Nick wrote: "It's quite a small pub that we play in and the rare times that we put people on we rather leave it to them. Next month we have Hissyfit visiting and will have a PA there in case. It can get quite noisy with 40 + people in a smallish area (I know that everyone should listen etc) and my view is that it is fairer to a performer to let them be heard rather than have to battle people and I would guess that is also the view of the people who have come and brought PA's in the past".

Last year, at the invitation of a local, two or three of us did an evening of Jake Thackray songs in Flaxton.    First up, I really liked the pub and the audience and enjoyed the evening.   And the absence of PA in the room was fine as it should just have been a matter of adjusting my delivery and repitching the songs.   What I hadn't counted on was the effect of cigarette smoke in such a small room and as the evening went on I was having quite consciously to battle the effect of this on my voice - and wished we'd had some degree of amplification to avoid the ensuing strain.

This won't be an issue shortly of course, but in that case my preference for amplification was not due to consideration of aesthetics.

Ian