Sorry, cross-post...!

I'd expect any festival director to have done their homework properly and not be caught out in this way. Moreover, any performer inending to play should also have done their homework and checked if such practice was considered acceptable.

In other words, for a mistake like this to be allowed to happen suggests some blame on both sides. It also suggests some assumptions have been made on both sides.

Let's be fair. We know that Strawhead, the Mrs. Ackroyd Band and Doc Harvey and the Philistans all use MIDI in addition to Chris Harvey's live performance, and audiences aren't warned in advance that this is to be expected. However, I'm sure we all agree that these are somewhat theatrical 'specialist acts', not in any way comparable with someone singing a song with a backing track.

Chris is in control (usually!!) of what is playing, and it really counts as part of his mastery of the instrument.

The line is very fine, though, and I would hate to see people turning up at clubs and festivals expecting to perform to a backing track as the norm. It's not what the genre is about.

Fairport, Steeleye Span et al are 'folk rock', and not to everyone's taste. Some even claim they 'aren't folk'. Fortunately the folk idiom is a wide enough church to embrace extremes... finger-in-the-ear trad right through to folk rock... but I still feel the performers abilities are a vital part of this.

Yes, I do feel sorry for those who cannot play - especially if they could play and have now some form of disability which has taken that ability away, for example Ted Edwards. However, permitting one person to use backing tracks then creates a dangerous precedent.

If they were presented as a novelty act (such as the hilarious John Shuttleworth) in a folk environment, then maybe backing tracks could be valid up to a point. It's still a dangerous precedent, though.

Someone who cannot play themselves, and who cannot find an accompanist, should already be aware that they are expected to sing unaccompanied or not at all. It's really that simple. Let's be reasonable... there's usually someone around who can pitch in and accompany them - I frequently do it myself (but only when asked!!).

Then there's turning up at a singaround without an instrument and expecting to borrow one... maybe I should carry a recording of me playing in my mobile phone, and sing to that...!!