Jools Holland concert gets Carlisle racegoers in the groove
Last updated at 13:05, Monday, 05 July 2010
It was a day at the races with a difference – and the thousands who turned up loved it.
The CFM Summer Family Festival at Carlisle Racecourse on Saturday combined six thrilling horse races with a day of family entertainment and top-class live music.
Topping the bill was Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
As the concert finished, at around 11pm, the evening culminated with a dazzling fireworks display that could be seen for miles around.
The event’s wide appeal no doubt helped introduce some people to horse racing.
But for many, the highlight was the performance by Jools Holland and his talent packed Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, which included singing star Alison Moyet.
During the show, Gilson Lavis drummed like his life depended on it. As the twilight gathered over Carlisle Racecourse, he played brilliantly, the beat syncopated, intricate, and dazzling.
His performance mesmerised many spectators who were gathered before the huge open air stage.
The solo ended amid loud applause and cheers. It was just one of many memorable highlights of what was a truly brilliant concert.
Just about everybody was dancing by the end of the night, inspired by an orchestra that is crammed with talent, all of it fused into a magical mix of big band, blues, boogie-woogie, and pop.
But it was the dazzling drum solo that got one of the loudest rounds of applause.
Introducing Lavis, Jools called him the “nuclear reactor at the very centre of this orchestra”, thereby unleashing a three-minute chain reaction of rhythm and energy.
In turn, the spotlight shone on an array of talents.
The line-up included some superb singers – the soul-quenching Louise Marshall, the exhilarating ‘Boogie Queen’ Ruby Turner, and bluesey voiced Alison Moyet, looking younger than ever.
Singer Rosie May gave a rousing rendition of the Muddy Waters’ classic I Got My Mojo Working.
Jools himself was the perfect front man, a boogie-woogie dynamo, his left hand pounding out impossible looking basslines as his right whizzed along the keyboard in search of notes to flavour the sound with jazz and blues.
For some, the night air may have been a little too chilly but they were too busy having a good time.
Before the show Jools said: “People have to feel the stuff. They don’t have to have a great knowledge of music, just have a dance or a cuddle or a kiss.”
If that was a mission statement, this concert was a mission accomplished.
PHIL COLEMAN
First published at 11:25, Monday, 05 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
