Great to read the many comments in this thread. It is a topic dear to my heart.

I recently sent a message to the organisers of the Woodford Folk Festival, here in sunny (except during the festival!)Queensland, suggesting that the performers' sound needs to be amplified to the extent that each person in a venue should feel that they are embraced by the sound and energy of the performance. No one should feel that they are listening in. Equally, it is quite inappropriate that the sound becomes a physical barrier with the force to actually repel the audience! Many years ago I was involved with a semi-acoustic band (one acoustic guitar and one electric). We did a gig at a Working Man's club somewhere in Oxfordshire. After a fairly rousing, and not very acoustic, opening song (Donovan's 'Season of the Witch' - if I rightly recall) one of the working men approached me with the request:

"Would you mind turnin' your amplificators down?"

That was my message to the organisers of the WFF. I'll find out whether they have taken any notice on 27/12/00, I guess.