Jimmy Buffett's Summerfest performance is canceled

Jimmy Buffett’s headlining Summerfest performance in Milwaukee is canceled

Jimmy Buffett is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and cap, strumming his guitar and singing while on stage.

By Jonah ValdezStaff Writer

June 28, 2023 1:46 PM PT

Jimmy Buffett‘s headlining Summerfest performance has been canceled.

Organizers for the Milwaukee music festival announced Tuesday that Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band’s July 6 act was nixed from the lineup “due to circumstances out of our control.” Indie pop trio AJR, who will also open for Imagine Dragons on July 8, has been tapped as a replacement.

Although the festival did not disclose the reason for the cancellation, Buffett was hospitalized last month in Boston for unspecified health “issues that needed immediate attention,” the “Margaritaville” performer had said in a statement. The hospital stay had forced him to postpone a show in Charleston, S.C., at Credit One Stadium.

Representatives for Buffett and Milwaukee World Festival, which organizes the festival, did not immediately respond to The Times’ requests for comment.

Buffet hasn’t performed since May 6 when he played in San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium, several weeks before his hospitalization. However, earlier this month, Buffett posted on social media that he was rehearsing and recording music.

“Growing old is not for sissies, I promise you,” Buffett said in his May hospital statement. “I also will promise you, that when I am well enough to perform, that is what I’ll be doing in the land of She-Crab soup.”

The Summerfest cancellation is just the latest one for the 76-year-old. In September, Buffett was briefly hospitalized “due to health issues,” and had to cancel the rest of his performances for the year. Several of his recent West Coast shows, including a pair at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and San Diego, were makeup shows from the fall.

Buffett was originally announced as a Summerfest headlining act, alongside fellow 1970s singer-songwriter James Taylor, Dave Matthews Band, Zach Bryan, Zac Brown Band, Eric Church, Odesza and Imagine Dragons.

The festival, which is celebrating its 55th year, features a variety of performers across genres with Smokey Robinson, Earth Wind & Fire, rock band the War on Drugs, indie darling Japanese Breakfast, reggae and dancehall legend Sean Paul, hip-hop greats Three 6 Mafia and South Gate natives Cypress Hill, along with newer hip-hop acts, such as Coi Leray, NLE Choppa, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Trippie Redd.

Summerfest kicked off June 22 at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater and runs until July 8.