Thread drift.....well, in my limited experience, a ceidlih has not really been one. IM(nsh)O that means a house party where everyone is welcome to join in. That has NOT been my experience. The ones I have been to I would call concerts...with scheduled performers. No open comers at all. I would love to go to a real one...much more like a session. Regarding the dancers, Pity the live musicians who play for Feis Contests...each time through the tune MUST be exactly the same as the last time,(timing, beat, key, etc) and the same tune 3x thru all day, over and over and over again.

I once listened to St. Patrick's Day in the Morning for about 2 hours at a dance contest. I gave up then and was GLAD!!! I was not the musician playing for them.