Last night, Spafford hit Parish @ House of Blues in New Orleans along with friends and supporting act Southern Avenue. In past years, Spafford has put together special setlists to celebrate Halloween, offering debuts of new covers that aren’t typical to the band’s catalog. Last night, Spafford pushed this idea even farther, throwing down an animal-themed Halloween performance using music from The Lion King throughout their first set. The first set of the night also saw a sit-in by Matisyahu, who came out to freestyle and beatbox during “Leave The Light On”.

Throughout last night, Spafford donned costumes of different animals, with guitarist Brian Moss dressed as a crocodile, bassist Jordan Fairless dressed as a giraffe, keys player Andrew “Red” Johnson dressed as a panda, drummer Cameron Laforest dresssed as a lemur, and the band’s crew dressed as zoo keepers. For their Lion King-themed set one, Spafford gave fans a taste of what was to come during the rest of the night, opening with the debut of The Tokens’ 1961 hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” which housed the debut of Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock”. After “Crocodile Rock” returned to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, the band showed off their transitional prowess, moving deftly into “Windmill” to close out the combination.

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Spafford’s original “People” came next and got the proper Halloween treatment, with the lyrics changed to “Pandas like me and you” as a reference to Red’s panda getup. After this hilarious switch-up, the band invited out Matisyahu to lay out some bars and beatbox during “Leave The Light On” before closing with “Space Gadget” and the band’s live debut of “Bear Necessities” in honor of their tour manager.

The band returned for second set with Beck’s “Fucking With My Head”, with the band using this set-opening number as a launch-off point for one of the most exploratory and extensive jams of the evening. From there, the group moved into renditions of their more classic catalog with renditions of “In The Eyes Of Thieves” and “Simon & Lily”. The animal theme returned during “Weasel” via both the title of the song and the “Lion King” teases worked throughout. After a standout rendition of “Backdoor Funk”, Spafford landed in yet another animal-themed tune, closing the second set out with “Salamander Song”. For the group’s encore, Spafford went “All In”, literally, closing out the show with an “All In” sandwich that housed the debut of the beloved Lion King tune “Hakuna Matata”.

You can check out the setlist from Spafford’s Halloween show below, plus check out a gallery of photos from Caitlyn Ridenour and Fred Salinas.

Setlist: Spafford | Parish at House of Blues | New Orleans, LA | 10/31/2017

I: The Lion Sleeps Tonight* > Crocodile Rock^ > The Lion Sleeps Tonight* > Windmill > The Lion Sleeps Tonight*, People&, Leave The Light On%, Space Gadget, The Bare Necessities#

II: Fucking With My Head@, In The Eyes Of Thieves, Simon & Lily, Weasel > The Lion Sleeps Tonight* > Weasel, Backdoor Funk, Salamander Song

E: All In > Hakuna Matata~ > All In

Notes:
Animal Theme
Red – “Red” Panda
Brian – Crocodile
Jordan – Giraffe
Cameron – Lemur
Crew – Zoo Keepers
Photo: Fred Salinas Photography

* The Tokens (The Lion King/FTP)
^ Elton John (FTP)
& Title and Lyric Change to “Pandas Like Me and You”
% With Special Guest Matisyahu
# The Jungle Book (FTP)
@ Beck (FTP)
~ The Lion King (FTP)