My complaint about last night's house concert was not the gig volume per se. The singer sang un-amped. But the bassist who accompanied her did have an amp. And his enthusiastic bassing totally ran over her words to the point that we couldn't understand them.

This was a house concert that seated only about 25 people. The singer would have been fine without the bass altogether and with no amp. But *with* him, he should have played a much more subtle background allowing us to hear the singer and her guitar clearly. We left at intermission.

I have seen this tendency with other bassists, and it galls me each time. The bass is important. But it is not the star. Bassists who do not understand this should be drawn and quartered in a vat of salt water.