Jimmy Buffett gave his final performance in RI. It showed us who he was, and how to live.

I’m guessing this was how Jimmy Buffett, who left Margaritaville on Friday night, would have wanted it.

His last performance on this earth was not in a venue like Gillette Stadium, but the sort of laid-back beachfront café he sang about.

It’s called Sunset Cove, a Rhode Island restaurant-bar on that necklace of Portsmouth you see off the Sakonnet River Bridge when you’re driving to Newport. The kind of place you can get a shrimp roll and Key lime margarita on a waterfront lawn while watching a casual show.

Jimmy Buffett had a rough few months before that appearance. His website said he'd been fighting Merkel cell skin cancer for four years. After a May performance in San Diego at a venue with 35,000 seats, he canceled other big shows, spent time in a hospital in Boston, then retreated to a home he had in Sag Harbor on Long Island.

But on that July 2, he did something emblematic of his lyrics and life. He called a fellow band member named Mac McAnally who was due to play at Sunset Cove, then made his way to Rhode Island to join him. In a surprise walk-on, Buffett performed for 45 minutes in front of a few hundred folks, with a boat storage place on one side and on the other, humble apartments where you picture Parrot Heads who love porch swings and sponge cake might live.

What a great reminder of remembering who you are.

The impressive part wasn't just that he made his way from the tip of Long Island to an unpretentious eating house in Portsmouth despite being ill.

It’s that you’d think at his stage of life, he might be above bothering with a small venue. Or any venue.

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You see, Jimmy Buffet was among the richest musical artists alive. Richer than Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen, who are each worth around $600 million.

Jimmy Buffett was a billionaire.

How did that happen to a guy you picture in old flip-flops looking for a shaker of salt for his margarita?

Well, unlike the others, he leveraged not just his music but a way of living that countless folks out there wanted to embrace.

It led to a business empire including Margaritaville resorts, restaurants, casinos, cruise ships, retirement communities and merchandise. You want a Margaritaville pickleball paddle? No problem.

But Jimmy Buffett wasn’t just the lucky beneficiary of developers and others who swooped in offering deals to jump on his brand.

It turns out he steered it all as a shrewd entrepreneur who’d studied business in college, and understood that the law of supply and demand is at the heart of launching great ventures. In short, he realized there was a huge demand for something he could supply – not just his music but a lifestyle.

It would not have worked if it weren’t authentic. Yes, unavoidably, there was commercialization, but his performance at humble Sunset Cove in Portsmouth is a reminder that Jimmy Buffett remained true. He woke up that day and simply felt he needed to play, so left his comfortable waterfront Hamptons home to do it. Because that’s who he was.

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One can’t help but get emotional thinking of Buffett, only months from reaching the end of his journey, giving his final performance at a Rhode Island restaurant-bar that looks like it belongs in mythical Margaritaville.

Paul McCartney posted a tribute to Buffett that included this line: “Right up to the last minute, his eyes still twinkled with a humor that said, ‘I love this world and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it’.”

His last performance reflected that.

And imparted an important lesson.

Stay out there.

mpatinki@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Jimmy Buffett's final performance was in RI. What it said about him