The phenomenon known as open mic ...

It kind of go's with the territory,if you stand up in front on stage this is something you will have to get used to when performing before an audience not all of them are going to be respectful and most bars where some of the patrons have had a few to many they are going to be rude and oblivious to the entertainment its all part of live performance and any time you deal with the public this is to be expected your solution sounds like a good one play loud and drown them out

I was lucky to play some wonderful pubs in the U.K. Most places had a laid-back atmosphere with regular patrons very relaxed with each other.Everywhere on this earth, alcohol makes it necessary to amplify the entertainers.
Players lose intimacy when we back off to a stage and fire up the amps, but a noisy crowd forces us to.
We can only try to involve the audience by asking them most anything and trying to please them. We are all looking for that song so strong that they will instantly love us and clap like crazy.
Failing that, open with a tune that you know well and like a whole bunch.

I've not performed at many, but I've attended quite a few.  There's a club here locally that rents a room at a restaurant once a week to do open mic.  There are rules to be quiet during the performance and no criticism of the artist.  It's a mutual admiration group, and that's fine.  Why not build confidence in a safe environment.  But that sort of safe environment is extremely unusual. 

Mostly it's cheap entertainment for the bar owners.  They have one person or group who hosts, others sign up.  The host usually warms up the crowd with a few songs, then he/she invites different folks who've signed up to come up and perform.  Most places tend to get similar type folks.  For instance, you may get more bluegrass groups at one place, and more country folks at another, and alt rock a third, and folk at a fourth, and grunge at a fifth, and so on.  No hard and fast rules for the most part, but why go play hard-driving outlaw country music at a place that wants to hear mellow folk music?

Drinkers are drinkers, wherever you are.

You really missed something in Denver.  In one night in one bar there, I had a drink with and shook hands with Anson Funderburg, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Sam Myers, and several other big names. 

- Zurf

Although I've done some performing in bars both solo and with a couple of small local bands I've never played an open-mic except when I was in university. The university scene was great because you'd get a variety of styles and skill levels and for the most part the audience is there because they want to hear the music - you know, the whole "being all intellectual" and all that. But it was fun.
Coincidentally, I recently saw Ashley MacIsaac - a great Cape Breton fiddler - playing at a "listening room" venue in Halifax, N.S. Canada and even in the listening room environment once the booze begins to take effect the yapping grows. Staff were trying to "shush" people but then Ashley said he thought people should be able to talk and carry on because he felt it meant they were enjoying the music and enjoying themselves and he feeds off that kind of crowd dynamic. So to each their own I guess.
For me if its a true open mic event then the audience should be going there to listen to music. Some talking and having fun is appropriate, but honestly folks - give the performers a bit of a break and listen to them play. If you don't want to do that you are probably in the wrong place and should go to the pub down the road where the stereo is cranked up and nobody gives a damn how loud you are.

If you want a place to play and sing why don't you start your own? We did. There is a building in our community that is set up to where you can reserve it for parties, family reunions, wedding receptions or a little "pickin' n grinnin'. Since I knew the people who were in charge of the building I went to them and asked if we could put a group together to play there twice a month. They jumped on it. We play the 1st and 3rd Saturday night of each month. We got a local band with drums, keyboard, bass, lead guitar, rythem guitar that kinda serves as a house band ( and I get to set in with them on rythem guitar all night long). We all get out turns at the mike and get to do 4 to 8 songs each. We do allow anyone who wants to sing and play time at the mike and if asked we will play for them. We have had crowds of between 30 and 50 people since we been doing this. The key to doing this is to find out what type of music the local people like and be sure to add that to your program. Since the people in this community are older, church folk we started out doing old country and some light gospel music. As these people got to knowing us and we got to know them a little better we started getting some requests. These requests were for blues, '60s rock n roll and some straight out "honky-tonk" music. Now we got them up on their feet, hollering and clapping and really enjoying themselves.

Getting this set up is easy. Find out what the community people want to hear and play that. Set up a house band BUT offer time for anyone who to perform to do so. Make sure the everyone knows it is LIVE MUSIC and not a sing-a-long to a CD. Get the community people involved, set up for snack foods and cold drinks and don't be afraid to ask people to bring something = chips, dip, sandwiches, drinks. Come early, set up the sound system, meet and greet the people as they come in and stay late and make sure everything is clean when you leave. And SING / PLAY WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR!

We played for 4 hours last night, had a good crowd and everyong was coming up and telling us how much they liked the music as they left. We also got a whole lotta " do you know...............?

Nela

wow - great feedback chaps, thankyou all.  This is one cool forum.  I've just begun rehearsing some stuff with another guy - so far we are up to speed on The Kinks, Melissa Etheridge and Mike and the mechanics !!!   so in a couple of weeks we'll go out and play to the teeming masses of (largely) scum that is England.   I'll let you know if we escape with our lives.  Long live music and musicians.