Jimmy Buffett and Lionel Richie
found an easy solution to the dilemma of who got to perform "All
Night Long (All Night)" during their one-off stadium show in
Detroit.
They both did.
LIONEL: Cover Story / Buy Issue
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Richie,
of course, wrote the song and took it to No. 1 in 1983. Buffett,
meanwhile, guests on the new version from Richie's latest album, the
chart-topping "Tuskegee," and has been playing it during the shows
on his Lounging in the Lagoon Tour this year. But the men, who
dubbed each other "cousin" during the July 28 show at Detroit's
Comerica Park, figured the crowd of 39,000-plus Parrotheads could
handle two renditions, so Buffett, dressed in a Detroit Tigers
jersey, joined Richie and his band at the end of their 65-minute
opening set, and Richie, also sporting Tigers attire, returned the
favor with Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band.
And
while Buffett was the night's headliner, he quipped at one point
that "Lionel had to cut 10 hits out of his show. I get to do all 2.5
of mine."
Buffett took credit for the "wild-ass
idea" of having Richie on the show. "We don't normally do opening
acts," Buffett tells Billboard.com, "but (the promoters) felt we
needed an opening act. Then ('Tuskegee') came out and went No. 1,
and I said, 'Let's call Lionel and see if he'd be interested in
doing it.' I thought that to play the baseball stadium in Detroit
would be special enough to get him. And he called back and said he
wanted to do it."
Richie wasn't Buffett's
only guest during the show, either. Detroit-based guitarist Earl
Klugh joined the Buffett crew for "Jamaica Mistaica" and "Come
Monday," while the Miami Heat's Shane Battier, a suburban Detroit
native who played for the University of Michigan, played congas on
"Margaritaville," though hoops fans needn't worry about him hanging
up his sneakers in order to make music any time soon.
Buffett
also served up other hits he's guested on, including the Zac Brown
Band's "Knee Deep" and Alan Jackson's "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere,"
but without those artists.
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