It’s time to put the Hootenanny out of its misery

 Jools Holland’s annual New Year’s Eve party used to be unmissable – now it’s a stale, bland attempt to appeal to the masses

A New Year’s Eve night out is always a disappointment. Either you spend your entire night queueing at the bar for a wine with a distinct petrol aftertaste, or you peak far too early and are fighting off a headache and/or yawns by 11pm. Even if the night itself is a passable success, it’s never worth the hazy New Year’s Day spent on the sofa under a pile of selection boxes and paracetamol packets.

No, you’re much better off spending the last night of the year at home with Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. Or you would have been… before 2025.

This year’s Hootenanny line-up is a bit of a damp squib. There’s Olivia Dean, one of the year’s biggest stars, who would be a spectacular booking if she hadn’t been a guest just two Hootenannys ago. The main act is Ronnie Wood – a legend of course, but not exactly the most exciting performer without his Rolling Stones bandmates.

The rest of the show sounds like stepping into a time machine, with Jessie J, Lulu, Craig David, The Kooks and Heather Small rounding out the night’s entertainment. Is this really the best the BBC can do for the biggest party of the year?

Olivia Dean makes an appearance on this year’s ‘Hootenanny’… again (Photo: Michael Leckie/BBC Studios)

It feels sacrilegious to say anything remotely disparaging about the Hootenanny. It’s been on TV for over three decades and has been a huge part of my New Year’s Eve memories. When I was allowed to stay up until midnight as a child, the adults would dance the night away to Jools’s rhythm and blues. In my early twenties, when I would pile in from a night out at three in the morning, the Hootenanny would be popped on iPlayer to continue the party.

But if you love something, you have to let it go – and it’s time to admit that the Hootenanny is past its sell-by date.

In the good old days, true moments of musical magic were born from the Hootenanny. Amy Winehouse’s version of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” with Paul Weller; Kylie Minogue and Paul McCartney’s iteration of “Dance Tonight” (with Madness’s Suggs on the tambourine); Adele’s stunning early-career rendition of “Chasing Pavements”. These were unmissable, one-off performances that millions, including myself, still return to time and time again. It’s hard to imagine doing the same with a collab between Craig David and The Kooks, or Lulu and Jessie J.

The cold hard truth is that the Hootenanny has lost its cool. It can’t pull in the big stars it once used to and now has to rely on the has-beens who are already over-exposed. I can’t put my finger on why. It’s not filmed live on New Year’s Eve, so singers don’t have to spend their own evening in a stuffy studio. Plus, musicians are lining up to appear on Holland’s Later… showcase, which – despite being on TV for longer than the Hootenanny – is still seen as a cutting-edge exhibition of the best new music from around the world.

The best days of the ‘Hootenanny’ are long gone (Photo: BBC)

And the fact that it’s not live is a huge problem, too. New Year’s Eve is all about being in the moment, sharing the countdown and stepping into the New Year together. But knowing the Hootenanny is filmed weeks earlier makes it feel stale and somewhat fake. There’s no edge, no jeopardy. It’s far too polished.

To its credit, the Hootenanny has to pull off a nigh impossible feat and entertain every person who might be at a New Year’s Eve party. That includes everyone from the kids knee-sliding across the kitchen to your 90-year-old grandma who refers to most music as “noise”. But in attempting to appeal to the masses, it just ends up being bland.

If you are staying in this New Year’s Eve, you do have other options. On BBC One (11.30pm), Ronan Keating is hosting a party, while on Channel 4 (9pm) there’s a special edition of The Last Leg. On second thoughts, those bar queues are starting to sound much more fun…

‘Jools’s Annual Hootenanny’ is on BBC Two tonight at 11.30pm

Your next read