August 31, 2009 was the final Spirits in the Sky show, which was in tribute to Sky Saxon of The Seeds, who died on June 25, 2009 of heart and renal failure. A costume contest MCed by Billy Corgan takes place after the acoustic portion of the set.
| August 31, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA, US | |
|---|---|
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| Live performance by Spirits in the Sky | |
| Spirits in the Sky tour | |
| Date | August 31, 2009 |
| Venue | The Hotel Cafe |
| Coordinates | 34°6′2″N 118°19′48″W |
| Location | Los Angeles, CA, US |
| Venue type | Club |
| Capacity | 200 |
| Personnel | Billy Corgan, Mike Byrne, Dave Navarro, Kerry Brown, Linda Strawberry, Mark Tulin, Mark Weitz, Ysanne Spevack, Kevin Dippold, Sierra Swan |
| Order of bands | Spirits in the Sky |
Guest Sierra Swan sings and plays piano on "Willingly".
Setlist
Soundcheck
- "Circular Change"
- "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" [The Seeds]
- "Emerald Green is the Colour"
- "Lucifer Sam" [Pink Floyd]
- "The Trip"
- "Caroline, Yes"
- "A Stitch in Time"
Set
- "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" [The Seeds] (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Circular Change" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Emerald Green is the Colour" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Widow Wake My Mind" (abandoned) (acoustic)
- "Widow Wake My Mind" (acoustic)
- "West Coast" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "Freak" (acoustic)
- "Morning Dew" [Bonnie Dobson] (acoustic) (final performance)
- "The Fellowship" (acoustic)
- "Willingly" [Willie Nelson / Shirley Collie] (acoustic) (only performance)
- "A Stitch in Time" (abandoned) (acoustic)
- "A Stitch in Time" (acoustic)
- "Caroline, Yes" (acoustic) (final performance)
- "A Song for a Son" (acoustic)
- (costume contest)
- "The Trip" (final performance)
- "Astral Planes"
- "Femme Fatale" [The Velvet Underground] (final performance)
- "Lucifer Sam" [Pink Floyd] (final performance)
Encore
- "A New Day Yesterday" [Jethro Tull] (final performance)
Notes
- "Willingly" with Sierra Swan on vocals and piano
Banter
Can’t Seem to Make You Mine
Circular Change
Emerald Green is the Colour
BC: Thank you very much, thank you. Now this is our sixth and final gig tonight. And uh, at all the other esteemed venues that we’ve played at, the audience has been incredibly quiet, respectful. I’m lying, of course, because, um, no audience is respectful. Anyway, you’ll get there, just give me some time. Anyway, so uh, we like to do some audience participation at this particular moment. And uh, if you can’t do this...it goes like this. (demonstrates the oh’s) That’s really lame singing, come on.
Widow Wake My Mind (abandoned 16 seconds after band kicks in)
BC: Oh wait, sorry. Okay, wait. I made a rare mistake. I thought we should note that. Is it three times with the crowd, is that...? Is it four times with the crowd is lame and three times with the crowd is in? Ha, okay. So you’re gonna determine [unintelligible]? One more time. (audience starts the oh’s unprompted) With me.
Widow Wake My Mind
BC: Ladies and gentlemen, Mark Tulin, Electric Prunes on the bass. Mark was just, uh, Mark was noting that usually when I take off the hat at some point, I get a cheer and there was no cheer tonight, he was very disappointed. It happens. (testing guitar) Oh boy, oh boy. How are you all doing, you okay? As many of you know, we have a costume contest coming up later. By a show of hands, who’s in the costume contest tonight? It’s gonna be a brutal death style elimination chamber match.
Linda: It sure is a [unintelligible but sounds like “latch”].
BC: Oh, you could’ve brought your costume...and attitude...and love.
Dippold?: And what? And her life blood? Blood love.
Linda: [unintelligible]
BC: No, no blood, just happy Halloween. Uh, this song called The West Coast, it’s about your beautiful west coast...and all it represents, you know, the end of the world, you know, world on fire, Sodom and Gomorrah, world depravity, lots of hot chicks.
West Coast
BC: Thank you very much, thank you. Appreciate it. Yes. This next song--if I can get it together.... A song called Freak (audience claps) that um--oh, thank you--I wrote it about you. Heh. And uh, and uh, this uh, this ensemble is here because of our brother Sky Saxon from the Seeds. And uh, this song has a lot to do with Sky’s belief in good things: love, life, laughter, puppies. He was big on his puppies, so this is for Sky.
Freak
Morning Dew
BC: The costume contest is coming up soon. You’ve never seen anything like it. This is a new new new new song, it is called The Fellowship.
The Fellowship
BC: Thank you. Are the Lunds here? Dawny?
Dawny: (off mic) Yes?
BC: Oh good. Just wanna make sure I didn’t forget to put you on the guest list...in a total paranoid, in a total paranoid moment there.
Guy in crowd: We’re with you, Billy!
BC: You’re with me in paranoia? Great, awesome. It’s a paranoid time. What song are we doing here? Like to bring up to the stage, one of my favorite singers on the planet, from the Valley. (crowd cheers) Yeah. Ms. Sierra Swan. Did I put Sierra on the guest list? Oh, there she is. Heh heh heh. Oh, yeah, somebody needs to help with the microphone. ... Do you know who wrote this song or is it...is it Willie Nelson who wrote the song? It’s a song covered by Willie Nelson. You might’ve heard it.
Sierra: Do my homework.
BC: Everyone here like Willie Nelson? How do you feel about Willie Nelson?
Sierra: He’s a great man.
BC: Well, you’re gonna like this one, heh. Okay, ready when you are.
Sierra: Ready?
BC: Yep.
Willingly (Billy acoustic w/Sierra Swan on vocals and piano)
BC: Sierra Swan. Thank you very much, thank you for that. Is anyone else dry throated? The winds of Hades.
Guy in crowd: 4:20.
BC: 4:20? More like ten to twenty, buddy...‘cause when you mess with the weed....
A Stitch in Time (abandoned after 5 seconds - appears Dippold’s mandolin makes an electric guitar-ish noise)
BC: What’s wrong with you, K-Dog? He just goes crazy, that’s why we call him K-Dog. Show ‘em what you’re made of. It takes a man to play the mandolin.
A Stitch in Time (Billy acoustic / Spevack violin / Dippold mandolin)
BC: While I’m tuning, does anyone have any questions about the costume contest? One--one at a time. Well, our last count we had 50 con--costumes here, so in fairness to all, everyone gets to participate that’s here in a costume if you so choose.
Girl in crowd: Is it show shoes?
BC: No, if you so choose. If you show shoes, that’s different. I don’t think the crowd will give you any bonus for that. And uh, in the interest of time and entertainment, uh, you’ll line up and three people at a time will come on stage and the audience will choose the winner of that round. And then, when we’ve achieved, you know, whateverness...we go into a sudden elimination death round, two at a time, and then we should have a, you know, four or five, six there and then we’ll find a winner.
Guy in crowd: Serenade the winner!
BC: Serenade the winner? Only if it’s a female. If you’re a dude, you ain’t gettin’ shit. You got plenty from me. (somebody asks a long, quiet question) That’s so complicated. Okay, if there’s four people in a group, their con--their costume would cost, uh, qualify as one costume.
Guy in crowd: What’s your costume?
BC: My costume is a guy who could fucking lynch you. It’s a little weak but I hope you can feel it. I dedicate this song.... Johnny Cash had a song called A Boy Named Sue, this is for you, a boy named Caroline. Here we go.
Caroline, Yes (Billy acoustic / Spevack violin / Dippold mandolin)
BC: Thank you for listening, I really appreciate it. I’ve played L.A. before, I know how it goes. B plus, thank you. Of course you didn’t achieve A student extra plus status. We’ll see how the rest of the show goes. I don’t want you to get cocky at this early stage of events.
A Song for a Son (Billy acoustic / Spevack violin / Dippold mandolin)
BC: Thank you.
[tape cut]
BC: [cuts in] Who are you? (Billy holds the mic up to an apparently pregnant girl wearing a space helmet and she recoils from it) She refuses to talk.
Guy in crowd: Then she’s out!
BC: Alright.
Girl in crowd: Unless you give birth to an alien.
BC: I think we need a little performance art. There gotta be some action. And Slash, you better not go to the well on the guitar again, uh, ‘cause I’ll eliminate you. Alright. What you got?: go! (the pregnant girl just stares at Billy silently) Heh heh heh. I think they want you to have the baby, that’s your only shot. That’s your only shot, you might wanna rock it. (the girl crouches down, removes what looks like a clay pot from under her dress and hands it to Billy) You’re still alive. Oh, that’s cool, your driver’s license is in there, awesome. (he hands the pot back) Pretty good, stay right there. Rock and roll ghost, what do you got? (wearing a patterned sheet and sunglasses, the ghost dances in place for a moment and makes spooky noises) We gotta get a little crowd participation, go. (he holds the mic up to the ghost)
Ghost: Woooooh.
BC: Obviously the rock and roll ghost has been smoking. Works for Slash, not for you. Slash, what do you got? (dressed like Slash, with top hat and cigarette, the contestant makes out with the girl next to him dressed as a guitar) That’s so [unintelligible word]. Slash would not be making out with her. He would’ve bent her over.... Okay, you’re a little out of character. I think we know who the winner is. The rock and roll ghost is the winner! Congratulations, rock and roll ghost, we will see you after the show. Where Dave Navarro will personally tweet about you. That’s a promise, okay, let’s get back to the show ‘cause it’s gonna be great now. Let’s bring the band back up for some hot rockin’.
(contestants leave the stage)
[tape cut]
The Trip
Astral Planes
BC: You know, Dave lost his guitar there for a minute. Curse of the rock and roll ghost. But I was thinking the whole time, “Why did I let that guy win?” Sky shoulda won.
Femme Fatale
BC: We’ve reached the end of the show. Yeah, yes, it’s true. Thank you very much. It’s Sky, the rock and roll ghost.
Lucifer Sam
(BC over outro feedback: Thank you very much, thank you! [unintelligible.])
Tulin: Thank you, thank you.
[encore break, house music plays during]
Guy in crowd: Play a loud one!
BC: Alright. You axed for it.
A New Day Yesterday
BC: Thank you very much, thank you!