Billy Joel pays tribute to Procol Harum's Gary Brooker at Las Vegas show

Billy Joel paid tribute Saturday to recently departed Procol Harum frontman Gary Brooker, performing the band's 1967 classic "A Whiter Shade of Pale" during a concert at Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium.

At one point during the 2½-hour show, Joel told the crowd that Brooker "was a big hero of mine," according to a review in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "This was a song that came out in the Summer of Love," the 72-year-old performer added. "Anyone remember the Summer of Love?" A YouTube video captured Joel's 3½-minute performance of the melancholy 1967 hit composed by Brooker, Matthew Fisher and Keith Reid, which reached No. 1 in the U.K. record charts and No. 5 in America.

Following Brooker's death Feb. 19 at age 76, Joel tweeted a photo of the late musician in performance and wrote, "Sorry to hear about the passing of Gary Brooker. Rest in Peace." Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joel has performed the song before audiences at least once before, in a mid-2010s edition of "SiriusXM Town Hall" hosted by Howard Stern.