Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally played an intimate show in Brisbane last night, marking the first of two shows in Australia.

Buffett announced during the show that he’ll be back with his full band in March – April.

The Courier Mail has a review of the show:

AFTER an absence of close to quarter of a century, American songwriter Jimmy Buffett finally made it back on to a Brisbane stage last night.

Crawled on, actually, getting the first of many laughs about his near-death experience falling from a stage in Sydney last year.

But the 65-year-old is in fine shape all that sea air does him no harm and even better spirits, taking this 1000-strong audience on two-hour ride of songs and jokes that goes down as easily as the subject of his most famous song. In fact, Margaritaville now sports a new verse about that experience.

This intimate outdoors gig under balmy Brisbane skies sold out in minutes, and while many of his Australian fans have travelled around the world to see him play, there’s no doubt that his absence from this part of the world heightened the sense of occasion for his brightly-attired fans.

Read the full review here.

Jimmy Buffett has added two more shows to his October Lounging at the Lagoon Tour, both in the northwest.

Seattle, WA
Tue, October 23, 2012
Key Arena

Boise, ID
Thu, October 25, 2012
Taco Bell Arena

Tickets for the Seattle show go on sale Saturday, September 15th and tickets for Boise go on sale Friday, September 14th.

In an interview with an Australian news outlet, it’s revealed that Jimmy Buffett is planning a larger tour for Australia in 2013:

Buffett is returning to play in Australia for the first time since the accident next month for intimate, acoustic shows in Melbourne and Brisbane, ahead of a bigger tour next year.

Presumably Buffett would also play in New Zealand, where in 2011 he had to cancel a show there after falling off the stage.

In the interview, Buffett talks a little about the fall. Read it here.

(Hat tip @nzbeautyeditor)

After confirming that Jimmy Buffett would be back in Australia in September, we now have confirmation on the dates and venues:

In December of 2010, the one and only Jimmy Buffett announced he would be returning to Australia for the first time in decades for two very special summer shows at the Sydney Opera House in January of 2011. The demand was high and Australian Parrotheads from coast to coast called for more; so much more in fact that an unscheduled additional show at the Hordern Pavilion was locked in. Spreading the beach party a little further this time, Chugg Entertainment are thrilled to confirm that Buffett will be returning to Australia for two very special solo-acoustic shows with Mac McAnally next month in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Returning to Brisbane and Melbourne for the first time in more than 20 years, Buffett will play a special outdoor show in Brisbane’s Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens (a venue-first) on Friday 21 September, before taking the party to theiconic Palais Theatre in Melbourne on Sunday 23 September.

Tickets for both shows go on sale Wednesday at 9 am. An exclusive presale is available to Chugg Entertainment members.

We reported two days ago that signs pointed to Jimmy Buffett returning to Australia in September.

This morning, Richard Wilkins of the Australian Today Show confirmed that Jimmy will play two shows down under next month.

No dates have been announced yet, but there are rumors of a show in Brisbane on the 21st and another in Melbourne on the 23rd.

We’ll bring you more details when they’re available.