Location: Pordenone / Palazzetto dello Sport / Italy
Date: Saturday, 07.10.2017
Procol Harum, the legendary English pioneers of progressive rock, have hit the road on a new tour for their fiftieth anniversary, one that was meant both to celebrate the big milestone and to promote their surprising new studio album “Novum” (2017). Most Slovenian fans of their music had quietly made peace with the idea that they’d never get another chance to see them anywhere near us, but then the masters of symphonic prog rock caught everyone off guard and announced a very convenient show just across our western border. Pordenone in Italy isn’t far at all, so we were delighted to realize we wouldn’t have to fly to London if we wanted to catch Procol Harum ‘in this lifetime’ — one of the last still-active bands from the golden era of progressive rock, whom most people today know for their by far biggest hit “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”, even though apart from that classic they’ve made a ton of excellent music over the years.
Procol Harum have been around for a staggering fifty years, if you subtract the hiatus between 1977 and 1991, when they wisely figured out that things had turned pretty ‘stormy’ for progressive rock. Only a handful of their contemporaries can boast that kind of longevity. Since the late seventies, or rather since coming back, their tours have mostly stayed on home turf in Britain, and only rarely do they venture over to continental Europe. These days the band features, besides the hugely charismatic ‘commander’, singer and pianist Gary Brooker — who is the only original member left after the recent departure of lyricist Keith Reid — the guitar maestro Geoff Whitehorn, bassist Matt Pegg (son of the much better-known Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention and ex-Jethro Tull), keyboardist Josh Phillips and drummer Geoff Dunn.
All of them except Dunn, who has been in the band since 2006, have kept Gary company since the early nineties, which means this is an old, superbly well-oiled crew that dutifully follows the ‘commander’s’ orders and is brilliantly polished when it comes to playing both old and new material. Most of the ‘uninitiated’ think of progressive rock first when they hear Procol Harum, then symphonic rock and maybe psychedelic rock, especially since they were among the most important pioneers of prog, even though their music also has plenty of blues, soul and R&B in it. It’s a real shame that they’re still waiting for official recognition from certain ‘prestigious’ institutions like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, though of course they’ve never lost any sleep over it. Mr. Brooker has achieved everything he wanted in his colorful musical career, and now he mostly plays for the fun of it and to hang out on stage with his old buddies, dropping the odd juicy joke along the way.
Procol Harum opened the show with a new track, “I Told On You”, showing off tremendous confidence and pride at the release of the new, very solid album “Novum”, from which they played no fewer than six songs that evening. The classics were far from forgotten either, which is only natural, since most of the crowd came to the Palasport Forum hall precisely for them. The first composition from the ‘good old days’ was “Pandora’s Box” from the album “Procol’s Ninth” (1975), with which Gary proved that despite his venerable age he’s still a superb singer, and that Procol Harum still sing their evergreens with the same fire as back when he was a young man. Between songs he didn’t hold back on witty quips full of typical English humor, entertaining the mostly Italian audience, while his attempts to get out more than a single sentence in Italian were pretty clumsy, but endearing all the same. Often you couldn’t tell whether he was joking or being serious. Amid the bouquet of classics from the sixties and seventies, the only minor surprise was “Man With a Mission” from the album “Prodigal Stranger” (1991), their first outing with Whitehorn in the lineup, who had just replaced the legendary Robin Trower. One of the highlights of the first half was the performance of “As Strong As Samson”, a classic from “Exotic Birds and Fruit” (1974), while Brooker accompanied the new piece “Businessman” with a thoroughly justified critique of the modern ‘banksters’ elite. The first part of the show closed with the unforgettable sailor’s evergreen “A Salty Dog”, the nostalgic tale of an old seaman from the album of the same name — seagull cries included.
After a twenty-minute break, the ‘old tomcats’ returned to the stage and kicked things off with “Fires (Which Burnt Brightly)” from the album “Grand Hotel”. The second half was dominated by unforgettable classics like “Homburg”, “Shine On Brightly” and “Conquistador”. The latter featured a newly added, improvised intro and outro with trumpet sounds created on a synthesizer, which only deepened the fitting Spanish atmosphere. Gary couldn’t resist commenting before the song on the recent shameful events around the Catalan independence referendum, which was followed by senseless violence from representatives of the Spanish authorities. Mr. Brooker, always in the mood for a good joke, introduced the classic “Grand Hotel” by saying how much he misses the good old days, when the band members rode around in limousines and champagne flowed like water alongside all sorts of choice dishes, while these days the band members have to share a single bottle of liqueur.
Of the “Novum” tracks, the one that thrilled us most was the epic and most progressively inclined “The Only One”, which completely won over most of the hall. Whitehorn kept proving his exceptional chops and made it instantly clear why he’s the longest-serving guitarist in the band’s history, while the rhythm duo impressed above all with their consistency and variety. Phillips’ nostalgic Hammond organ sound, which is, along with Brooker’s vocals and piano, a key ingredient of Procol Harum’s music, enchanted us in an instant. But that was nothing compared to what followed soon after. Procol Harum, as expected, saved their greatest classic, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, for the very end, when the crowd rose to its feet and some of the most devoted fans could finally squeeze in right under the stage. The unforgettable intro with that velvety organ sound wrapped the whole hall in an unforgettable haze of mystique, melancholy and nostalgia, while Reid’s lyrics about the sixteen vestal virgins waiting on the seashore carried most of the crowd back to 1967. With this immortal song, one of the ‘fathers’ of progressive rock ended their set, which flew by far too fast for most of us, and left the stage to thunderous ovations.
It’s hard to sum up all the emotions that wash over you when you see live a band you were almost convinced you’d never get to see, especially when, while playing the classics that helped shape the history of progressive rock, they surprise you with a practically flawless performance. Despite having ‘walked’ fifty years, Procol Harum radiated incredible youthful energy and pulled off the whole show at the highest possible level, while also establishing a really genuine connection with the audience. Of all the members, it was Brooker who surprised most, with his wonderfully well-preserved voice, something we didn’t dare hope for after listening to “Novum”, where the difference between young and old Gary was far more obvious. He sang the old songs just as well as the “Novum” material, and he kept the fun going the whole time, even in the short breaks before each next song. That evening the masters of fusing rock with symphonic sounds played practically all of their most beloved classics, with the exception of the 18-minute epic “In Held ‘Twas in I”, which would probably have been too big a listening mouthful for a mostly elderly and tired crowd. The stage design was lovely too, with a stylized Procol Harum logo in the background that incorporated graphic elements from the covers of their most popular albums, such as the vestal virgin, the life preserver, the lighthouse, the clock with frog legs and the parrots. The only complaint of the evening is the rather modest turnout, even in Italy, one of the few countries where Procol Harum enjoyed respect and popularity long after “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” stopped being a daily presence on the radio. After what we heard and saw, our small ‘Slovenian delegation’ sincerely hopes this wasn’t our last get-together with the English prog-rock legends, who deserve a solid ten out of ten for their show in Pordenone.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. I Told on You
2. Pandora’s Box
3. Man With a Mission
4. Can’t Say That
5. Sunday Morning
6. As Strong as Samson
7. Businessman
8. A Salty Dog
—20 min. break—
9. Fires (Which Burnt Brightly)
10. Last Chance Motel
11. Homburg
12. Shine On Brightly
13. Neighbour
14. Grand Hotel
15. Conquistador
16. The Only One
—encore—
17. A Whiter Shade of Pale
