An interesting thread; especially why do we tolerate bad performers in folk clubs. I guess lots of us have experienced seemingly talentless people turning up, and distorting the audience’s overall experience of the evening; often with their own family and friends in support, not just occupying the best seats, but talking through everyone else’s spot and then disrupting things by leaving early. I suppose it’s a reminder to the rest of us that we were all a bit rubbish when we started, and everyone has to start somewhere.

We had one keen youngster who would get so nervous that they would storm off in tears before their spot, and regularly had to be coaxed onto the stage and be (limply) supported by ourselves to get through their chosen song. However, payback came a few years later, when they turned up out of the blue, with a flashy new guitar, stylish clothes and more self confidence than the rest of us put together. Their performance was actually the best one of the evening, and put the regulars to shame in terms of stage presence, audience engagement and entertainment value.

So you could argue why do we tolerate some of us old stagers, who turn up every time, confident enough to be under rehearsed, trotting out old songs we’ve long since done to death, yet still having to fumble around with scraps of paper because we still haven’t managed to learn the words after all these years, or when that tricky fourth chord comes in. Thread creep….sorry.