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Must be a misprint! But no, there it all was before me in a beautifully produced colour brochure and, thanks to all the hard work done by Dave Evans, the Festival Director, and his team, the likes of Courtney Pine, The Kate Rusby Band, The James Taylor Quartet, Eliza Carthy & The Ratcatchers and Cara Robinson would be performing on the final day of the Garforth Arts Festival.

The lucky people of Garforth had already been spoiled rotten with 10 days of extraordinary talent, both local and national, which included the likes of The Brighouse and Rastrick Band and The Brodsky Quartet, so I bet they couldn't wait to get their hands on one of Saturday's 'Golden' tickets.

The only thing that could perhaps have spoiled everything was the weather and, as the start time loomed, so did the black clouds. But the people of Garforth had come well prepared for every eventuality.

A carnival atmosphere met me as I entered the site. Skaforth were in full swing on the main stage, while Tin Pan Alley entertained the crowds near the fairground, with their own renditions of Kung Fu Fighting, the Carl Douglas classic, and the theme music to BBC cricket – well, it is summer, isn't it?

Next up on the main stage, following a brief shower, are The Shiny Band, and you can tell they're all having such a great time and love what they are doing, especially when we learn from Mike Hancock, our compere for the day, that they write all their own material, one such being The Summer Sun ... oh, yes please! Anything goes is the order of the day as far as The Shiny Band is concerned, and the excellent guitar solos and brass section really stand out. Great fun.

In between the acts, there was also plenty to do, including arts and crafts and face painting and, if you were in the right place at the right time, you would have been amazed by Chris, the wandering magician, and his close-up magic.

While all this was going on, the North Star Steel Orchestra appeared, as if by magic, on the main stage and continued the carnival atmosphere with pan arrangements of I Shot the Sheriff, No Woman No Cry and Jamming.

Glenn Pinder, the Magic 828 Breakfast show presenter, took to the stage next to introduce Cara Robinson, a local performer with an exceptional voice. Singing her own brand of rock, folk, alt-country and blues, Cara sent the looming black clouds packing with songs from Keep'er Lit, her latest cd – available "from the boot of my car" and Amazon.co.uk - which included You're Saved, SUN and the sublime Carry Me Away, complete with a fantastic flute solo from the lady herself. Soul Sounds, a local vocal harmony group, joined her for Set Me Free and Sure Come Over, the final 2 songs of a very enjoyable set. Bliss!

Carnival time returned once more as a procession, made up of children from local schools, wound its colourful way around the playground, led by the Shiny Band and the Garforth Jazz Rock Band, and not forgetting those whistles, drums and anything else that could make a noise. The arts and crafts department was also on show with large, multi-coloured kite like faces, shields, butterflies and lots of smiling happy faces.

As the procession wound its way out of the playground, the Garforth Jazz Rock Band had somehow managed to make their way undetected by yours truly onto the main stage and was now playing Dance to the Music. These guys are true professionals in every sense of the word and are so confident in their musicianship. The Cure's Love Cats comes next, followed by Pat Metheny's It's Just Talk, in which one of the band members had to go and fetch some pegs to stop the sheet music from blowing away. "Performance Art", Dave Evans, wearing his conducting hat this time, called it.

Following some Charlie Mingus, the band went all avant-garde with an excerpt from Revolution 9, from The Beatles White Album, before getting us in the holiday mood with Oh I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside, then Ben Folds' Twisted and finishing with The Chicken. Awesome!

The cheers erupted as soon as Eliza Carthy and her band, The Ratcatchers, took to the stage for their set. Beginning with some Tunes, this immediately got the crowd, both young and young at heart, jigging away as if their lives depended on it.

The King James Version, a Billy Bragg composition, came next, followed by some more Tunes, one of which was from Yorkshire, and featured sheep, "Which went down well in Wales the other day" joked Eliza. Ending her set with Willow Tree, a song from her Mercury Music Prize nominated album Angelicana, she went off to screams of 'more, more, more' from this knowing crowd and was back on again in an instant with an encore of more Tunes. Amazing!

I last saw The James Taylor Quartet at the Across the Tracks two day festival in the centre of Leeds last summer, so I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing these great musicians again – and I wasn't disappointed.


Jazz always makes me feel in a good mood and it's so nice to be able to just soak it up, especially when the sun is shining, and most, I can tell you, were taking a leaf out of my book. Great cheers all round, especially for Love the Life. Superb!

Kate Rusby, the darling of British folk music since coming to the attention of her adoring public after winning the Mercury Music Prize in 1999 is, going by the size of the crowd now in front of the main stage, is why most people have come along today. Also, The Kate Rusby Band is literally filled with well known names, folk royalty, if you like, with John McCusker, who is also Kate's husband, Andy Cutting, Andy Seward, Kris Drever and, last but not least, the great Ian Carr. Sound check problems caused a bit of a headache and unfortunately delayed the start of the set for almost 10 minutes, but Kate took it all in her stride, joking with the audience throughout. But you could tell it was getting to her a bit when her bottom lip came out. "We still love you, Kate!" came a voice from the crowd and her face lit up once more – even more so when the problem was fixed and her set began with The Good Man, followed by The Elfin Knight, then Cruel.

Anyone who has seen this Barnsley lass – and proud of it - before, or indeed purchased her Live at Leeds dvd, will already know about her legendary between song banter. Today we learned that she'd had a wonderful day playing with her dog called Doris and would also like to get her hands on a jet ski, just like the one used by the guy during the recent flooding. Anyway, I digress. Continuing with her set, we were treated to her classic rendition of Sir Eglamore with, as she put it, a really silly chorus, which she'd like us all to join in with – except for Andy Cutting, that is, because, according to Kate, "he sounds like a pirate when he sings."

Finishing off their breathtaking set with The Blooming Heather, Kate and her band leave the stage to rapturous applause and shouts for more. But compere Mike Hancock, the bringer of bad news, had been given strict instructions for no encore, and relays this sad news to the crowd. "Boos!" from the disappointed crowd. "But we've got to get ready for Courtney Pine now!" came Mike's reply, to more booing. Who'd be a compere, eh! As a consolation, though, there was always the Kate Rusby megastore situated stage left, selling merchandise, plus whatever hand crafted items the band had managed to put together during the drive over from Barnsley.

Courtney Pine, the legendary saxophonist, took to the stage, larger than life, wearing a black bandana on his head and a short caftan displaying a lion, just as the sun was going down.

Opening with Sonny, then some James Brown, followed by a Trad Jazz medley, featuring Summertime and Everyday is Everyday, he continued with Thelonious Monk's Round Midnight, but with a reggae twist. Courtney, changing his instruments throughout his exhilarating set, can make the saxophone talk and I was amazed at some of the sounds he was creating. Finishing with Power to the People, with the audience participating in a 2 part harmony and a mock encore – as there wasn't time for him to go off and come back on again - the whole day and night was brought to a fantastic and fitting conclusion. Even the weather behaved itself really, as the brollies only went up for very short spells, once or twice throughout the whole day.

Hey, people of Garforth, listen up! A line-up like this is what dreams are made of. I suggest you now put Dave Evans and his team safely under lock and key for the next 12 months, so that they can come up with something to equal 2007!

Review courtesy of The Music Guru. Visit their website at www.themusicguru.co.uk or www.kpdigital.org.uk