Going Live with Jools Holland and Later

There is something about the live music show "Later...with Jools Holland," that draws the TV audience in.  As Jools wanders around the studio introducing you to  new acts and already famous bands, you almost forget that you are sitting in your living room and believe, instead, that  you are in a trendy, semi-lit nightclub.  And I have always wondered what it would really be like to be there.  To be part of the shadowy, live audience.  
Each week 12,000 people apply for the  few hundred free tickets and last Tuesday, Ninesh and I were two of the lucky ones. The ticket doesn't guarantee you a place, just a chance to stand in the queue and hope. So as early as possible we donned our shades, slid into our " oh so cool and very second-hand," Mazda mx 5 and set off for the new home of " Later,": Maidstone. The ticket requested that we wear dark clothes, so by the time we got there, there was a snake of black clad live music fans, winding back from the studio door to the car park, a mixture of old and young and inbetweeners, standing hopefully in the English drizzle. 
And we all got in!
Dutifully we handed in our coats and clustered, shivering, around the heaters of a workshop/studio drinking beer out of plastic cups. Until, at last, we were herded into the real studio. 
And it was just like it looks on TV. 

The audience were packed into corners, squeezed between the 4 different stages and next to the piano where Jools Holland does his famous interviews. Bigger than a living room, the studio was small enough to  have that genuine club feel.  And from the beginning Jools was there, telling us we were making history, the first audience in the new studio, trying to get us to clap rhythmically as he introduced  the bands, the laid back host of a show that has become iconic.
And it was amazing.
Perhaps it was because it was the first one of a new series or because it was the first time it was being filmed in the Maidstone Studios or just because we were there, but each act seemed incredible to me.  
From 8.30 the 1 hour long Friday show is recorded and then at 10 pm, we went LIVE.
You could feel the tension building, the technical glitches being desperately smoothed, as we clapped, just like we'd been told.  And there we were, with Jools Holland, live on TV as he wandered around the studio, introducing  each singer and band.  In front of him, a woman dressed in black was running crouched down and backwards, holding his cue card, a camera following behind with a member of staff holding up the wire so no one could trip.
The line up was fantastic: headlining was cool and willowy Suede

Suede- looking further aways from us than they were

And then there was the pint-size ( literally! ) teenage, rhythm and blues band: The Strypes.  Dressed in Beatle type suits with Justin Beeber haircuts, wearing sunglasses, they were mind-blowingly good. It felt as though we were standing in front of the talent of tomorrow.
  

But my favourite was Laura Mvula. Not only is she beautiful, her voice, a mixture of rich velvet and defiant edginess, took my breath away.

Laura Mvula-

In the end, the audience stayed after the live show and "later," than Jools himself, while we listened and watched the rest of the recordings for Friday night . As people gradually left, Ninesh and I edged closer and closer to the stages, until we were almost shoulder to shoulder with Suede and so close to The Strypes, we could almost touch them.

So now, as I sit in my living room watching" Later," I will know.  Know what it feels like to be in the studio. Know what it feels like to be part of the audience. Know what it feels like to  listen to live, raw talent. Know that in front of Jools Holland someone is running backwards. 

And somehow that will always make me feel special.

If you want to watch, this episode of " Later....with Jools Holland," it's on tonight, Friday 12th April, 11.05 pm, BBC 2.  
Or follow the link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006ml0l