"As happy as you guys were … you were less happy than Jimmy Buffett. He was the happiest man in the world when he walked right up here on July 2, a year ago today."”

Mac McAnally, Coral Reefer Band

PORTSMOUTH — Exactly one year after Jimmy Buffett delighted hundreds of “parrot heads” with a surprise appearance at Sunset Cove that turned out to be his last gig, his bandmates returned to pay tribute to the “Margaritaville” singer on Tuesday, July 2.

Despite not being very active last year due to health issues, Buffett showed up to the Park Avenue restaurant to help celebrate owner Mike MacFarlane’s 50th birthday on July 2, 2023. The show was billed as a performance by Mac McAnally, Buffett’s bandmate in the Coral Reefer Band, but Buffett took the stage during the song, “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere,” to the utter delight of the crowd.

MacFarlane, the owner of two other restaurants in Island Park, met McAnally and Buffett years ago through his day job working for the men’s apparel company Peter Millar. He kept Buffett’s appearance a secret until the last minute.

Sadly, Buffett succumbed to Merkel-cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer with which he had been diagnosed four years earlier, on Sept. 1 — less than two months after his final performance. He was 76.

A sign overlooking Blue Bill Cove now marks the spot where Buffett last sang “Volcano,” “Cheeseburger In Paradise,” “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” and other favorites. 

According to Sunset Cove’s Facebook page, about 1,000 people were on the back lawn for Tuesday's show. Dozens more were listening in from their kayaks or boats that formed a flotilla in Blue Bill Cove behind the stage. Due to parking limitations along Park Avenue, holders of tickets to the sold-out show had the option of parking at Portsmouth High School and taking a free shuttle on Newport Trolley cars to Sunset Cove.

Proceeds from the show, MacFarlane told the crowd before introducing the band, were going to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

This time around, McAnally brought along drummer Eric Darken, who appeared last year, and added another Coral Reefer member — guitarist and singer Scotty Emerick — to round out the trio.

“That Mike MacFarlane throws a hell of a birthday party,” McAnally told the crowd upon taking the stage. “What a beautiful spot we’ve inherited this afternoon. Actually, it’s not exactly afternoon, it’s …”

And with that, the band jumped into “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere,” which recalled Buffett’s dramatic entrance to the stage last year.

'Happiest man in the world'

After the song was over McAnally, an award-winning songwriter who had played with Buffett for more than 40 years, shared with his audience how special that moment was a year ago.

“Everybody lit up like they got hit by 220 volts of electricity,” he said. “And as happy as your guys were … you were less happy than Jimmy Buffett. He was the happiest man in the world when he walked right up here on July 2, a year ago today. And that’s a good reason to be here now.”

Motioning to the kayaks and boats behind him, McAnally said there was no better place to pay tribute to Jimmy Buffett. “One hundred years from now, whenever people buy boats, those boats are going to come pre-loaded with Jimmy Buffett songs,” he said.

Later on, the band played a request by MacFarlane: One of the last songs Buffett ever wrote, called “Bubbles Up.” The crowd was ready, as many of them were holding small bubble wands that had been handed out earlier.