Santiago's not the only place I've seen it done. I attended a session in Toronto, and the host did just that -- discussed the upcoming set with his co-host, and played a bar or two of each tune for her before they started the set together. (It's where I got the idea for the hypothetical session in "the next town over".) The rest of us (a huge group) listened to the "pre-game show", and did our best.
I think the Santiago host (who lived in Galway and played professionally there while studying with Mary Bergin) announces the set to the group because many of them are her students. They also play that game where a set goes around the table, taking turns spontaneously starting the next tune in a long set. Whatever -- the session's lots of fun. And at least it's not as boring as those long-running, inbred sessions where pretty much everybody's a regular, and when someone starts up a set, you know what the following tunes are going to be 'cuz you've heard him play the same set every other week for the last ten years.
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