Billy Corgan 2005-07-28

July 28, 2005 – Sydney, NSW, AU
Live performance by Billy Corgan
TheFutureEmbrace tour
Date	July 28, 2005
Venue	The Marquee
Coordinates	33°53′13″S 151°10′25″E
Location	Sydney, NSW, AU
Venue type	Club
Capacity	300
Personnel	Billy Corgan, Matt Walker, Linda Strawberry, Brian Liesegang
Order of bands	Billy Corgan
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Billy Corgan's July 28, 2005 performance was a surprise acoustic show.

Setlist

Set one

1. "ToLoveSomebody" [Bee Gees] (acoustic) 
2. "DIA" (acoustic) 
3. (unknown: "I'm Alone") (tease)
4. "Now (And Then)" (acoustic) 
5. "The CameraEye" (acoustic) 
6. "I'm a King Bee" [Slim Harpo] (acoustic) 
7. "A100" (acoustic) 
8. "Walking Shade" (acoustic) 
9. "Pretty, Pretty Star" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
10. "Pretty, Pretty Star" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
11. "Pretty, Pretty Star" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
12. "Pretty, Pretty Star" (tease) (acoustic) 
13. "Pretty, Pretty Star" (tease) (acoustic) 
14. "Pretty, Pretty Star" (acoustic) 
15. "Dig" [Linda Strawberry] (only performance)
16. "Bit 5" (acoustic) 
17. "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" (acoustic) 
18. "I'm Ready" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
19. "I'm Ready" (acoustic) 

Set two

20. "Prairie Song" (acoustic) 
21. "White Lights" (acoustic) 
22. "Friends as Lovers" (acoustic) 
23. "For Your Love" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
24. "For Your Love" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
25. "For Your Love" (acoustic) 
26. "Riverview" (acoustic) 
27. "I Got You" [Split Enz] (tease) (acoustic) 
28. "Sitting on Top of the World" [Walter Vinson / Lonnie Chatmon] (acoustic) 
29. "Johanna" [Iggy Pop / James Williamson] (abandoned) (acoustic) 
30. "Johanna" [Iggy Pop / James Williamson] (acoustic) 
    1. "Riders on the Storm" [The Doors] (tease) 
31. "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" [AC/DC] (acoustic) 

Encore

32. "Of a Broken Heart" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
33. "Of a Broken Heart" (abandoned) (acoustic) 
34. "Of a Broken Heart" (acoustic) 
35. "You Were Mine" (acoustic) 

Notes

• Brian Liesegang played bass
• "Dig" performed solo by Linda Strawberry
• First performance of "Of a Broken Heart" since 2003-06-13
• Last performance of "For Your Love" until 2011-12-10
• Last performance of "White Lights" until 2013-09-26
• Last performances of "Prairie Song" and "Of a Broken Heart" until 2014-08-30
• Last performance of "Riverview" until 2017-10-12
• Last performance of "Friends as Lovers" until 2017-10-15
• Last performance of "You Were Mine" until 2017-10-29

Banter

BC: Hello! Uh, can you see in the back there? Now? No? Too bad. I’ll try to do this. Come up a little. Uh, okay. First thing first. The imperative issue of the evening is to have a good time. This is not an uptight rock and roll type deal. Um, the thing is is the nature of the music is quiet, generally speaking, so if you want to talk, there probably won’t be as long a concert. Um, if everyone can have a good time and we can all kind of work on it together, uh, we’ve got a long evening planned for you, we’re actually going to play two sets of music, um...so, um, lot of songs I haven’t played for a while, so...[unintelligible]. We’re not doing [unintelligible]. So, um, um, hopefully we’ll all have a good time, that’s why I’m here, and uh, and uh, you know once the beers kick in, and uh, and you know, you know you decide you’re gonna pick up that girl and I can hear you, I’m gonna come kill you, so....so...alright, thank you for coming.
To Love Somebody (solo acoustic)
BC: Thank you.
DIA (solo acoustic)
BC: Funny story is, um, well, not so funny. Start again. Um, Courtney Love was staying at my house and, um, I wrote her...we’re just friends, and uh, and uh, I wrote that song and then I wrote another song, um, and she picked that one, so I can play you a little bit of the other song and you can see if it was better.
untitled song (“I’m Alone”) (abandoned) (solo acoustic)
BC: I can’t remember what the rest is. Heh heh. Now that I think about it, she was totally wrong.
Now and Then (solo acoustic)
BC: Heh heh. ... Can’t think of any funny stories.
Guy in crowd: Tell us about her! (Linda)
Linda: Heh.
BC: Well, she’s Australian.
Other guy in crowd: She’s cute.
Linda: Well, thank you.
BC: She’s, uh, she’s the 4th cousin of Nicole Kidman. (Linda laughing) “Nic,” as we call her.
Linda: Nicky, Nicky.
BC: Um, she’s from Australia, right?
Linda: My dad lived here for a while. Lived in Perth though.
BC: So you are technically sort of Australian?
Linda: If that counts...(laughing)
BC: If you’ve had sex with an Australian, are you Australian?
Linda: Uh, not that I’m aware of, (laughing) could be possible.
BC: I almost had sex with an Australian once. I don’t know what I missed. Heh heh. Heh, I suppose you could tell me. Maybe it’s different down here, I don’t know. You all seem to be pretty happy.
Linda: And direct.
BC: Maybe that’s why - maybe that’s why they’re so into cricket. Put the cricket game - no, you put the cricket game on, you fuck for a while, you watch some cricket, [unintelligible]. You know what I mean? You can slide outta like three days.
The Camera Eye
BC: Thank you. We’ve actually never played these songs, uh, acoustic before. So, it’s all a learning process. Um...oh, you start it?
Matt: (off mic) I start it.
BC: Good deal, okay. That’s Matt on the drums. Brian...on the deep trombone. Linda Kidman. Linda Kidman...on the persuasion.
I’m a King Bee
(Linda over opening drums: Thanks Billy.
BC: Heh heh, no problem. I’m a friend in need.)
A100 (solo acoustic)
BC: Any requests? Just kidding. Billy doesn’t drink. He - Billy is allergic to alcohol. Seriously, I’m allergic, I can’t drink, heh. Ser - swear to god, swear on my mother. Cannot drink your lagers. He drinks for me.
Linda: We both drink for him.
BC: Heh heh.
Linda: And Matt, and Matt. The whole dang crew.
BC: Alriight. Uh, what can I tell you? Are you having a good time? Now I heard a story, you can confirm this as true: some people left after the show last night and came here immediately. That is that smell that I’m...heh heh, sort of this...stench, [unintelligible]. Heh heh, sorry. If you’ve been insulted by me, you’ve been insulted by brilliance, so... I’m still sick, actually. Yeah, there’s a, there’s an article in NME today that I freaked out in Melbourne and stormed offstage, it just never happened so that’s very interesting. It’s interesting when things happen that didn’t happen.
Guy in crowd: That happens a lot in Melbourne.
BC: I’m an - I’m an honest person, I would tell you if I freaked out. You were there, right?
Linda: Heh heh, yeah.
BC: Actually, and I heard too, um, someone told us that NME actually got in touch with some fans that were at the show and they said no, that didn’t happen, and they still went with this sort of weird story that I flipped out, so.... Actually, at the end, I kind of threw the mic down, I was just being funny but see...when you’re a drama queen, like me...
Guy in crowd: Once again, it’s Melbourne.
BC: Is - is there sort of a Sydney/Melbourne rivalry?
Linda: Yes, there’s some to that.
BC: So...is it sort of like, what is the breakdown, is it uh, Sydney is the...
Girl in crowd: Pretentious.
BC: Sydney is pretentious, okay, and Melbourne is...
Other guy in crowd: Retarded!
BC: Retarded! (muffles mic) Retarded. Retarded. (normal) Heh. That’s a good sound, isn’t it? (muffles mic) Retarded. (normal) Alright, now you have to say...that’s not cool.
Linda: Uh oh.
BC: Yeah, I’m gonna freak out again. Um...
Guy in crowd: Blame those Faker guys.
Other guy in crowd: Oh, fuck you, you cheeky fuck.
BC: Uh oh. There’s a fight going on. I - I like the Faker band, I don’t have a problem with them. Is there a Faker problem? Huh? Oh, they’re from Sydney. I see. They told the Melbourne crowd they were from Melbourne, so.... That’s an old trick, you know? “So glad to be home!” Alright. This, uh, song I’d like to play for you is an example of how I can ruin a song. Playing this song today, I realized this is the better version, so...please enjoy. I’ll let you be the judge. Maybe not.
Walking Shade (solo acoustic)
BC: See, I told you I was right. Is everyone okay, does anyone need anything before we continue? (Linda laughs) Well, just go, the bar is in the back.
Girl in crowd: Can I have a kiss?
BC: What kind of kiss do you want? No, I’m not interested in kissing you on the chin. Is that a Sydney thing or a Melbourne thing?
Guy in crowd: Tasmania!
BC: I don’t know what that means but that’s funny. You just know that’s funny.
Girl in crowd: It’s like Texas!
BC: Tasmania is your Texas? Did a - did a - did a - did a leader of the free world come from Tasmania? And lead the whole world into war? Not that I remember.
Guy in crowd: He doesn’t lead us!
BC: Is that another invitation?
Pretty, Pretty Star (abandoned after 2nd line of chorus)
BC: Alright, you’re screwing me up.
Linda: You usually can’t hear me.
BC: Ruin my big moment.
Linda: Should I sing softer?
Pretty, Pretty Star (picked up where left off, abandoned after 4 words)
(BC: Every time I start...)
BC: Uh, I’ll skip that song. No it’s actually, it was my fault, I was just blaming her.
Linda: (disapproving noise)
BC: I think you’re a bit loud though, right?
Linda: Yeeaahh.
BC: Yeah. Ms. Linda would like to be turned down.
Linda: Yes, please [unintelligible].
BC: Let’s try it again. Ahem.
Pretty, Pretty Star (abandoned after 2nd line of verse 2)
BC: Dammit! Fuck! I’ve lost my mind. I’ve lost my mind. Now I appreciate that, I just...I can’t, I’m lost.
Linda: Did I mess you up again? Heh heh.
BC: You’re back here with failure, as you know.
Linda: Heh heh. You’re very handsome and talented.
BC: Let’s just move on! That was Pretty, Pretty Star. Sorry about that.
Guy in crowd: (Rob Schneider impression) You can do it!
BC: No. I’m not that funny. Um, Linda would like to play a song for you.
Linda: Hello. Okay. Send me good vibes, I’m a little nervous now. This song’s called Dig.
Guy in crowd: Dick?
Linda: No, it’s not called Dick, stop it.
BC: Let’s go back to...
Pretty, Pretty Star (tease - 2 chords)
Linda: Hahaha. That was funny.
Pretty, Pretty Star (tease - first 3 words of lyrics)
BC: (coughs) I’m gonna try it again, I’m pissed off. Then we’ll do this song. “Carry past the word.” “Wait remind my life is mine so many travelers / Carry past the word.”
Linda: Yeah.
BC: I can’t think of the next line.
Guy in crowd: Improvise.
BC: Yeah right. “And then the show went horribly off the rails and everybody...” (sings quickly) “Wait remind my life is mine so many travelers / Carry past the word.” You have the CD book? What’s the next line? Heh, seriously, I wanna know. ... “Flowers Jake,” alright, it’s “Flowers Jake,” so when I look at you in a panic, (whispers) “it’s ‘Flowers Jake.’”
Pretty, Pretty Star (w/large cheer after he gets past the part above)
BC: And now Linda will perform her song Dick. I thought of that joke in the middle of the song and I almost, heh, totally screwed up again ‘cause I was laughing at my joke in my head.
Linda: Okay, heh heh heh. Come on, I’m scared.
BC: We’re all gonna kind of “om” you to the spot. (audience makes meditation noise)
Dig (Linda solo piano)
BC: Can you put my guitar on? Uh, Linda’s, uh, name is Linda Strawberry, so if you want to find her on the internet, she has a provocative website. Right? Where’s your tour journal at?
Linda: Uh, my tour journal’s at lindastrawberry dot com slash tour journal.
BC: She talks about all the tragedy of the tour. Seriously. It’s always tragic. Uh...awesome.
Bit 5
BC: Heh. I was kinda making that up. (sings + plays guitar, Matt joins in shortly thereafter) Anyone...anywhere...anyone...anywhere... (reprise stops) Thank you. A few of the songs on the new album I wrote sort of on acoustic but not really so, a lot of times I’m really discovering these songs for the first time this way, it’s very interesting and um, thank you for listening. Beauty. ... So we’re just gonna play a couple more songs and then we’ll take a little break and, uh, everyone can go do whatever they need to do. Is there anything anyone would like to say now? Thank you. ‘Cause later it gets very serious and there will be no talking. At all. I’m not kidding.
M.O.H.
BC: What are you doing?
Linda: A picture...
Girl in crowd: Billy, what’d you do today? Where are you playing tonight?
BC: Heh heh. I’d tell you...I’d tell you. I’ll tell you after the show.
Girl in crowd: Make sure. I’m serious.
BC: Yeah, I’ll try to - well, nah, that’s not going to work. ... Don’t complain if it’s not good.
Girl in crowd: It’s always good!
BC: I wish that was true, I really do. This is a song called I’m-a Ready.
I’m Ready (abandoned at beginning of verse 2)
BC: I can’t remember the words, fuck! See, this whole standing up threw me off. You’re in my bedroom, we’re not having this confession alone. (sings) It’s your...(speaking)...okay. Sorry about that. Still want me to play the song? Who really doesn’t want to hear another song and really wants to go to the bathroom? I know you’re out there. Because, because later on, someone will say “Yeah, I saw some shit on the internet, you kept playing and I couldn’t go to the bathroom” and I went “Yeah.”
Guy in crowd: “And then he stormed out.”
BC: Yeah, and then I stormed out, yeah. Because you were putting your...bodily functions ahead of my music. Heh heh. That’s a frightening thought, actually. Hahaha, rewind that, just erase that.
Guy in crowd: The lights were always great last night.
BC: Thank you. He liked the lights last night.
Other guy in crowd: I like your music.
BC: Like I said, I mean, Australians are gonna tell you what they think any time of the day.
Other guy in crowd: He plays a mean guitar.
(Billy doodles “poorly” for a second)
BC: Alright. Try that again. “It’s your, it’s your - it’s your fascination.” For my - he’s my lyric guy anyway. No no. “It’s your fascination” - that’s what I need you to tell me if I don’t remember the lyric. Here we go.
I’m Ready (Billy acoustic w/Linda keys)
BC: So, um, a brief break and then we’ll be back...to play songs not found on The Future Embrace.
Guy in crowd: Play some grunge.
BC: Does the word “fuck you” translate down here? You know, I spent years trying to tell people that we weren’t a grunge band, and um, and now it’s like yeah, I guess we were because...he said it. “And then he stormed offstage.” Alright, see you in a minute.
[set break]
BC: Thank you. I’d like to play a few songs for you, um, that, uh, are commonly referred to as the Chicago songs. Um...I wrote some of these songs, uh, uh, before Zwan formed and then a few of the songs why Zwan was formed ‘cause we were talking about doing an acoustic record which never came to be, and then after Zwan broke up, I went back to Chicago and I didn’t know what to do with myself so I kind of finished these songs and, uh, they’ve all been recorded and videoed and all that but I don’t know if they’ll ever come out, but.... Alright, I’m being dramatic, they’ll come out someday but not right now. Um, these songs are, uh, definitely a different change of pace from the songs we’ve just played, so I hope you enjoy them, I can explain a little bit what the songs are about, um, if you’d like. Uh, I haven’t played these songs for a while so, um, hope you indulge me with that too. Um, this first song is called The Prairie Song. Um, in my hometown of Chicago in 1871, um, as myth has it, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern, uh, which may or may not be true but I guess it doesn’t matter, um, and uh, directly burned down about three-quarters of the main part (mic seems to stop working) of the city burned down. (hits mic) Burned down. (hits mic 3 times) See, I’m gonna freak out again. (hits mic twice) One, two. Uh, burned down, uh, you know all the city buildings, burned down a lot of the rich homes, uh, burned down a lot of the poor homes so Chicago was reconstructed in the years following and uh, it’s very much a part of the city so this song sort of deals in a fundamental and elemental way with the great Chicago fire. (playing with Prairie Song chords) Okay, there we go. You need something before I start?
Girl in crowd: I wanna be able to see!
Other girl in crowd: Me too!
BC: Um...well, how can we accommodate you? Uhh...I’m afraid there’s not much I can do for you.
Guy in crowd: Come into the crowd, we’ll sit around you.
BC: Yeah, I don’t trust you though. Uh, I wish there was something I could do, I’m sorry you can’t see. Uh, it’s hard for me to sit any higher than this, so I apologize. Just close your eyes...imagine I’m giving you sort of a back rub. Heh heh heh. Maybe you’ll feel better, maybe you won’t.
Prairie Song (solo acoustic)
White Lights (solo acoustic)
BC: Thanks, so... (hits mic) (off mic) You’ll figure it out yet, Hootsy! (on mic) Hootsy is our sound man, he can’t see either. This is a little song called Friends as Lovers, Lovers as Friends.
Friends as Lovers, Lovers as Friends (solo acoustic)
For Your Love (abandoned after a couple of chords)
BC: Where’s the girl that can’t see? Where? Let her through. Come here.
Girl in crowd: I can’t see too.
BC: Alright, you come forward too, come on. No, come up, come sit right there. Right there. Wait, no no, right there, right there, nope, right there. Flop. Fuck. There you go. Where’s the other lady? No, heh heh, I’m deaf but I don’t.... You gotta be quiet though.
Girl in crowd: Here I am, let me through.
BC: Where are you? Are you really short? Come forward. Alright. You can see! I can see you. Come on, come forward, come sit in front of him. Alright, you gotta sit there. Alright, no more complaining.
For Your Love (abandoned after a few chords again)
BC: Are you talking over there ‘cause you can’t see? Just kidding.
For Your Love (solo acoustic)
BC: At one point in time, Chicago boasted the world’s largest amusement park. You’re not impressed? Unfortunately this amusement park was torn down in 1967, the year of my birth. And uh, so I actually never got to see this amusement park, I’ve only seen it in pictures, and my father used to go there. And apparently, as the years went on - it was built, I think sometime in the 1920s - as years went on, it became more and more dangerous and that was part of the reason they shut it down. And then not so ironically, um, when they tore down the amusement park, they took some of the rides and they set it up at some other amusement park that was sort of located near my house and we were never allowed to go there because quote-unquote, it was too dangerous. But um, uh, I used to drive by and see these rides, you know, and so somehow it all makes sense in my mind to write a song about this long ago amusement park, just called Riverview.
Riverview (solo acoustic)
BC: Everybody having fun? I was - I was trying to, uh, I can’t seem to master the Australian accent...
Two guys in crowd: G’day, mate!
BC: Well, obviously you’re from Australia, you have the accent. And uh, somebody pointed out to me that, that if you combine the south - the American accent from the south, which is like (in Southern accent) “Howdy partner” - (normal voice) with English, (in British accent) “Hello. How are you?,” (normal voice) that’s Australian.
Guy in crowd: Not funny.
BC: Heh heh heh heh. I’m more sophisticated and...intelligent. Heh heh heh. Yeah actually, we were gonna, um, we never got around to it, we were gonna do, uh (strums)...oh, it’s the wrong key, heh heh, I fucked up. I was gonna do, uh...
I Got You (tease) (solo acoustic)
BC: They’re from Australia, right?
Sittin’ on Top of the World
(BC towards beginning after Linda starts playing keys: Come on, Linda! ... Here we go.)
(BC spoken word verse near end: ‘Cause I’m sittin’ on top of the world. Just lookin’ for a nice Australian girl. One that I can understand what she’s saying. A girl who likes baseball...and cricket. And understands the difference between American football and Australian rules football. I don’t think so.)
Johanna (abandoned after 1st verse)
BC: Oh, I’m in the wrong key.
Guy with Australian accent: You switched. You switched guitars.
BC: Aw sorry. I fucked up. AGAIN.
Linda: It’s okay.
BC: It sounded so good in this key though, ha ha ha. Aw. That’s the end of the show, thank you.
Johanna / Riders on the Storm
It’s a Long Way to the Top
BC: Thank you. Thank you for a great night, thank you!
[encore break]
BC: Like to play a song I haven’t played for a couple years. What’d you say?
Linda: I said “Go for it.”
BC: “Go for it”? What the fuck does that mean? I can’t believe you people. One time I, uh, I was telling this story the other day. It was the first tour that the Pumpkins ever did of England and I was wearing kind of a sweater like this and some guy yelled “Nice jumper, Billy.” And I never heard the word “jumper” before and maybe if I, if I, at least in my mind, it sounded like something you would say about an infant’s clothes. So - so I thought he was saying “Nice infant sweater” which in my drug-addled mind made complete sense, and I completely attacked this guy, like “Nice jumper? Fuck you, nice jumper. Fuck you and your country.” And I - I went on, when I would get offended in England, I sort of had, you know you like to have a sort of, an out? My out was always like “There’s a reason we left your fuckin’ country in the first place!” All because he said “Nice jumper.” So, uh, heh heh, uh, anyway.
Several guys in crowd: Nice jumper, Billy!
BC: (fake indignant) What?
Guy in crowd: 1979! (crowd oohs)
BC: I didn’t write that song.
Of a Broken Heart (abandoned quickly)
BC: But I want you to know, that I’m playing this song because I love you and you’re special.
Of a Broken Heart (abandoned quickly)
(BC: I expect you to sing along. Whoa, try that again.)
Of a Broken Heart
BC: Thank you. Thank you for a great evening, I really, really do appreciate you being here. If you’ll indulge me, I’d just like to play one more song for you. (crowd cheers) Okay, then I’ll play ten more. (bigger crowd cheer) Heh heh. I’ll play every song I’ve ever written. (long sustained cheering) Alright. What would be the first song? (stutters starting what sounds like the word “Aeroplane”)
Guy in crowd: Spiteface!
BC: No. “A” is the first letter of the alphabet, my friend. Heh heh. You’ve been in the Outback a little too long. Oh, that’s right, A100 I’ve already played, so we’d play then and then what would be next, Aeroplane Flies High? Ava Adore, Appels + Oranjes... Um... Annie-Dog, nice pick.
Guy in crowd: WHATEVER YOU FUCKIN’ WANT!
(crowd laughs at the guy, then immediately laughs again at what’s clearly a visual reaction from Billy. A moment later...)
BC: Is there such a thing as koala bears? Heh heh. I heard they’re vicious little creatures but...see, I said, when I was a kid in America, you know, Australia was this far away place that we knew nothing about and so they all tried to get us to come there by showing these koala bears. They’d have these commercials like “Come to Australia” and there’d be these koala bears in the trees, they’re like “They eat leaves” and little did we know, they were like these vicious fucking little creatures. They don’t wanna be hugged. Well, I’m tellin’ you, if it wasn’t for the koala bear, I wouldn’t come here. Alright, this is the last song. Thank you. This song, that’s called (coughs) You Were Mine All This Time.
You Were Mine ( solo acoustic)