Jimmy Buffett performed on Tuesday night at the Belly Up in Solano Beach outside of San Diego, California. The show served as a warm up for Buffett’s 2017 tour that kicks off on Saturday in Las Vegas.

The San Diego Union Tribune reviewed the show:

n’t know what tour this is,” Jimmy Buffett said after he walked on stage Tuesday night at the Belly Up Tavern with his band, the Coral Reefers. “But we’re starting here.”

Buffett is, of course, no stranger to San Diego or the intimate Belly Up.

He and his seven-man, two-woman group performed at the same Solana Beach nightclub in 2013. And, back in the early 1980s — before he became an American pop-culture institution for a generation that favors tropical cocktails and attire — he sometimes sat in at the Belly Up with the band Billy & The Beaters.

During that same time period back then, Buffett periodically would sing, unannounced, at such North County nightspots as the Albatross and the Triton (now the Beach House). Richard Davis, his audio engineer for the past quarter-century, used to be the sound mixer at the Belly Up.

After performing a tender version of “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” Buffet said: “It’s a big honor to be doing a musical. I had the thought: ‘If you’re going to do a musical, you should probably do songs people know.’ I’m not giving away secrets, but this is in the show.” With that, be broke into the wistful ballad “Come Monday,” adding the line “at the Belly Up.”

Read the full review.

It’s been a few years since Jimmy Buffett has performed in Toronto, but that’ll change in August when he brings the Coral Reefer Band to the Budweiser Stage.

Toronto, ON
Friday, August 11th, 2017
Budweiser Stage

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 7th at 10 am through Ticketmaster and Ticketnetwork.

“Since their unforgettable performance in 2011, Toronto has been eagerly awaiting the return of Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band,” commented Paul Corcoran Executive Vice President, Venue Operations Live Nation Canada. “Transforming the Ontario Place waterfront into Margaritaville at the Budweiser Stage will be the highlight of the 2017 summer concert season.”

View all tour dates that have been announced so far here.

(hat tip Chuck)

San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse gets the world debut of Jimmy Buffett’s new musical Escape to Margaritaville and they’ve just announced the full casting and ticket information:

Tickets go on sale to the public on Sunday, March 26 at noon and will be available online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org, by phone at (858) 550-1010, or in person at The Playhouse’s Patron Services Office (hours: Tue – Sun, noon to 6pm) at 2910 La Jolla Village Drive.

Joining the previously-announced principals – Paul Alexander Nolan as Tully, Alison Luff as Rachel and Lisa Howard as Tammy – the complete cast features Charlie Pollock as Brick, Don Sparks as J.D., Andre Ward as Jamal and Rema Webb as Marley, along with ensemble members Matt Allen, Sara Andreas, Katie Banville, Hanz Enyeart, Marjorie Failoni, Samantha Farrow, Keely Hutton, Justin Keats, Mike Millan, Justin Mortelliti, Ian Paget, Sharone Sayegh, Alex Michael Stoll and Jena VanElslander. The ensemble also includes three UC San Diego M.F.A. students: Andrew Gallop, Volen Iliev and Mo Rodvanich.

As previously announced, Escape to Margaritaville will have its world premiere at The Playhouse on May 9, 2017, and will play New Orleans’ Saenger Theatre, Houston’s Hobby Center, and make its last stop before Broadway at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre in November 2017. Escape to Margaritaville will sail into Broadway in the spring of 2018. Go to www.EscapeToMargaritavilleMusical.com for more information.

Read the full article at BroadwayWorld.com.

Jimmy Buffett has played a show at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Amphitheater every year since 1988, and he’ll do it again this summer:

Cincinnati, OH
Saturday, July 8th, 2017
Riverbend Amphitheater

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 31st at 10 am ET through Ticketmaster and Ticketnetwork.

View all concerts that have been announced so far on the tour dates page.

(hat tip Alan)

Jimmy Buffett announced today a surprise show at the Belly Up in San Diego on Tuesday, March 28th:

History does repeat, at least when it comes to Jimmy Buffett and the Belly Up.

The tropical-pop troubadour and his band, The Coral Reefers, will perform at the Belly Up Tuesday as a warm-up date for their April 1 concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Tickets go on sale at noon today, Thursday, online only.

In 2013, Buffett and his band played at the 600-seat Belly Up as a warm-up date for their subsequent show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

All tickets are priced at $95, plus service charges. They will be available only online through frontgatetickets.com.

This will be Buffett’s third San Diego concert in barely seven months.

Last September, he and the Coral Reefers drew an overflow crowd to their opening night performance at the 2016 KAABOO Del Mar festival.

He and his band returned in October for their first show at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay since 1984. It, too, sold out in an instant and drew an audience that included San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and his wife, Katherine.

Read the full story

(hat tip Chuck)