Well, here's da ting, Banjer...

My band tries to entertain requests from the audience, but we also pre-prepare set lists. So, if someone asks in the middle of the set (unless it's for a really good cause or special occasion), the answer many times has to be "no". Especially if we're doing more than one set at the same performance...the likelyhood of someone asking for a song that has either already been done, or that is on a later set list is fairly good.

For us, if you approach us *before* the set, it tends to be easier to fit it in (aka: retweek all the sets for that performance).

However, I see *no* reason to be rude about it. We usually just explain the above, make our apologies, and try to let the person know if it is on the list for a coming set.

Sorry they gave you such a hard way to go!