Buffett didn't have an opening band billed as such, but Ilo Ferreira, introduced by Buffett, played a handful of songs before the main man took the stage. As he walked to the mike, Buffett kicked of his flip-flops, a move Aftermath found utterly endearing. Then he kicked off the show with "Nobody from Nowhere," off his 2009 album Buffet Hotel. Old photos of him from the '70s - when he still had hair, and it wasn't white - played on the screen.

As a casual listener, Aftermath enjoys Buffett's older stuff - Son of A Son of A Sailor, specifically. He didn't play "African Friend," but a video of him performing it in the '80s played on the big screen during intermission. He did play another old favorite, "Pencil Thin Mustache," preceded by a shoutout to Buffalo Bayou, and "Knees of My Heart."

Buffett is known for peppering his onstage banter with references to current events and details local to the city he's playing. During "Volcano" he joked about Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul. During "Window on the World," images of the International Space Station crew STS-131 played on the screen. Buffett, who is also a pilot, mentioned NASA several times during the show.

Backup singer Nadirah Shakoor took over vocals for "Creola" while Buffett played a concert-sized ukulele. It was about this time that Aftermath came up with the perfect description for Buffett's music: It's blue-eyed soul gone Caribbean.

Buffett played "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and "Margaritaville" as expected, but not "Why Don't We Get Drunk." Despite the cheesy name, "A Pirate Looks at 40" was amazingly moving, and even his bad Tahitian accent was charming on "One Particular Harbor." That's the thing about the guy - no matter what's he's doing, he's having fun, and the fun is infectious.

Buffett closed his set with Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Southern Cross," and during his second encore, changed the lyrics of "Cowboy in the Jungle" to say "I don't want to swim in an oily sea/ The Gulf of Mexico does not belong to BP." Then he wished the crowd a good night.

"Have a great summer," he said. "Save the Gulf!"