In reply to Wiley Coyote:
> I was there all weekend (spending quite a bit of cash). It's now one of the top events in the world. They've plenty of experience and surely they ought to be able to get it right by now. Friday night was a classic. It started 20-30 mins late and still the guy introducing it insisted on giving a long rambling and largely pointless chat which delayed it further. He'd writen it and he was damned well going to deliver it. A quick "Sorry we've kept you waiting. Sorry Lucy can't make it. let's get on with it" would have helped the situation far more.
I was at that event on Friday night as well, and totally agree with your point about the introduction. Just to add to this though, at no point before the event was I ever in possession of the end time (neither from the website nor the tickets). It was only when I picked up a programme the following day that I realised its scheduled finish was 10:45pm! Me and a mate bailed at the interval (around 9pm), which was plenty of time I thought for the entire event to take place. The guys on stage might have been in comfy seats, but us at the front of the audience certainly weren't. The entire performance lasted 3 and 3/4 hours if it didn't overrun, admittedly including a 20 minute interval. My problem is expectation, alright I get the Letterman reference for the format, but he has an hour long show at most. I think this was a definite case of less would have been more. Another issue I have with this idea is, when are people supposed to eat. We nipped into Whetherspoons beforehand being veterans of the festival and well aware that many local businesses run out of food during the weekend. The following nights top billing Timmy O'Neill completed in an hour and a quarter which is about right.
Having said all that though I totally love the Kendal Mountain Festival and wouldn't wish my comments to jeopardise its future, thank you to everyone involved for their hard work.