Buffett Performed Outside of Superdome on Sunday

Jimmy Buffett attended last Sunday’s NFC Championship game in New Orleans between the Saints and the Minnesota Vikings, but before the teams took the field he donned a Sean Payton hat and performed in the parking lot with the Creole String Beans:

Local Y’at jukebox band the Creole String Beans were playing a tailgate party last Sunday afternoon on the back of a beat-up flatbed truck for the Down Undas tailgating club. While the band was on a break, a car drove up, delivering New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival producer Quint Davis and Who Dat fan Jimmy Buffett to the party.

“They join the party, partake in beer, oysters, and revelry,” said Rob Savoy, the Creole String Beans’ bassist and national contract manager for JazzFest. “Buffett sees one of the guys hosting the party wearing one of those visors with the furry hair sticking out of the top that make you look like Sean Payton. He knows he has to have one. He asks Doc Macina (organizer and King of the Down Undas) for the hat. Doc says he’ll give it to him if he sings a song. Buffett tells him this is the best deal he’ll ever get in his life.”

Buffett climbed up onto the flatbed and discussed possible covers with the band. They settled on the Frankie Ford classic, “Sea Cruise.”

“He added special lyrics of ‘Who Dat’ and ‘Drew Brees,'” Savoy said. “Overall he rocked it, the crowd went wild and swelled to triple its original size. The official oyster shucker, Shukah Khan, offered him a raw oyster between verses. He borrowed a guitar and said, “‘Margaritaville’ in D.”

What was an intimate crowd of long-time Saints fans and friends swiftly swelled into a sea of people, all singing along to Buffett’s signature tune as cars whizzed by overhead. After the song finished he smiled, high fived the band members and went back to the party.