When talking about fringe events, are the above people festival ticket holders or just 'freebies' looking for a free weekend and hanging on the coat tails of the event. Festivals cost a lot of money to organise and run. I know the 'fringe' can be important in some events, but I would be interested to know who you are. If you haven't paid for a ticket you have no right to moan about not having anywhere to play/sing, or what happens during the festival.

I've never been to a festival without paying to go to things, but I wouldn't consider going to a festival that didn't offer me a space to play with other folks. Do you have a problem with that?

In the case of the Woodbridge festival, they could have saved some money by not hiring that godawful pub band and by letting the visiting musicians do their thing in the same space. And most "open mike" events need a hired PA - save money, a session/singaround doesn't need it.