I have to echo the reservations of others, and to agree that this kind of thing is exceptional - almost to the point of being unique.

It's something I've never witnessed, and hope I never will.

However, I have seen guests who were booked purely on the basis of a CD sent to the organiser, and didn't have any audience skills. They weren't 'bad', just not as entertaining as they maybe should have been.

Did I say 'entertaining'?

Yes... I didn't mean they should be telling jokes all night, but 'big names' such as Vin Garbutt, Harvey Andrews, Martin Carthy (sorry to all those I didn't mention!) entertain their audience in different ways, because that is what it's all about. It's what I aim to do when I'm a club guest, and I know Tom B and Dick both do (in bucketfuls), because we've worked together.

People are entertained by a wide variety of things, and I do know a duo who entertain their audience, despite the fact that they are abysmal singers and musicians, but have pots of enthusiasm. So being able to play an instrument in tune and to sing in key are not necessarily measures of quality...!

Unfortunately we have another problem... how do people 'cut their teeth' as perfomers if they are not allowed to work with a real audience. Doing floor spots is all very well, but putting together two 45 minute sets is a different matter.

What this didn't say was whether the audience was expecting quality and were let down, or if they knew what to expect...

Lymm Folk Club (and others, no doubt) runs occasional 'Big Spots' where a club regular is given the entire second half of a Singers' Night. This is obviously a case in point where the performer could turn out to be a complete let-down, but they all manage to rise magnificently to the occasion even though for many of them it's a first.