Horses for courses, isn't it, as ripov set it out a few posts ago.

At formal concerts where I've been playing, I've rarely suffered from audience noise. On the odd occasion when someone has been noisy, I've found - just like Liszt - that stopping playing was the most effective way of getting complete attention.

On the other hand, if I'm playing in a public bar to a mixture of people who've come for the music and those who've come as usual for the drink and the 'craic', I accept that background noise is par for the course - and play on regardless. And of course if you run a session for yourselves in a public bar, don't be offended if the locals chat away throughout - it's your choice to play for nothing in a public bar.

As for heckling, well... there are plenty of good put-downs that you can learn and use as required.

I've only cut up rough once in over 45 years of playing, many years ago - when I was playing an intricate guitar piece at a singaround. Two other members of the circle were chatting to each other throughout, to the annoyance of all concerned. I stopped playing and, when they looked at me, said very calmly and slowly, "Shut the fuck up while I'm playing." THAT worked... but I was young and fiery in those days.