We're at the "Big Session" Festival at Leicester this weekend. Last night we went to see the Levellers. We were quite keen to see this band because we had quite a bit of "time out" from the folk/music scene at the time they became popular due to work/family etc, and have never actually heard them.

The problem was that we only managed to hear about ten words out of all their lyrics in the whole set. I'm not being a grumpy old fart here and saying it was too loud. I can stand loud OK, but something with the sound made all the words completely inaudible. Obviously bands have a fanbase and many of the people there knew the lyrics off by heart, but for someone who had not heard the band before, it was a bit frustrating.

Their stage act was excellent, but I might as well, to all intents and purposes have been listening to an instrumental set. I would have thought that this was a band who had a message in their songs, but if that is the case, I'm afraid it was completely lost on me.

One or two other bands at the festival seemed to suffer from the same problem, but Breabach's words came over crystal clear as did Eliza Carthy's.

Is it a problem with sound engineers?
Do the band switch up their own instruments after the soundcheck?
Is it when you get drummers involved?


Is it not possible with modern technology to combine loud with audible?

Disgusted of Leicester!