Barnacle Babe,

I agree -- preparing for a 12-minute set sharpens one's attention wonderfully. I think it was Winston Churchill who said that if he was asked to present a 2-hour speech he'd need a half-hour to prepare, while if he was to deliver a half-hour speech he'd need two hours to put his remarks together. Most of the time less is more.

The round-robin version of the Friday night concert (in the days before there was a Thursday concert) was very much like the closing all-hands: everyone got to do one song. And it did give the audience a chance to hear all the performers, so they could mark their dance cards for the weekend. As the number of performers grew it became tougher to make the opening round-robin work (this year's final concert lasted 3.5 hours, with 35 artists on the bill). Also, the organizers decided to give more performance time to selected artists, and so made Friday evening's show one with more time for fewer acts.

As for the financial performance of this year's festival, I understand that with the combination of ticket sales, Friends of the Festival donations, corporate support and the fund raiser chantey sings the event made a profit (the first in a long time, I'm told). Which bodes well for the future of the Festival.

Jerry