Procol Harum's first trip to Paris

Frans Steensma

On 29 May 1967 Gary Brooker (on his 22nd birthday), Matthew Fisher, David Knights, Ray Royer and Bobby Harrison visited Paris to promote A Whiter Shade Of Pale. It was four days after their first appearance on Top of the Pops (25 May). The single had just been released in France but was already shooting up the charts. The trip to France meant their first promotional visit outside Great Britain. They were received with a lot of 'egards' and one of the French photographers (Holmes Lebel) took them to the centre of Paris to make some promotional shots.

"THE PROCOL HARUM IN PARIS
Right at the end of the Champs-Elysées, at the beginning of the Place de la Concorde,
they all five sit on the pavement, careless of traffic"

"THE PROCOL HARUM IN PARIS
Having a bit of fun on the solemn Concorde place. The boisterous Ray, the guitarist of the group, with his rumpled hair,
is challenging his pal Dave for a race, while Mathew [sic], the organist, always stays dignified." (click for close-up)

Next to the misspelt name of Matthew, the photographer also mistook Matthew for Dave, and the other way around. When Gary was shown these photos on 14 March 2005 he commented on David Knights's not joining in the fun: 'Dave always tried to act the 'cool' one.'

The same day six Procoholics went to the Champs Elysées to re-create the scenes from thirty-eight years ago. The rôles were as follows:

David Knights = Michael Ackermann (Germany) Matthew Fisher = Hans Tammes (Netherlands) Ray Royer = Frans Steensma (Netherlands)	Gary Brooker = Antonio Alfaiate (Portugal) Bobby Harrison = Martine Hoogendoorn (Netherlands) Holmes Lebel = Peter Schneiders (Germany)

Above, the results (click to enlarge). One thing is certain: we didn't have a bit of fun on the solemn Place de la Concorde: we had a lot of fun!

Thanks, Frans

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