Glastonbury Festival - Jools Holland Extravaganza

Jools Holland Extravaganza

07 Aug 2003

EVERYONE who was lucky enough to be at Jools Holland's sell-out weekend concert in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey is going to wake up with their feet tapping this morning.

For the first time in its eight year history Glastonbury Extravaganza broke away from its usual menu of popular classics - and it was a sure-fire success, with tickets selling out for the first time - two weeks before the big night.

Jools and his spectacular Rhythm and Blues Orchestra had a range of talents which drew the crowd like a magnet to the barriers below the stage. Ten thousand devoted fans jived and gyrated as Jools rocked the stage along with his talented musicians. He may be the star of the show but Jools love to deflect the spotlight as often as possible onto his talented band members. Their solo performances on trombone, saxophone, drums and clarinet were spell-binding.

A highlight of the event came as Jools and his brother Christopher mesmerised the crowd as their hands flashed across the keyboard in a rocking duo, with Jools remaining seated on his colourful drum-style stood while Chris remained hunched intensely.

Vocalist Sam Brown, daughter of the 50s and 60s singer Joe Brown, found plenty of fans for her bluesey voice as she took centre stage in a white polka dot dress and powder blue Macintosh.

Drummer Gilson Lavis (ok), a partner with Jools in the group Squeeze, which launched the pair, gave a breath-taking drum solo - his own dazzling prelude to the phenomenal fireworks which began as the night sky darkened.

Earlier violinist Nicola Benedetti, teenage winner of Britain's Brilliant Prodigies television competition in 2002 commanded the black horseshoe stage with a formidable display of talent.

Michael Eavis, Pilton dairy farmer and founder of Glastonbury Festival, launched the Extravaganzas eight years ago as a thank you to townspeople. The firework finale is always sensational but Saturday night's show with its huge colour bursts and whizzing fiery serpents could hardly be bettered.

The bathrooms and show cubicles of the West will be reverberating this morning with solo virtuosity as members of the audience recall Jools and the orchestra uniting crowd and performers with a chorus of the classic drinking anthem Enjoy Yourself.

Reprinted with kind permission from the Western Daily Press. Words by Tina Rowe, and pictures by Steve Roberts.