Everyone has certain things that they look forward to at different times of the year and for me one of them is Jools Holland playing at the BIC in December.

It signals the start of party season and my run up to the holidays.

As always the stage is crammed full of musicians who are at the top of their game individually and come together to form one of the tightest musical units you will come across. There are just under twenty people forming the core band on stage tonight with other guests joining as the evening goes on.

The set starts with some high tempo Boogie Woogie and Jazz numbers to get the crowd going before Jools is joined by Mabel Ray for a new song and then it was straight into a bit of Blues before it was time for a bit of a break and some of his easy laid back banter.

A few songs with just Jools on piano and long time collaborator Gilson Lavis on drums led to a drum solo that elicited well-deserved praise from Mr Holland. Three wonderful songs from Louise Marshal kept the tempo of the evening moving along until it was time for Marc Almond.

Having recently played to a sold out O2 arena in London with Soft Cell Marc seemed to really enjoy playing this quest slot. Opening with Say Hello, Wave Goodbye he played a short set that also included Tainted Love and provided the highlight of the evening for me.

It’s always a pleasure to see Ruby Turner who Jools dubbed ‘The Queen of Boogie Woogie’ and tonight’s closing set was no different. A very short break and then all of the nights musicians and singers, minus Marc Almond, returned for a joyful encore that once again had the audience dancing in the aisles.

A great nights entertainment delivered by a group of singers and musicians who seem to enjoy themselves just as much as the crowd did. Roll on next year.