As a performer, having people talk while I'm performing is something that happens from time to time. If I'm playing in a bar or at a function - solo or with a band - then talking, chattering, laughing, shouting, conversation, glasses clinking, etc., is just part of what goes on. The same goes for folk singarounds or sessions in a public bar. I choose to be in the public bar - I put up with what goes on in the bar.

At a folk club, I would never shush a member of the audience who was muttering, whispering or talking - even loudly. It doesn't put me off - it tells me that they're perhaps not interested in what I'm playing - and it tells me that the loud talkers have no manners. But I think the silent toleration of it - perhaps with a meaningful glance at the obnoxious ones that other audience members can pick up on - is more effective. Actual heckling is a different matter completely - and I put down hecklers unmercifully, after the end of the song/tune. I've never been heckled in a folk club, but it's common enough when playing in pubs and you have to learn to deal with it.

Pierre - I personally wouldn't have said anything to you because it wouldn't have bothered me - but everyone's different.