CandidPicker
Tone Matters. Use It Well.
We tell them if they pay us $500 cash we’ll learn it at setbreak and play it. No takers so far.
if anyone ever yells we suck or something the singer just says “yeah I know that’s why I told you at the start that the more you drink the better we sound.”
This is true. If I ever need change a song in my setlist because someone doesn't like that particular song, I've got more songs I can choose. My feeling is that most folks misunderstand the purpose of why certain songs are played at given times.
Concerning hecklers, what separates the men from the boys is how tactfully and patiently one responds. Even so, there are times when you might be tempted to blurt something back. A wise person will not throw fuel on a critical comment, because it will only turn up the heat on the one who tossed the fuel. It may very well be how well we put up with others, or put them out.
Although I'm thinking in terms of worst case scenarios here, in reality, the only desired results are, you play your set, sit and listen to the music with perhaps a beer, pack up your gear, and drive home safely.
I still tend to think in terms of how folks sitting behind their computers work with computers. Think before you speak and input good things, you may get good things back. Make a bad decision and input bad stuff, expect bad stuff in return.
If at all possible, I hold out to the heckler a chance to listen and learn. Although I'm still discovering what works best for my needs, I can't teach a person any better if they won't at least listen. (My secret weapon is a viewpoint question. It helps the heckler think before he replies, and might silence him.)
Unless its a singalong, it's important for me to know my audience before I reason with them, or hold out my hand to let them have the floor. I might say, "You were doing so well just a second ago. Where did we go wrong?" The unintended humor is diffusive and invokes a laugh from folks.