Well we are currently half-way through none of the WORST folk concerts that I have ever been to - at a ticket price of £20 (I'm glad we didn't pay more). We are in the Royal festival Hall on the South Bank.

The noise was so loud it was like there was a thick glass wall between the audience and the musicians (14 in number). The sound was so muffled that even the verbal introductions were indistinct, let alone the words to the songs. I have resisted going to folk concerts for years because most sound engineers are so incompetent in balancing individual musicians playing a variety of instruments. The attitude here seemed to be "let's drown the echoes by turning up the volume." It doesn't work.

Then there was the repertoire. Typical Trans Atlantic Sessions al la Beeb. All Yank, Scotch, and Irish with a smattering of French-Canadian. BUT TYPICALLY NO ENGLISH WHATSOEVER. The word English-phonic racist suddenly occurred to me. Yes - I think that the Transatlantic Sessions ARE racist. The Beeb has a lot to answer for in not promoting ENGLISH folk music. And the artists obviously support this attitude. So does that make them racist too? IMHO I would deem that to be so.

So this is a concert that I DO NOT recommend wasting money on and certainly NOT in the RFH. We'll see how the second half fares.