Procol Harum at Manchester, UK

Brooker, Dunn, Pegg, Phillips, Whitehorn
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I Told on You [An excellent opener, very well-received]
Homburg
The Image of the Beast [We're going to play a few songs from Novum, so Pay Attention! Please don't fall asleep.' Unlike last night, GB sang the incomplete final line, as on the album]
Don't Get Caught [GB thoroughly impassioned singing these words. 'I never go twenty minutes without a vodka', he says. MP walking on the spot as the rhythm takes hold.]
Neighbour [tonight including the GW line, 'Considerably richer than you']
Last Chance Motel [Great BVs ... or perhaps just great overall sound! Kudos to Bunny Warren on mixer. Variant first line of chorus, passim]
Sunday Morning [GB explains that he goes to church on Sundays. 'Russian Orthodox, of course.' Montage strings and horns sound great, as does the Hammond overlay]
   ['Change of plan here. We sha'n't play the Deep Purple number we'd planned ... here's something you know' or words to that effect]
A Salty Dog

Wall Street Blues [stellar on all fronts. GB namechecks GW as 'the virtuoso from Gravesend. Quite rightly so]
Pandora's Box [the somewhat quiet crowd was warming up quite well. GB then asked if they had 'heard of the Internet up here in Manchester?'!]
An Old English Dream [Preceded by a call from the piano for the city to sort out its homeless problem. This song really revitalised with lots of great guitar detail. GW was very inventive all evening]
Grand Hotel [Particularly beautiful middle section]
As Strong as Samson
Cerdes (Outside the Gates of) [hailed by fans meeting afterwards as a highlight of the show ... very powerful]
Whisky Train [with another great GD drum solo, bordering on three minutes of percussive panache]
Conquistador

The Only One [what a magnificent song/performance!]
A Whiter Shade of Pale [three verses; piano solo, then guitar solo]

 

18	songs altogether:	2	From Procol Harum	0	from Shine on Brightly
1	From A Salty Dog	1	From Home	0	from Broken Barricades
1	From Grand Hotel	1	From Exotic Birds and Fruit	1	from Procol's Ninth
0	From Something Magic	0	From The Prodigal Stranger	2	from The Well's on Fire
7	From Novum	2	non-album tracks
Superb sound for this show, which was also very nicely lit. A smaller, and quieter, crowd than the Edinburgh contingent ... but by the end everyone was on their feet, baying for more. 'Anyone in here under seventy?' asked The Commander. Hands went up immediately, so he turned to the band and said 'We've got some youngsters in tonight, lads!'. It was an excellent night for banter ... how GB ought to retire and sort out his trainset and stamp collection, how Nicola Sturgeon will probably be burnt at the stake like Joan of Arc, how Manchester ought to clean up its coffee- or bloodstained pavements. The set was pretty much the same as the Edinburgh set, with one omission. The band played with lots of energy but arguably without the first-night adrenalin that characterised Edinburgh. Some tasty surprises were heard at soundcheck, though, so we might well expect to hear some of those in Liverpool. Gary pointed out that Geoff W has been with Procol Harum for twenty-five years ('Where's my watch?' he said). Great to see so many familiar faces of Palers and Procoholics in the audience ...