A popular tribute band invited to play at a major Christmas market found themselves silenced after just 20 minutes – because they were too loud.
More than 200 people had gathered to hear the Bath Blues Brothers perform outside the abbey in the historic Somerset city.
The 13-piece tribute outfit had agreed to waive their normal fee and fans had travelled up to 30 miles to see them.
Are they too loud? Scroll down to see the Bath Blues Brothers in action
But after half a dozen songs the local tourism boss pull the plug on their two-hour set.
Band member Mark Sellick said: “We were booked to play at the Christmas market back in May which was absolutely brilliant for us and was like busking on a big scale for everyone coming to the market.
“We normally charge around £800-£1,200 to play but agreed to do it for expenses because we thought it would raise our profile and we knew we could pass the hat round afterwards and hopefully get some money in to cover our costs.
“We had to get a drummer in especially for the gig and pay someone to do lighting and we turned down a £2,000 gig in Poole.
“I think we were five or six songs into our set when we were told it was too loud.
“We said we could appreciate that but surely they knew what you were getting when we were booked.
“We said ‘Can we play one more song and try and adjust the levels?’ but it was still too loud.”
He added: “There was a crowd of 200 people there and we had only just started – we are absolutely gutted.”
Nick Brooks-Sykes, chief executive of Bath Tourism Plus, said he cut short the band’s performance because he didn’t want to jeopardise the relationship the Christmas market had with local residents and businesses.
He said: “The Christmas market has a massive impact on the city and the last thing we want to do is garner opposition to the market because of one live band.
“I think it is unfortunate – we pick so many acts to support the Christmas market and we should have realised that with the stone surroundings the level would be amplified to a level we could not control.
“We work throughout the year with residents’ groups, the police, ward councillors and local businesses and we didn’t want to give people any opportunity to oppose the Christmas market.”
The gig had been promoted on the market’s Twitter account which said: “Dust off your trilby and wrap up warm for an evening of the Bath Blues Brothers at Bath Christmas Market tomorrow night from 7pm!”
But disappointed shopper Nicola Liu responded: “So @BathXmasMarket, we did dust off our trilbys for a evening of @bathbluesbros at Bath Christmas Market and the council stopped them playing.”
