Jimmy Buffett and a stripped-down version of the Coral Reefer Band performed at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island on Sunday afternoon. The Providence Journal reviews the show:

Jimmy Buffett’s concert to close the Newport Folk Festival was perfectly good as far as Buffett concerts go (though by the necessity of the festival context it was shorter than average), but it was far from the acoustic performance that had been billed.

True, there’s always been more than a bit of the singer-songwriter in Buffett’s oeuvre, anyway. And last night’s show included such examples as “A Pirate Looks at 40” and a mostly acoustic “Come Monday,” and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (who had played earlier on the main stage) joined him for Welch’s traditional-based “Elvis Blues.” He also pulled out a skillful, straightforward acoustic encore of Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind.”

While Buffett reminded the Boston Globe this spring that he came up as a folk singer, said he might bring only one other musician and that “it won’t be a Parrothead show,” it did a pretty good approximation of one, with favorites such as “Margaritaville,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Brown-Eyed Girl,” “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Fins” — you know the drill.

Festival associate producer Jay Sweet said that there had been a miscommunication of some kind with Buffett’s management — “it was a surprise that he brought the heat” — but maintained that “he put together a set list and a band that was appropriate for the Newport Folk Festival. … Was it a folk show? No. Was it a stripped-down version of a Jimmy Buffett show? Yes.” The band was somewhat smaller — Buffett left the horn section at home — but the electric guitars and drums still pounded away. And the audience (announced at 7,500) didn’t seem to mind.

Read the entire article here.

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The schedule has been announced for the upcoming Newport Folk Festival. Jimmy Buffett will perform on Sunday, August 3rd from 5:40-7:15 pm.

See the entire schedule here.

You can order tickets now online by clicking here, or by calling 1-877-655-4849. Be sure to purchase tickets for Sunday, August 3rd to see Jimmy.

(hat tip to Mike for passing this along)

Jimmy Buffett’s 2008 Year Of Still Here Tour resumes this week after a month-long hiatus.

The July leg kicks off on Thursday at the Riverbend Amphitheater in Cincinnati, Ohio. Then, Buffett takes his show to the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin on Saturday. Other shows on this leg: Pittsburgh, Chicago, Indianapolis, and the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.

See the entire tour schedule here, and be sure to get your tickets to see Buffett live!

Tickets for the Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island go on sale this morning at 9 am. Buffett will be performing there on Sunday, August 3rd.

Get your tickets by calling 877-655-4TIX or go to ticketing.festivalnetwork.com.

Buffett has said that he is considering playing a stripped-down set with just two acoustic guitars at his Newport debut. “I threatened to do Newport before I was gone, and I seriously want to honor the heritage of the festival,” Buffett says. “I came up as a folk singer. I’ve always loved the idea of being a balladeer. You know, I might do Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Canadian Railroad Trilogy.’ I am not going to do a Parrothead show.”