All the trademark features you would expect from Procol are present: the double keyboards with the delicious interplay between Hammond organ and piano, the steady authoritative bass lines, the majestic tunes and, of course, Gary Brooker’s commanding vocals. If some rock vocalists make life hard for themselves by adopting a vocal delivery in their early twenties that gets more and more difficult to pull off as they hit their seventies, then Gary Brooker chose wisely. Brooker’s cool and melancholic vocals are as commanding tonight as they were in 1967, when the band first hit the charts with A Whiter Shade of Pale.
While I love the unique sound of Procol Harum I must confess to only ever having owned two albums of theirs: a best-of compilation bringing together many of their late 60s' and early 70s' classics and the band’s most recent album – 2003’s The Well’s On Fire, which I picked up for the princely sum of £1 at Skegness Butlins two years ago. But I’m pleased to say there’s many songs I recognise tonight from the former, and at least one from the latter.
So after taking us on a stunning journey through the likes of Shine on Brightly [sic], Cerdes (Outside The Gates Of), A Salty Dog and Homburg there was just one song left. They leave the stage. They come back on to thundrous applause. But, oh dear, Brooker can’t remember how it goes! They tease the audience with a snatch of When A Man Loves A Woman and then with a surprisingly brilliant rendition of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry, before finally the band hit on the familiar chords of A Whiter Shade of Pale, one of the most recognisable, most majestic and surely one of the most beautiful songs of the late 60s.
A powerful end to a magnificent performance.
Darren's Music Blog ... highly recommended by BtP: well-informed, to-the-point, neatly expressed reviews of a good variety of genres and eras of music. Check him out!