I went to an open air concert a few years ago featuring Jose Carreras. A group near us chatted all the way through the opening choir but I thought that they would fall silent when Carreras came on. No chance.

In the end I, like Ivan, had words and told them that although they might not be there for the music we were and we had not paid the ticket price to listen to them chatter all night. Like Ivan I got some funny looks but they did shut up. Not so the idiots sitting a couple of rows behind at an Elton John/Eric Clapton concert at Wembley. They did spoil the day for me.

When I go to a folk club/session I'm there to enjoy the music and can get almost anti-social at times. I think that it does show respect to listen to other performers without chattering through their act. I've never taken my kids or grandkids to any performance that they weren't keen on going to but would agree that it would be better to see a youngster involved in something other than the performance if that means that they stay quiet and don't spoil it for the rest of the audience.