I had two dreadful young men sitting next to me at the Stockton Folk Club a few weeks ago. They had never been to a folk club before (I think) and did not know the etiquette at all. The one next to me persisted in talking right through a guest's performance. I got up to get a drink and found that he had picked up my eggs (shakers) and was playing with them - I would really have preferred him to have asked me first. Glares and shushes were completely useless. I did explain to him, politely, that it was rude to talk while a singer was performing but he was so much the worse for drink that he was unable to comply. The sad thing was that the two men really enjoyed the music - in fact the young man next to me called out to the guest several times how much he was enjoying it.

This might have all been in order in a pub night out with a microphone and speakers, but not in the formal setting of a folk club and in a completely accoustic (no speakers) setting. It was horrendous. Thankfully they have not returned.