Brighton Centre – 8th December 2025
The Holiday in Concert at the Brighton Centre takes a film that most people have watched countless times and gives it a lift by putting a full orchestra under the screen. That’s the main idea and, thankfully, it works really well.
You get the comfort of a familiar Christmas favourite along with the fun of hearing the music played live, which gives the whole evening a bit more weight than a standard seasonal cinema trip. For a show that could easily rely on nostalgia alone, it puts in more effort than expected and the result is a genuinely enjoyable night out.
The set up is very simple. The Holiday plays on a large HD screen while a large orchestra performs the score in sync with the film. Nothing is hidden. The musicians are in full view, the conductor keeps everything steady and the film plays exactly as you remember it. What changes is the atmosphere. The live music makes you pay attention in a different way. You hear things that usually slip past you at home. Small sections of the score that rarely stand out suddenly feel clearer. The Brighton audience picked up on that quickly and it set the tone for the rest of the night.
The show encourages people to react, which stops it feeling stiff or overly formal. Right from the start there were cheers for favourite characters and well timed laughs for the film’s sillier moments. When a scene landed particularly well, you could hear it across the room. The villains also got boos (we’re looking at you Jasper Bloom!). It gave the evening a relaxed, communal feel, a bit like watching a Christmas film with a few thousand people who are all equally invested in how it turns out, even though everyone already knows the ending.
The orchestra deserves credit for how smoothly the whole thing ran. Keeping a full length feature in perfect time with a large group of musicians is a challenge, but it never looked strained. The conductor handled the pacing calmly and the players shifted between the quieter and more energetic sections without losing control. They didn’t try to pull focus from the film, which was important. Their job was to support what was on screen and they made it look easier than it probably was.
One of the unexpected strengths of this format is the way it highlights the score. The Holiday is remembered mostly for its cast and its cosy charm, not necessarily for its music, but hearing the score live brings out details you might never have noticed. It gives the film a more grounded emotional tone. Scenes that usually just feel like standard romcom beats become more engaging when the music is happening right in front of you. It doesn’t turn the film into something completely different, but it does sharpen it in small but noticeable ways.
The Brighton Centre itself worked well for this kind of show. It is large enough to give the event a sense of scale but still feels like a place where families can settle in comfortably. People of all ages were there, from groups of friends to parents with teenagers to couples making it a festive night out. It was clear that a lot of them had been before or had been waiting for the tour to come back. There was a sense of familiarity, as if this has already become a yearly tradition for many.
What also stood out was how steady the pacing felt. The film moves along at a decent speed anyway, but the orchestra gives it a bit more structure. The bright scenes in Los Angeles, the quieter moments in the English cottage, the more emotional turning points and the big romantic payoff all settle comfortably into place. The live score ties it all together in a way that makes the film feel slightly bigger than it normally does. Not dramatically different, just more polished.
By the end, the applause for the musicians was long and deserved. People clearly felt they had got something more than a simple screening. The live element doesn’t overwhelm the film or try to reinvent it. Instead, it gives fans a new way to enjoy something they already like, without complicating the formula.
The Holiday in Concert delivered a warm, well run, lovely evening built around a film that continues to hold its place as a Christmas staple. At the Brighton Centre it offered exactly what people came for: a festive favourite presented with care, energy and a live score that genuinely adds to the experience. It’s easy to see why these kind of tours keep growing and why audiences are lapping them up.
The Holiday in Concert review – 5 stars
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