What was new at 'Beyond the Pale'

November 30: One week until Procol Harum play Ancona, Italy

Added another five Procol Harum dates for March, 2003 (thanks, Chris)

Follow this link to learn a little more about the concert Gary, Henry, Bronzie and the other No-Shoes played tonight at the Albert Hall

If you are going to the Italian Procol concerts next week, please send 'Beyond the Pale' the full list of songs that were played, and of course any photographs, ticket-scans, and so on. Thank you!

November 29: One hundred and six nights until Procol Harum play at Lewisham, UK

Added the second page of Viennese Procol shots (thanks, Peter)

Tonight, at the Royal Albert Hall, Gary Brooker and the rest of No Stiletto Shoes are the House Band for George Harrison's Memorial Concert, one year since his death. A stellar line-up is expected, and tickets sold out within two hours: but watch out for this concert when it's shown on television, and watch for a BtP report by Diane Rolph and Mark O'Connor, our trusty ear-witnesses.

November 28: One week until Procol Harum play Modena, Italy

BtP has several pages mentioning the sole meeting of Robin Trower and Jimi Hendrix, in Berlin in 1970: you can read them here, here, and here. (the Procol / Hendrix gigs at the Speakeasy and The Saville Theatre took place in the Ray Royer days ... read about them here)

Now added the setlist so you can see what Procol Harum played in Berlin on that significant occasion (thanks, Christian)

November 27: One week until Procol Harum play Milan, Italy

Added the first page of impressive pictures of Procol Harum in Vienna, 1992 (thanks, Peter)

November 26: One week until Procol Harum play Florence, Italy

Added a set of photographs of Procol Harum on stage in Florida, 1995 (thanks, Judith)

November 25: One hundred and ten nights until Procol Harum play at Lewisham, UK

Added some interesting Procol Harum tickets from gigs they have played in an important city in the history of European music! Find the 1970s tickets here (today is the anniversary of one of the gigs) or equally here, and the 1992 one here: in each case, search for 'Vienna' (thanks, Peter)

November 24: Two weeks until Procol Harum play Trento, Italy

Added a scan, and some additional information, to the foot of this page about Keith Reid's other big No 1 hit (thanks, Dan Dan)

Added a portrait to this Matthew Fisher page (thanks, Dave)

November 23: Two weeks until Procol Harum play Ancona, Italy

Added a detail from a Swedish novel which shows how a knowledge of Procol Harum lore can assist the would-be Casanova (thanks, Jonas)

Added a little note about the Procol gig of 16 May 1974 (thanks, Richard)

Added a 1971 Buffalo date to our list of early Procol engagements (thanks, Dave)

November 22: One hundred and fourteen nights until Procol Harum play at Milton Keynes, UK

Whisk yourself back to the Summer of '97, with these new photographs of Redhill, fresh in today! (thanks, Hans)

Please – like Hans this evening – send us your stories, press clips, tickets, photos or other items of Procol interest, so that BtP can maintain its daily updates

November 21: Two weeks until Procol Harum play Modena, Italy

Added a good biography of fine Procol bassist, Matthew Pegg (thanks, Matt!) Matt assures us 'the new record is coming along great'.

Help us continue to update this website daily. Please send us your stories, press clips, tickets, photos or other items of Procol interest.

November 20: Two weeks until Procol Harum play Milan, Italy

Less than a week to go, please vote for BtP in DotMusic's IMA People's Choice Award (button above)

Added a couple of interesting open-air pictures of Procol Harum in action in Germany in 1976 ... these shots are actually taken through a garden fence, and they are the earliest we know of to feature Pete Solley in action with the band (thanks, Hans)

While you're at it, have a look at some earlier 1976 stage-shots here, here, and here

Our free Procol Harum newsletter, 'Fresh Fruit', now has 1006 subscribers: Martin Awsop was subscriber # 1,000 (see here for subscription details)

November 19: Two weeks until Procol Harum play Florence, Italy

Added the setlist of a good-length show Procol Harum played in Berlin in 1973 (thanks, Christian)

Re-read the BtP review of the same show ... was Piggy Pig Pig played or not ?

Our free Procol Harum newsletter, 'Fresh Fruit', now has 997 subscribers: who will be # 1,000? (see here for subscription details)

November 18: One hundred and eighteen nights until Procol Harum play at Milton Keynes, UK

'Brooker ... had 13 symbols drawn on a sheet of paper in front of him on the piano. "I know what I'll do," he explained. "I just say 'man' eight times, 'dog' eight times, then 'bat,' 'tree,' and so on ..."'

Added an excellent article about the Edmonton concert, 31 years ago tonight, including much interesting - not to say inscrutable - backstage detail (thanks, Unsteady Freddie)

November 17: Three weeks until Procol Harum play Trento, Italy

Added another compilation album to our list of the same (thanks, Larry)

Added a ticket (search for 'Jannus') to the New Testament Ticket Gallery (thanks, Judith). More contributions for this feature are welcome!

Added a close-up of BJ's kick-drum head in 1970 (thanks, Claes)

Updated various links to this Procoloid page (thanks, EJ) including this 'ode' to BJ

Added a Pandora curiosity to the foot of this page (thanks, Larry)

Please don't buy the so-called Something Magic Live (supposedly featuring Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, Nardis, and so forth) that is advertised at Amazon ... this is surely a data error. The names of the out-take tracks from Procol's 1976 Miami session are well established ... read all about them here ... and if you want the CD re-issue of the real Something Magic, the direct Amazon links are on this page

[If you want to know where those bizarre track-listings come from, check out some Horace Parlan & Mal Waldron albums] (thanks, Alan)

November 16: Three weeks until Procol Harum play Ancona, Italy

Added some more pictures from Gary Brooker's No Stiletto Shoes gig in 1995 ... as we look forward to the Christmas gig on 21 December this year (thanks, Hans)

Anybody going to this year's Christmas gig? Let us know, so we can meet for a drink or two.

November 15: One hundred and twenty nights until Procol Harum play at Lewisham, UK

Added the text of uclaradio.com's Mark Brzezicki interview ... with mp3 extracts (thanks, No 6 and 'One-Eye')

November 14: Three weeks until Procol Harum play Modena, Italy

Added the Finnish words for Homburg (thanks, Jukka)

Added some varied photographs to this personal Procol reminiscence (thanks, Judith)

November 13: Three weeks until Procol Harum play Milan, Italy

Added an excellent set of pictures of Procol Harum rehearsing the Home album in 1970 (thanks, Claes)

November 12: Three weeks until Procol Harum play Florence, Italy

Added a surprising gallery of images of figures from the world of entertainment who have become members of the Official Gary Brooker Fan Club. Click on the pictures or on the names to find out more: you'll see the full photographs, close-ups of the 'Whaling Stories' Shrine, an off-duty Procol Harum drummer, and at least one AWSoP-related Intimate Confession! (thanks, Michael)

November 11: One hundred and twenty-four nights until Procol Harum play at Lewisham, UK

Some non-English language versions of Procol songs appear to have nothing to do with Keith Reid's words, but nevertheless to be closely related to each other. Read this article, and please send us further non-English words to Procol songs (thank you, Martin)

Added to our page of 'Whiter Shade of Pale' common-parlances .... search for 'nightie' (thanks, Nina)

November 10: Four weeks until Procol Harum play Trento, Italy

Added an illustrated account of the founding of 'Whaling Stories', and of its 'Hero' logo ... including some early Procolers' photographs and an AWSoP mp3 excerpt (thanks, Michael)

Incidentally ... we hear that the Frank Mead Band, currently playing and recording in Germany, is closing the show with A Whiter Shade of Pale ...

Super-incidentally AWSoP has done well in yet another BBC Radio Poll ... (thanks, Sam)

November 9: Four weeks until Procol Harum play Ancona, Italy

Added contact details and ticket-prices for all of December's Procol Harum concerts (thanks, Chris). Please note that the venues have changed for the concerts on 3 December (Florence) and 4 December (Milan).

Added a fan's review of the Procol DVD (thanks, Harry) ... and there are links at the foot of the page enabling you to buy it for Christmas presents for your nearest and/or dearest ...

November 8: One hundred and twenty-eight nights until Procol Harum play at Milton Keynes, UK

Added the text of a substantial Robin Trower interview, with some good pictures (thanks, Dave)

November 7: Happy Birthday to all Whalers!Four weeks until Procol Harum play Modena, Italy

Added a nice open letter commemorating the first ten years of 'Whaling Stories', the Gary Brooker / Procol Harum fan club (thanks, Michael)

November 6: Four weeks until Procol Harum play Milan, Italy

Added a link to the paperback edition (much cheaper, and nicer-looking!) of the excellent Vivian Stanshall biography, of which we recently published some Procol-oriented excerpts.

Added an interesting picture of the Trower / Wilson line-up, seemingly at a time of sartorial transition (thanks, Claes)

November 5: RIP, Lonnie Donegan Four weeks until Procol Harum play Florence, Italy

Greatly expanded our list of Procol cover versions executed in the Finnish language (thanks, Jukka)

November 4: One hundred and thirty-two nights until Procol Harum play at Milton Keynes, UK

Added (with requests for more information) some pictures sleeves, here ('Bug77' .. with its major error) and here (with its minor error) (thanks, Kjell)

November 3: One hundred and thirty-two nights until Procol Harum play at Lewisham, UK

Added a few singles to BtP's Procol Harum discography. Please send more: updates are welcome!

November 2: One hundred and thirty-four nights until Procol Harum play at Milton Keynes, UK

Added news of five more European Procol dates before Christmas (thanks, Chris)

What we cannot at the moment tell you, intriguingly, is whether these shows will feature material from the forthcoming studio album ... which by all accounts is coming on extremely well.

November 1: One hundred and thirty-four nights until Procol Harum play at Lewisham, UK

Added yet more improbable entries – search for 'blessing of the squirrels' and for 'ayurvedic skin cream' – to the AWSoP in commmon parlance page ... where will it end? (thanks, John)

Read what was new on this website in previous months