JADE, CMAT, Jungle, The Boomtown Rats, Queen’s Roger Taylor and Sister Sledge’s Kathy Sledge were among the stars who performed on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny this year.
The annual BBC show has been a tradition since 1994, with the presenter inviting a range of musical stars from past and present to ring in the New Year. The whole show is available to via catch-up on BBC iPlayer here.
Among the standout performers on the 2024/2025 edition was former Little Mix singer JADE, who played her 2024 single ‘Fantasy’, as well as a medley of Donna Summer’s ‘Hot Stuff’ and Eddie Floyd’s ‘Knock On Wood’, joined by Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. Her partner Jordan Stephens, formerly of Rizzle Kicks, was also on hand, dancing enthusiastically to his girlfriend’s performance – check it out below.
Arguably the most scene-stealing performances came from Irish singer-songwriter CMAT, who played a playful version of ‘Have Fun!’ from her 2023 album ‘Crazymad, For Me’, and later closed out the show with an epic rendition of ‘Without You’, the Harry Nilsson track memorably recorded by Mariah Carey in 1994.
London neo-soul/dance group Jungle also played their 2024 single ‘Let’s Go Back’, as well as 2023’s ‘Back On 74’ and ‘Busy Earnin’ from 2014, while Canadian bluegrass group The Dead South performed ‘A Little Devil/20 Mile Jump’.
On the veteran act front, Kathy Sledge sang the Sister Sledge classics ‘We Are Family’ and ‘Thinking Of You’, while Bob Geldof’s Boomtown Rats played their late-’70s Number One singles ‘Rat Trap’ and ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’.
Marc Almond played a version of Soft Cell’s ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’, while Queen drummer Roger Taylor sang a medley of Little Richard songs, ‘Keep-A-Knockin’ and ‘Tutti Frutti’, as well as a duet of ‘Under Pressure’ with vocalist Louise Marshall.
Elsewhere, Holland was recently branded the “worst contestant” by viewers after he appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on December 29 for this year’s celebrity special.
Fans had high hopes for the former Squeeze keyboardist but he struggled to reach the £1,000 mark, calling in his ask-the-audience and phone-a-friend lifelines for his fourth and fifth questions.
“Wow. It’s a good job Jools can play the piano well because he’s bloody useless at this….,” wrote one viewer.