Mabe a useful way to approach the claim that a session was a public entertainment or a performance would be to demonstrate the uneven quality of such gatherings.

It would be immediately clear to anyone attending that there was no attenpt made to entertain or perform to anyone, in the accepted sense of those words. It is a event where the players themselves can practice and learn new tunes.

In fact the session would not be all that different to say a choir rehearsal. Would such a rehearsal be described as a public performance, if it was held in a pub without a PEL?

How about it Richard, should we be stressing the fact that its nature is really more of a rehersal in a public place, rather than a public entertainment? Should it really not be looked at as a practice night rather than a public performance anyway? Surely that is the sensible way out of this mess?