Oh dear. I'm sure Dave is well able to speak for himself but (looking slightly desperately for a way in here), he said nothing about "better", Dick.

What he meant (or certainly what I mean) is that festivals are usually considerably more accessible for young people. I have my own store of horror stories, many of them peppering this sort of thread, of taking people met at festival ceilidhs to (often but not always) moribund "f*lk" venues to see artists they have glimpsed at said festivals. I'm tired of being embarrassed at cliquey atmospheres and hostile receptions for potential punters. I'm never in the slightest bit surprised when people I have tried to introduce to these "f*lk non-communities" turn round and tell me "well if that's yer fuckin' "f*lk club", fuckin' sod it.

Good grief, we've even been shushed at the Union Chapel when Spiers & Boden and Faustus were onstage. I'd have thought they were noisy enough to overlook a bit of verbal background explanation . . .