PROCOL HARUM, Live at The Pearl, The Palms
Casino, Las Vegas
Some Closing Night Notes:
First of all it was really, really good to get to see
the boys play again indoors, where they could finally
get away from the cursed daylight hours and actually
enjoy having the darkness surround them, as well as have
some crisp stage lighting for added effect ... That
said, the Pearl at the Palms Casino is a very good
concert venue, with really fine sight lines, and the
sound was very loud, and full, but well-mixed and
clear...
Geoffrey Whitehorn (Grave's End!) got to really shine
again on Wall Street Blues -- his guitar solo
here seems to be getting even more guttural and nasty
than before -- which begs the question: Does GW ever
play the same solo exactly the same...? I'd say no, I'm
guessing that he's always tinkering with them, and his
playing always seems to be very much in the moment...
Before I go on here, I should add that the Commander was
very much in a talkative mood throughout The Pearl set
-- much, much more so than the other show I saw recently
in the Detroit area -- and it was also obvious that he
was showing the real effects of vocal wear-and-tear that
come from having done 27 live shows in roughly five
weeks' time. And Gary immediately knew it, too -- early
on, he commented aloud (over his open mike) to GW,
"God, it's going to be a night, isn't it...?"
And now, a typical song intro: "Let's go back to
1967... We heard this song was #5 in America, so we
hopped on a plane... We got here, and no one ever heard
of it... Here's Homburg ..."
During A Salty Dog, keeping with his apparent
difficulties this very same night, Gary ends up having
to improvise some lyrics as well as his vocal phrasing
during the refrain (What?!), and then, the next time
around, he repeats those same changes verbatim, which,
in a way, is actually kind of brilliant on his part.
(And I almost forgot: Since the last time around, the
boys seem to have added a deep, bass heavy, humpback
whale sound at the beginning and the end of the song --
apparently from Josh's synthesizer -- which then segues
into GW's standard, piercing notes... A nice touch, I
might add...)
Then, back to the set: After another slower-than-usual,
truly grind-it-out performance of Simple Sister,
everything suddenly stops, as there seems to be some
confusion on stage, as Gary stands up from his keyboard,
and starts yelling at his band mates -- wait, wait, The
Commander is calling an audible -- The Commander is
calling an audible! Meanwhile, the audience gets antsy
and starts yelling out requests -- The Devil Came
From Kansas, Whaling Stories, whatever -- but
then Gary sits right back down, and starts pounding out
the extended, bluesy "Hey, bartender..."
opening for Whisky Train, and just like that,
Gary is absolutely on fire, back in all his glory, and
the band knows it too, and they happily roar their way
through the song, full tilt boogie, ending it all with a
short, but thundrous drum solo by Geoff Dunn.
Gary then plays a nice, extended piano intro into
AWSoP -- and I should add here that his keyboard
playing was spot-on all night long -- and the crowd
really responds at the end of the song with a very
lengthy and boisterous full standing ovation... Gary
then introduces the band -- with each and every one of
them getting a really nice ovation from the crowd (and
then, in turn, GW sings The Commander's praises to the
audience) -- and then Gary mentions that, since this is
the last night of the tour, he wants to take the
opportunity to name all the members of their crew
individually and thank them personally for their efforts
(another nice touch), and, of course, (last, but not
least) "Chris, our manager."
Okay, purists, so the band didn't actually leave the
stage (and then return) as is the case with most
encores, but the length of the ovation for AWSoP
-- and then Gary's subsequent heartfelt introductions
comments made Conquistador feel like it was
indeed a separate entity from the set itself, an encore
if-you-will, and the song at its end resulted in another
lengthy standing ovation, so the boys then were able to
take extended bow at the front of the stage, and then,
just like that, they were gone...
In the end, Procol's set ran over by about five minutes
-- 64 minutes and some change, more or less -- so
hopefully the powers-that-be won't see fit to fine them
for their, um, indulgence... (Hey, Yes got to play for
almost two and a half hours at The Pearl, which was
about two hours too long, if you ask me...)
Take care,
Michael