Fact #100774
When:
Short story:
Procol Harum play, backed by The Festival Orchestra, at The Shakespeare Festival in the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario, Canada. This gig inspires them to make a live album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, some years later.
Full article:
Keith Reid (songwriter, Procol Harum] : We were invited to play at a Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. It was through a guy called Ritchie Yorke, who was a very influential Canadian journalist, and we just did a couple of songs. He suggested us to this festival and we played a couple of songs with an orchestra there, and it went very well, and gave us the inspiration to do a whole show with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Gerry Colver (audience) : The Festival Theatre was designed for Shakespearean plays. Any seat in the house is a good seat. As I recall I was sitting about two-thirds of the way back, almost dead centre. It was odd seeing a group like Procol at the Festival Theatre because at that time it was considered very much a mainstream venue.
Pat Sykes (reviewer, Beacon Herald) : A quiet, somewhat shy group of young men on stage as well as off, this did not prevent them from wowing their fans. And indeed, the audience was comprised primarily of Procol Harum devotees.
Gerry Colver : With the band and an orchestra and a choir, there wasn't a lot of spare room. Gary was sitting at his grand piano on the right, Matthew behind his organ on the left. BJ (listed as Barrie in the program) was situated behind his drum kit to the right of centre, with Robin and David Knights stationed to the left of centre.
The orchestra played first, then there was an intermission to allow the band to set up with the orchestra.
Pat Sykes (reviewer, Beacon Herald) : As they went into the first bar of A Salty Dog, people in the audience began swaying in their seats, tapping their hands and feet, and jerking their heads with the rhythm.
One might wonder at the idea of combining a concert of JS Bach music with one of rock, but the haunting melody of A Salty Dog was very reminiscent of the second movement of Bach's Concerto in C Minor for Violin and Oboe, played earlier in the program by the Festival Orchestra.
The orchestra more than held its own in the program with its renditions of Bach's Overture from Suite No. 4 in D Major, and the Concerto. This despite the disrupting fussing of the solo oboist with his instrument during the Concerto.
The orchestra accompanied the Procol Harum during the second set, when the group played its own composition In Held 'Twas I
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Gerry Colver (audience) : The Festival Theatre was designed for Shakespearean plays. Any seat in the house is a good seat. As I recall I was sitting about two-thirds of the way back, almost dead centre. It was odd seeing a group like Procol at the Festival Theatre because at that time it was considered very much a mainstream venue.
Pat Sykes (reviewer, Beacon Herald) : A quiet, somewhat shy group of young men on stage as well as off, this did not prevent them from wowing their fans. And indeed, the audience was comprised primarily of Procol Harum devotees.
Gerry Colver : With the band and an orchestra and a choir, there wasn't a lot of spare room. Gary was sitting at his grand piano on the right, Matthew behind his organ on the left. BJ (listed as Barrie in the program) was situated behind his drum kit to the right of centre, with Robin and David Knights stationed to the left of centre.
The orchestra played first, then there was an intermission to allow the band to set up with the orchestra.
Pat Sykes (reviewer, Beacon Herald) : As they went into the first bar of A Salty Dog, people in the audience began swaying in their seats, tapping their hands and feet, and jerking their heads with the rhythm.
One might wonder at the idea of combining a concert of JS Bach music with one of rock, but the haunting melody of A Salty Dog was very reminiscent of the second movement of Bach's Concerto in C Minor for Violin and Oboe, played earlier in the program by the Festival Orchestra.
The orchestra more than held its own in the program with its renditions of Bach's Overture from Suite No. 4 in D Major, and the Concerto. This despite the disrupting fussing of the solo oboist with his instrument during the Concerto.
The orchestra accompanied the Procol Harum during the second set, when the group played its own composition In Held 'Twas I