I've bawled people out in public and gotten away with it. I've bawled people out in public and not gotten away with it. On the (few) occasions I've done it, across decades of gig-going, I don't think arrogance has had anything to do with it: it's always been because I thought the guy onstage was being an asshole.

Yeah, this particular one's a bad example, because the guy in question probably wasn't an asshole; he just didn't have a very good sense of floorspot etiquette.

But let's say the guy had been wittering on for longer - FIVE minutes, say. Would I be "bawling him out in public" if I said something like "We haven't got all night mate!" or something? Cos I don't see anything wrong with it - and have been known to make those kind of comments. In fact, I'm by no means unique: one of the NICE things about folk clubs is that a lot of the audience will know each other, and so heckling (generally of the genial/appropriate/humorous variety) is a direct result.

Of course, outside folk clubs - at small-venue rock/indie/punk venues I've played at - you hear far worse things. In fact, at a punk gig, depending on tone of voice "just play the fucking song" could even generate a laugh: I wouldn't be at all surprised if I've played gigs at which someone might have shouted that, given the number of pisshead musicians I've played with over the years.