Yes, I know this is a bit late in the day, but I've only just got back from a 2-month Mudfest in the UK. We were towed ONTO and OFF 2 campsites! 'Why', I hear you ask, 'would anyone who lives in SW France want to spend 2 months on holiday in the UK?' Well, because my French wife loves England and prefers English rain to French sunshine. No, I don't understand either.

So, this is what the blurb on the Shrewsbury web-site said:

'We will be using the wonderful "Scola" tensile marquee we used last year as our main venue. To prevent the seated audience having their view interrupted when people at the front stand up, (in the moshing pit) we have decided to increase the height of the stage and use crowd control barriers behind the standing area. This will create a line of demarcation and the first seated rows will be positioned three metres behind the barriers. This means if anyone stands up the seated audience will see straight over their heads.'

So we forked out £174 for 2 tickets and off we went.

Own up organisers, you got it 100% WRONG. After queuing 2 hours (including the obligatory 45 minutes or more after the scheduled start of each concert) we got seats on the front row. Then the people came and stood in front of us in the 'mosh pit' and we could not see anyone on stage. A steward actually came and asked us if we could see, so I let her sit in my seat. She got the message. I don't know if the organisers did.

I found later on that by sitting about 20 or 30 rows from the front and craning your neck you could see the artists on stage from the waist up. Great for clog dancers or Irish dancers! The Ukulele Orchestra perform sitting down. We could just about see their heads! Of course, if you went right to the back of the marquee you could almost see the feet of the people on stage (with a telescope).

So whose lame-brained idea was it to allow a couple of hundred selfish people to stand at the front and effectively spoil the concert for a couple of thousand people sitting behind them? In theory this area is for exhibitionists to come and make complete idiots of themselves by jigging about in a way that ranges from the ridiculous to the frankly embarrassing. (Why don't they do it at ceilidhs? Is it because they'd feel stupid doing it in front of people who can dance?). But in fact, what happens is that people just go and stand there and block the view of those behind. Some even had children sitting on their shoulders! Why not reserve a space for the gesticulators at the back of the marquee, or better still, invite them to go and do it outside?

Second complaint (no, I haven't finished). The sound in the wonderful 'Scola' marquee was, for the most part, atrocious. Not all the sound crew's fault I think. It must have a natural air resonance which meant that certain bass notes caused feed-back. With only a couple of instruments they could try to control it, although with little success. With 4 or more on stage the answer seemed to be to ignore it and crank up the decibels. The worst case was the Duhks' concert. The compare (poor man) enthusiastically told us that there wouldn't be an empty seat in the house! Before the end of it three quarters of the audience had left. We left when the sound level became physically painful.

So much for the wonderful Scola marquee. If it's the same next year we won't be back. But then, who gives a monkey's?

On the other hand, later on we went to Bromyard. I asked one of the organisers if there'd be a 'mosh pit' in the main concert marquee. He said "Over my dead body"! We'll go back to Bromyard. Even if there's mud a foot deep again.