After health issues, Jimmy Buffett makes surprise appearance at Rhode Island concert

In an unannounced surprise appearance following his recent hospitalization, Jimmy Buffett, a longtime North Haven resident, dropped in on a Rhode Island concert by his Coral Reefer Band guitarist Mac McAnally over the weekend.

On an outdoor waterfront stage at the Sunset Cove restaurant in Portsmouth’s Island Park area Sunday, McAnally, 64, sang Buffett and Alan Jackson’s 2003 drinking ditty, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” and reached the lyric “At a moment like this, you can't help but wonder: What would Jimmy Buffett do?”

An audience video shot from about the fifth row then shows the small crowd rising to its feet and cheering as Buffett, 76, strolls onto the stage, straps on a guitar and tells them, “How about we play for you?” He joins McAnally and drummer Eric Darken to complete the song, and then delightedly tells the crowd, “Well! It is good to see an audience, let me tell you that.”

The trio went on to play the Buffett standards “Volcano,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” and his signature song, “Margaritaville,” according to EastBayRI.com.

Sunset Cove owner Mike MacFarlane told the outlet Buffett’s appearance — on what happened to be the restaurateur’s 50th birthday — came about because he and McAnally are friends. “[S]o I met Jimmy through Mac a while back. … Jimmy’s been down and out a little bit and is not on tour right now. He found out his friend Mac was doing a show here, and Mac told him it was actually my birthday. Jimmy said, ‘You know what, I’m on Long Island and we’re gonna come to Rhode Island and we’re gonna have a party for Mike and blow up this whole town.’ ”

Buffett had canceled a May 20 concert at Credit One Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina, writing on Facebook two days earlier that on May 16 after a trip to the Bahamas, “I had to stop in Boston for a check-up but wound up back in the hospital to address some issues that needed immediate attention. Growing old is not for sissies, I promise you.”

The following day he informed fans, “I head home tomorrow for a while, and then will go for a fishing trip with old friends. … Once I am in shape, we will look at the when’s and where’s of shows. I think playing is as therapeutic for me as it is for fans to listen to and sing along.

In September, a brief hospitalization curtailed his tour shortly after he had played at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh on Aug. 9.

Buffett is not currently scheduled to play Jones Beach this summer.