Credit: Alex Asprey
Credit: Alex Asprey
Procol Harum launched their first U.S. tour in nearly five years this week, after recently taking part in the inaugural On the Blue Cruise headlined by Moody Blues singer/guitarist Justin Hayward.
Frontman Gary Brooker says the trek is giving Procol Harum the opportunity to introduce its latest album, 2017’s Novum, to American audiences.
“We were very much looking forward to getting over here and…playing our new songs,” he tells ABC Radio, adding with a laugh, “And anyway, we were on a cruise that finished in Miami, so we might as well come up here.”
The tour, which runs through a March 4-5 stand in Boston, is mostly visiting various City Winery franchises.
Brooker admits that he hadn’t heard of the City Winery before booking the tour, but after shows this week at venues in Atlanta, Nashville and Chicago, he has plenty of positive to say about them.
“They’re a very, very good musical environment,” the 73-year-old musician says. “And, of course, all the people in there seem to be music lovers, and sitting there very comfortably with their glass of wine. [It’s a] very nice, relaxed atmosphere, [and] good sounds…in all of these places.”
Of course, besides material from Novum, the band is playing plenty of its classic early songs, including “Whiter Shade of Pale” and “Conquistador.”
Brooker tells ABC Radio that “it’s an honor that people know songs that you do,” adding, “It’s great to play them and it must be good for people to hear them, either for the first time or after many years of not seeing Procol.”
Procol Harum’s tour continues this Saturday, February 23, in Washington, D.C., and also includes a February 25-27 stand in New York City.
Here are all of the band’s upcoming U.S. concerts:
2/23 — Washington, D.C., City Winery
2/25 — New York, NY, City Winery
2/26 — New York, NY, City Winery
2/27 — New York, NY, City Winery
2/28 — Westbury, NY, NYCB Theatre at Westbury
3/1 — Ridgefield, CT, The Ridgefield Playhouse
3/3 — Collingswood, NJ, Scottish Rite Auditorium
3/4 — Boston, MA, City Winery
3/5 — Boston, MA, City Winery
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.