: “Mexico,” last played in Portland, Oregon on October 27, 2005; a beautiful version of “Miss You So Badly,” last played with the band on June 3, 1996 in Indianapolis, Indiana; a brand new song inspired by Neil Young called, what else, “We’re Still Here,” which is a nice tribute to everyone who still comes every year; and “Tryin’ to Reason with Hurricane Season.” How’s that for change?

But all of the fun was not just in the first set. The second set started with the Nanci Griffith song “Gulf Coast Highway,” a song Jimmy first recorded with Evangeline in the early 90’s. This performance featured Tina Gullickson joining Jimmy on vocals and Sonny Landreth playing a mean slide guitar. A hard rocking version of “Makin’ Music for Money” followed, this time sung by Nadirah. And In the middle of the second set’s run of hits, “Far Side of the World” re-surfaced for the first time since August 21, 2004 when it was played at a John Kerry fundraiser.

The first encore featured “Fins” and the Bruce Springsteen classic “Glory Days,” while the second encore brought the first on-tour outing of “Somewhere Over China” since the Millenium show, and a beautiful version of “Come Monday” to wrap things up.

View the entire set list here.

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The 2008 “Year of Still Here” tour will continue Thursday night with a show from St. Louis, Missouri. Get your tickets now!