HOLLY'S HOT SPOT - Metro (5 stars) - 26th August 2005

Some people are just special, fair and square. As Holly Penfield's crack squad of jazz musicians limber up with a few sultry bars, Metro overhears an elderly chap tell his pal how he hasn't missed a single show since the elfin San Franciscan began this Edinburgh stint.
Before the evening is out, Penfield has him jiving like a teenager and clambering over the audience to decorate everyone in fronds of pink ribbon.
And rather than merely tolerate it, we love it.
From lewd self-penned Weimar era numbers in a Liza Minnelli black wig and basque, to a wrenchingly poignant rendering of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, Penfield can neither be second guessed nor her banter bettered.
It's impossible to imagine how much more someone could give to their audience.A flaming glitterball of passion, glamour, irreverence and joie de vivre, Penfield's spot is so hot they should hose you down on the way out.

Nadine McBay.