To GUEST Session man
Nobody is looking to get in free or for freebies. The Point being made was the lack of fringe events in the neighbourhood of large Folk Festivals. Mostly for those who have been consisrently priced out of these festivals by big business 'event' orgs charging extortionate admission fees to what have become Festivals for the middle and upper classes only. One or two such as Wickham fest I'd excuse by virtue of not being as expensive as most and genuinely having a line up of artists to drool at. And Fringe events do actually benefit many festivals by attracting some very good performers who's faces don't fit at the Official fests, not to mention bring great financial boosts to the local areas. As for inside he fests many don't now provide open mic areas for those who HAVE paid to get in, probably because they have the same prissy superior attitude of Session man. And I would remind him the 90% of these high priced Fests started life as free festivals where genuine Folk Musicians and Fans put in a lot of time and effort, only be be bought out by the 'orgs'