I remember Ewan MacColl demanding a proper stage, absolute quiet during his performance (which would have been with Peggy Seeger), likewise bar firmly closed and no one allowed in or out. The fee was also quite expensive by most standards.

I'd have paid the money because they were worth it, and I'm sure we could have put some boards on beer crates. But whatever the pub manager would have said about his bar sales, anyone who remembers the Folk Forum at The Castle Hotel, Bishop Auckland will know why, short of hiring bouncers, I couldn't make any confident assurances about silence and comings & goings. So we had to go without.

Can't get excited about the debate on artists insisting on minimum fees, though. I can see no reason why he/she/they shouldn't, and no reason why a club organiser should not regard it as a legitimate reason for not booking them.

As I may have mentioned in a thread long ago, easily our best night, after the club had moved to another Bishop Auckland pub, was when an error led to both Tony Captsick and Christy Moore turning up on the same date (whose fault, Christy's or mine, being the subject of an alcohol-fuelled dispute). We agreed with CM that we'd raise prices and give him whatever remained after TC had been paid. A big crowd came, both got the money they'd originally expected and both also proceeded to share the task of drinking my dad's drinks cabinet dry afterwards.