Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

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Procol Harum at Ewhurst, UK
Rock and Horsepower event in aid of Prostate Cancer Research

Setlist • 13 June 2015

Brooker, Dunn, Pegg, Phillips [MD of the entire event], Whitehorn
and three-piece brass section


 

Bringing Home the Bacon (with fine drumming from Geoff who, like Josh, was already many hours into his House Band duties)

Robert's Box (with the newly normal organ solo verse, and turnaround, before verse 3)

The Devil Came from Kansas ('not played for 25 years', and now aired in a more guitar-friendly key than the 1969 record)

A Salty Dog (excellent vocal climax)

Conquistador (with horns, in both senses [see note below]. This YouTube clip captures Josh's synth Spanish guitar, but misses the whole of the heavy, surprising new prelude)

A Whiter Shade of Pale (sung verse one, piano solo with organ embellishments, guitar solo, then sung verse two: YouTube clip)

Six of the forty-nine songs played during a fine afternoon and evening's music. After AWSoP (offstage) Jens and Roland from 'Beyond the Pale' presented the Commander – as promised – with a printed dossier of birthday greetings from fans, sent in to the website for 29 May 2015, of which Gary had of course already read – and been very moved by – the online version.

If you were able to get to this show, please send us (webmaster@procolharum.com) your photos, souvenirs and bulletins

 
6 songs altogether: 1 From Procol Harum   from Shine on Brightly
2 From A Salty Dog   From Home   from Broken Barricades
2 From Grand Hotel   From Exotic Birds and Fruit   from Procol's Ninth
  From Something Magic   From The Prodigal Stranger   from The Well's on Fire
1 non-album tracks

Great to see Geoff Whitehorn back with the band after his upset at the time of the Dominion Theatre show in November 2014. Upper photo above by Charlie Allison.

Conquistador – with new, very unexpected heavy intro, which had Messrs Pegg and Phillips pointing the Horns of Asmodeus at each other – featured the high trumpet work of John Thirkell. Procol didn't play the 40 minute set that had been foreseen, but made a great showing with these six tunes, providing almost the only slow music of the event. Notable song introductions included Gary Brooker's reference to Cat Stevens and his recent cover of The Devil Came from Kansas: he could not remember Stevens's new surname 'Islam' but pointedly wondered if he'd chosen to cover that particular Procol tune out of a belief that 'all evil comes from the West'. Gary also invited the audience to raise a hand if they had a family member, loved one or friend with cancer, then exhorted us to give blood, which all cancer patients need, and of which stocks are diminishing. Someone in the audience shouted out that he or she had recently done so. 'Which branch are you?' GB asked, and on hearing the reply responded 'Orang-Utan Minor? Never heard of it.' [Think 'O', think 'Rhesus monkey', think 'minus' ... and the Commander's apparently baffling remark snaps into focus]. All in all, a very solid and effective contribution from Procol to this excellent and worthwhile event, of which a longer report will soon be added to 'Beyond the Pale'

 

Procol dates in 2015 | Booking | Review

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