Ralphie, I am believe it or not a very keen supporter of Sidmouth FW having spent good money there for 37 years. I am just expressing a concern on behalf of others with whom I have had many conversations, especially from the dance world.

Dancers unlike concert audiences are not a passive group of festival attendees. For them to exercise and express their passion for music, they do have certain expectations with regards to those bands who perform for them to dance to. The balance is different from concert formats in that ceilidh bands have to perform in a manner and style which make people want to participate by dancing. If they don't, then people won't dance. Concert artists deliver a style of music/song which they have created, want to deliver and are at home with for their own esoteric reasons. The resulting creations are an expression of their own passions and hope that they develop a following and fan base for their music.

Therefore, so called inspirational 'one-offs' are untried and tested, have no track record of popularity and by and large will be using Sidmouth dance audiences as guinea pigs for their own self indulgance. All too often these 'scratch' bands hardly ever surpass the sum of their parts and leave the audiences gagging for 'no more'!! Don't forget, dancers want to dance to a full sound of dance music, not to drool over so called 'dance music stars'. Mmm I am beginning to wonder what personal experience of hard-core ceilidh dancing the artistic director has ...?