Spirits in the Sky 2009-07-24

July 24, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA, US
Mark Tulin and Billy Corgan
Live performance by Spirits in the Sky
Artist	Spirits in the Sky
Date	July 24, 2009
Venue	Echoplex
Coordinates	34°4′39″N 118°15′37″W
Location	Los Angeles, CA, US
Venue type	Club
Capacity	780
Personnel	Billy Corgan, Mike Byrne, Mark Tulin, Kerry Brown, Mark Weitz, Kevin Dippold
Order of bands	Djin Aquarian, Spirits in the Sky, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Electric Prunes, Simon Stokes Band, Sofizel, Mike Randle, Nels Cline, "Ya Ho Wha 33", The Seeds
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July 24, 2009 was the first Spirits in the Sky performance, in tribute to Sky Saxon of The Seeds who died suddenly on June 25, 2009 of heart and renal failure. While July 24 was the official tribute concert, the Spirits in the Sky super group went on to perform several more shows in August 2009.

This date was Mike Byrne's first show.

Full performance: Set 1 @ 27:30, Set 2 @ 1:19:15, Set 3 @ 2:40:30, Set 4 at 3:40:15

Setlist

Set one

1. "Spirit in the Sky" [Norman Greenbaum] (only performance)
2. "900 Million People Daily (All Makin' Love)" [The Seeds] (only performance)
3. "Freak" (live debut)

Set two

1. "Wind-Up Toys" [The Electric Prunes] (only performance)

Set three

1. (jam)

Set four

1. "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" [The Seeds] (all star jam) (live debut)
2. "Pushin' Too Hard" [The Seeds] (all star jam) (only performance)

Notes

• "Freak" was written the morning of the show
• Set two is Billy Corgan on guitar with the Electric Prunes
• Set three is Corgan on bass, Djin Aquarian on guitar and Kerry Brown on drums; they are introduced as "Ya Ho Wha 33"
• Set four with Corgan on vocals only

Banter

Rotary Rachel: [cuts in] ...you flower children, how are you? Alright. So good to see you. My name is Rotary Rachel and I’d like to welcome all of you to the celebration of the spirit of Sky “Sunlight” Saxon. Can really feel the energy in the room right now. Listen, he started out singing doo wop in Utah as Little Richie Mason--Little Richie Marsh. Then he moved to L.A. in 1962, he formed the Electra-Fires and then Sky Saxon and the Soul Rockers and then, in 1965, he founded the Seeds. (little crowd reaction) Right? Come on. Heh heh heh. Whose raw, powerful sound would forever define garage rock and invent the concept of flower power. Sky had an inimitable style, he was influential and distinctive, he left an indelible mark on those who knew him and even those who didn’t. He was fearless, which manifested in unwavering commitment to his music and his deep spiritual beliefs and his love of dogs. He spent his life searching for answers and after meeting Father Yod at the Source Family restaurant in 1970, his spiritual path would be changed forever. Tonight we’ve got some amazing people...here...to help celebrate Sky with their words, their love and their music. We have a veritable psychedelic fruit basket of Prunes and Strawberries comin’ up later, heh heh heh. But right now, I’d like to mention a very important and special person here tonight. A woman who continues to inspire everyone with her energy and her love and without whom, tonight’s experience would not be possible, please welcome Miss Sabrina Saxon.
Sabrina Saxon: Thank you [unintelligible word], thank you to everybody for being here, oh my gosh, I cannot believe how many people are here. First of all, of course, I would not--I mean, is this amazing or what? And this is, this is because of the hard working team of people I had helping with this, uh, I mean, I can’t even--I couldn’t even imagine how hard people, you know, could work. And uh, and it’s thanks to them that I was able to--from Austin, I was in Austin trying to coordinate all of this and um, and it’s just an amazing thing that’s happened and I wanna just--to draw attention to some special people who are here. (getting a little weepy, she stutters a lot from this point forward) Sorry, I’m gonna cry. Scotty Ennis, his first born daughter here, Tina Mook, I’m not sure where you are. And her mom, Jackie. And um, and also Logan, Adam and Nicole, Sky’s grandkids. And also here is Apollo and Cheytal, who are here from Idaho, who came all the way down to be a part of this with their father and they brought, um, and Cheytal brought, his wife and their little baby, so also another grandson of Sky’s is here. If anyone--and I’m sorry if I missed anyone, if any kids showed up that I didn’t know were coming, I apologize. And that’s it, we’re--I’m gonna turn it over to you, thank you so much.
Rotary Rachel: Thank you, Sabrina. Alright, without further adieu, let’s bring out the boys here, this is not a band, this is a supergroup, people. Heh! We have Mark Tulin of the Electric Prunes right over there. Mark Weitz of the Strawberry Alarm Clock on the keyboard, right over there. Kevin Dippold over here. And Kerry Brown of ancient Chinese secret, hahaha! And, from the Smashing Pumpkins, we’ve got--wait for it...jeez, Mike Byrne, the new guy, right over here! Hi, give it up for him, this is Junior, we love him. Hahahaha! And you may have heard of a guy called Billy Corgan, who is right over here. Ladies and gentlemen, Spirits in the Sky, let’s hear it.
Spirit in the Sky
900 Million People Daily (All Makin’ Love)
BC: Thank you, thank you! Thank you very much. You’re good people to be here with us, thank you.
Lady in crowd: Thank you!
BC: Yeah.
Guy in crowd: See you in Pomona!
BC: Heh heh. I was in Pomona today, I don’t know what that means. Heh heh heh. I was like, “Where am I? What is this place?” Um...quickly, um, play you one more song. Well, I’ll say this much: Sky Saxon came into our lives and our lives have never been the same, right? Right? Right. He was a magician, heh heh. He’d appear and disappear, heh heh heh. One day he’s on your couch and the next day he’s gone. Heh heh. Anyway, uh, originally we were gonna play another Seeds song and it turned out that some of the original Seeds wanted to play the song instead, so then we didn’t have another song to play, so I’d just written this new song and I was like, “Oh, maybe we should play this new song that I wrote.” (crowd cheers) Thank you. I always get scared of that reaction ‘cause you haven’t heard the song yet. And if you happen to be a fan, you know, chances are you won’t like this song. Um...that’s the way it rocks in my world. Uh, but uh, you know, when we started doing the song, I thought, “Wow, this is really weird because this is the kind of lyrics I would never have written before I met Sky.” And he would commit himself to a lyric, you know, and so uh, this song is very much for Sky, so...like to play this new song for you.
Freak
Mark Tulin: Thank you.
[set break]
Mark Tulin: Um, thank you, thank you. We’d like to bring, actually, Billy back, he’s gonna play a little song with us. Now, um, this is a first for us and it’s a first for him and we’re gonna see what happens, but uh...(Billy smiles and wags his finger at Tulin)...in the spirit of Sky’s mood, uh, we’ll see what the hell happens and it’s alright.
Wind-Up Toys (Billy on guitar w/Electric Prunes)
James Lowe: Thank you, that’s enough.
[set break]
Rotary Rachel: Okay, up next, Ya Ho Wha 33.
Jam (Djin Aquarian/guitar, Billy/bass, Kerry Brown/drums)
[set break]
Leighton Koizumi (from The Morlocks): Hey man...here is a guy....
Can’t Seem to Make You Mine (Billy on lead vocals)
Koizumi: The incredible Billy Corgan!
Pushin’ Too Hard (Billy on backing vocals)