MUSICAL master of ceremonies Jools Holland and his acclaimed Rhythm & Blues Orchestra have announced their annual musical excursion around the UK and Ireland for 2018.

Soft cell frontman Marc Almond will feature as a special guest on the tour, which visits Mayflower Theatre on Sunday November 4. Ruby Turner and Louise Marshall will join Squeeze member Gilson Lavis on drums with the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.

With a tremendous collection of Jools compositions and boogie-woogie classics, it will be an unforgettable night.

Tickets go on general sale on Friday at 10am from Ticketmaster and venues.

Tickets for the UK concerts can be bought on Ticketmaster, See Tickets and Ticketline. There will also be UK venue pre-sales on Wednesday 31 January and a Ticketmaster pre-sale on Thursday 1 February, with both of these pre-sales starting at 10am. For more information on the Irish concerts, please visit www.joolsholland.com/tourdates.htm.

Highlights of the 35-date tour, now in its 23rd year, include two performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 30 November and 1 December, along with arena shows in Dublin’s 3Arena on 20 October, Aberdeen’s BHGE Arena on 22 November, Leeds’ First Direct Arena on 14 December, Brighton Centre on 15 December and Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on 22 December.

Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond will be accompanying Jools for the 2018 autumn/winter UK tour as a special guest, *with the exception of 1 December at the Royal Albert Hall where Chris Difford and Pauline Black & Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson of The Selecter will join Jools and the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra on stage instead.

In his 36-year career, Marc has sold over 30 million records worldwide with his list of hit songs including ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, ‘Touch’ and, of course, ‘Tainted Love’. Marc has also collaborated with the likes of Gene Pitney, Tony Visconti and Burt Bacharach, as well as Jools who Marc previously toured with in 2014. He was awarded an OBE this year for his services to arts and culture.

Previous special guests who have performed alongside Jools on his UK tours include the likes of Lulu, Joss Stone, Roland Gift, Melanie C and most recently José Feliciano who released a joint album with Jools in November 2017, ‘As You See Me Now’.

Tickets for Jools’ spring/summer shows for 2018, including Hampton Court Palace Festival and Kew the Music, are also available to purchase now.

Tickets for Jools Holland’s 2018 autumn/winter UK tour will go on general sale on Friday 2 February at 10am. Tickets are priced from £41 (+ booking fee) for all performances, except the Royal Albert Hall concerts with tickets priced from £19.50 (+ booking fee) upwards.

www.joolsholland.com/tourdates.htm

www.ticketmaster.co.uk

www.seetickets.com

www.ticketline.co.uk

Jools and Marc Almond image: https://we.tl/jKfkvYM2yq

FULL AUTUMN/WINTER UK TOUR 2018 DATES

DATE VENUE

Saturday 20 October Dublin 3Arena

Sunday 21 October Belfast Waterfront

Friday 26 October Bath Forum

Saturday 27 October Ipswich Regent Theatre

Sunday 28 October Cambridge Corn Exchange

Thursday 1 November Portsmouth Guildhall

Friday 2 November Guildford G Live

Saturday 3 November Northampton Derngate

Sunday 4 November Southampton Mayflower