Father John Misty does R. Kelly karaoke on a cruise ship

by John Lucas on January 2nd, 2013 at 3:17 PM

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If you've ever wanted to enjoy live music and get seasick at the same time (and who hasn't), then a cruise on the S.S. Coachella might appeal to you. Or, I should say, it might have appealled to you, since that ship has already sailed. And, in fact, "that ship" was really called the Celebrity Silhouette. It was only rebranded as the S.S. Coachella when the organizers of the annual Coachella festival decided to stage an event at sea. That took place just before Christmas, with two sailings out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The first went to the Bahamas and the second one went to Jamaica, and I am extremely bitter about the whole thing because nobody offered me the opportunity to cover it, all expenses paid.

Anyhow, the likes of Pulp, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, and Sleigh Bells all performed, but the biggest post-fest buzz belongs to Father John Misty. Josh Tillman took the opportunity to belt out R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly", karaoke-style, and because no one can put their fucking smartphone down, ever, the whole thing was captured on video and uploaded to YouTube. I sincerely hope Kelly watches it and returns the favour by performing his own version of Father John Misty's "Funtimes in Babylon", which seems particularly well-suited to the man who wrote the lines "Sippin' on Coke and rum/I'm like so what I'm drunk/It's the freakin' weekend, baby/I'm about to have me some fun."