The first set includes "Homburg," whose chromatic melodies and slippery minor chords couldn't have been written by anyone except the man who came up with "Whiter Shade of Pale." It's followed by the bombastic verses and oh-so-European waltz-march choruses of "Grand Hotel," always a fan favorite. But "Quite Rightly So" is, for me, the high point of the set, with the band building a symphonic resonance atop a simple, stately structure. Whitehorn does his best Martin Barre in the acid-rocker "Simple Sister," and the spotlight's on Fisher during the new instrumental "Weisselklenzenacht," where the organ chords consciously suggest "Whiter Shade of Pale" (as if we needed to be reminded that it was on the menu for later).
The second set opens with the dramatic rocker "Shadowboxed," followed by the bluesy jams "The Question" and "Wall Street Blues." The band's lyricist Keith Reid is at his most affecting in the emotional hymn "This World is Rich," the set's first emotional high point:
We don't even own the ditch where we're dyingThis world is rich, but it is not mine.
Procol Harum displays its American soul influence, for which Brooker's voice is nearly perfect, with "As Strong As Samson" and the good-natured if obvious "Every Dog Will Have Its Day." The still-fascinating classic "A Salty Dog" is another emotional peak: Procol at its best. And they "end" the show with an appropriately grand version of "Conquistador."
The encore set begins with "VIP Room," a great ode to rock and roll success (doesn't every band need one?). The southern-fried blues-rocker "Whiskey Train" includes an excellent drum solo from the indefatigable Brzezicki. And they finish up with (say it with me now) "A Whiter Shade of Pale," which here includes an extra verse you don't normally hear. I'm not going to give you the words to it, you'll have to buy the DVD, and it'll be worth every penny.
Article comments
1 - Chris
Nice! It is a good disk and a nice companion to the Jefferson Airplane retrospective I got it with. Your style works nice, I'm still working on my music writing, I'm better suited to film at the moment.
2 - Jon Sobel
And I've done tons of music reviews but am just starting to branch into videos. I have the Airplane DVD too, it's next on my list to write up.
3 - Phil Gray
A nice summary - I bought the DVD a few months back and waited for a rainy day to pump it up on my Bose DVD system. Awesome, the choral and then screaming organ is what I like I best - if they ever tour again, anywhere, I'll be there.
Sydney,
Australia