Severe weather pounded Nashville all day Saturday, flooding streets and causing headaches for parrotheads trying to reach the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. But at 8 pm Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers took the stage for the first show in Music City since 2003. Fortunately for the fans the venue was indoors.

Not only did the weather snarl traffic, it also caused problems with the Radio Margaritaville feed, interrupting it at times. On Facebook, Buffett’s crew sent out this message: “thanks for bearing with us… technical difficulties at the venue. Weather is wreaking havoc on the electronics required to broadcast from the big top.”

This was the first show to have live streaming video in full on USTREAM. Commenting on streaming the whole show, Buffett said “Hey it’s a Saturday night. Why not?” The previous three shows have only had portions of the show streamed.

Buffett had a couple of surprises in the set list for Nashville. Marshall Chapman joined Jimmy for “Smart Woman (In A Real Short Skirt)”, which she cowrote with him. A rare appearance of “Landfall” came after “Back Where I Come From” and Jimmy finished the show with a beautiful solo, acoustic version of “He Went To Paris”. View the entire set list for the show here.

If you attended the concert, share your review and experience on our forum.

Tonight’s show concludes the first leg of the Under The Big Top Tour. But it’s only a two week break for Jimmy… he’ll resume in Indianapolis on May 15th, followed by Cincinnati, Houston, and Dallas. View the full tour schedule here and find tickets here.

Update – The Tennessean has a review of the show, plus a photo gallery.

Once again Jimmy Buffett streamed his soundcheck live on USTREAM this afternoon in Nashville.

Here are the songs that were rehearsed:

• Nobody From Nowhere
• Elvis Presley Blues
• Scarlet Begonias
• Smart Woman (In A Real Short Skirt) – with Marshall Chapman
• He Went To Paris (solo acoustic)

Marshall Chapman will be joining Jimmy at the show tonight. They rehearsed “Smart Woman” (Chapman and Jimmy wrote the song together).

Those of us that were watching really got a treat with the rehearsal of “He Went To Paris.” Buffett played the entire song by himself with just his acoustic guitar.

Buffett will be live-streaming the video of the ENTIRE SHOW tonight, so be sure to check in over at USTREAM. The feed quality was excellent this afternoon, so hopefully it will be tonight too.

Tonight, Jimmy Buffett takes his 2010 Under The Big Top Tour back to where he began his musical career nearly 40 years ago: Nashville, Tennessee. It’s Buffett’s first time to perform a full show in the town since 2003. When asked recently why it had been so long since he’d been back to Nashville, Buffett said “Well, they closed the great outdoor amphitheater. What a stupid thing that was. I loved that place.”

The fans will probably appreciate being indoors tonight at the Bridgestone Arena though. The forecast for showtime is a 70% chance of thunderstorms.

As always, the entire show will be broadcast live on Radio Margaritaville on the web and on Sirius 31 / XM 55. The pre-show will begin around 7:30 pm CT and Jimmy will take the stage shortly after 8 pm.

Jimmy has been live-streaming video on USTREAM of the soundcheck and portions of the show. So be sure to tune in from 3:00-5:00 and then again during the show.

For Buffett’s return to Music City, The Tennessean has a special feature on his Nashville Connections complete with some rare photos.