For me, the worst one was due not to the quality of the performance but the volume. I went to see Luka Bloom in a state of high excitement, having heard him on the radio. The opening band was called the Bedlam Rovers, and the volume was so high I actually couldn't hear the music. I thought it was the worst thing I ever heard. The same was true for Luka Bloom. I found that by keeping my fingers in my ears I could screen out some of the bass and actually hear a little of the melody, but the whole thing was rather painful.

A few weeks later I was in a bookstore which had a really great Celtic-sounding CD playing over the store's sound system. When I asked who it was, they said, "The Bedlam Rovers." I felt really cheated, since they were obviously very good, but I couldn't have told that from their live performance.