Procol Harum's 30th Birthday Party

First In from Redhill: Jens Anders Ravnaas

The Procol Harum 30th Anniversary, celebrating the forming of the band and the release of A Whiter Shade Of Pale, was held in Redhill, England, July 19th 1997.

As I came back from Redhill only a couple of hours ago, this is only a first (and short) report, for those of you who where not there and wish to know what happened.

Let me start with this: this weekend was the most wonderful experience a Procol Harum fan could ever hope for.

For many of us it started Friday 18th, with a party at Lakers Toby Hotel. Attendants from Australia (including five months old Emilia (did I remember her name right, Steve?), USA, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Holland (maybe I forgot someone?). Diane Rolph And John Grayson (both from Shine On, the arranger of this event) joined us during the evening. We had a great time, way into the early morning.

Saturday was the reason we came. Every seat in the Harlequin Theatre was sold out. After assembling in the lobby area, we got to see two great videos, one from a German TV show, and a video about AWSoP that Henry Scott-Irvine is producing at this time. It will hopefully get TV airing later this year. The video part was introduced by Henry.

After a nice buffet, we went back to the auditorium for the main event: PROCOL HARUM. As you may know, all former band members were invited to attend, and many of them did. Most of he time they changed the line-up between the songs. Many great "editions" of Procol that night! For the final part they all played together. This section was introduced by Douglas Adams.

You will get all details about this in the next few days, Including full set list, photos both from the party and the concert! So for now I will just answer a few questions that I know many of you that were not there wish to get answered.

• Yes, we did get the full four verse version of AWSoP!

• No, Keith Reid did not come, although earlier statements suggested he would. Apparently some last minute practical problems with some builders. But he did send a message to us all ,read by Gary Brooker. Including a little verse. (Yes, I will post that at a later time).

• Yes, there was a tribute to the late B.J.Wilson. Procol's drummer through most years. It was prior to playing A Salty Dog, which they played more beautiful than ever. I think many of us had tears in our eyes at that moment.

• Yes, they did play In Held 'Twas In I. This was the first time this masterpiece have been played by Procol as a band. (As we all know it has been played live in several of Procols concerts with a symphonic orchestra). Apparently they need to be this many musicians to perform it, so it really was their first opportunity. Douglas Adams read Keith's part of the lyrics. And Matthew Fisher sang the "In the Autumn Of My Madness" part.

• Yes, they did play "This Old Dog". Peter Solley had brought his fiddle for this great '77 number. Actually Pete was quite busy the whole night, and did a great performance. He played the Hammond, the piano, the synth and the fiddle.(obviously not at the same time).

• Yes, everybody was having a great time. You could see that the band enjoyed themselves. Particularly Chris Copping seemed to have a wonderful time. And Gary was relaxed and had a great communication with the audience (as did the whole band). And we, the fans, it goes without saying: we had a wonderful time. Procol got several standing ovations.

After the concert it was party time at Lakers Toby hotel again, and most of the band members joined us.

Some last words from me to those of you who came to Redhill. It was wonderful to meet you all. Although I had never met any of you (except on Internet), it really was like meeting old friends. Thank you all.

And to Procol Harum: Thank you for being there and playing for us. You were really great!

And finally: Diane and John of "Shine On". Thank you for making this possible. The event of a lifetime happened because of your efforts. You are wonderful.

This is part one of my reports from Redhill. If you were there and have pictures or other stuff to send me for posting, please do.

Still there'll be more.....

Shine On!

Jens

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