you can't force people into being entertained, and you can't force someone
into entertaining you.. entertainment is when something stimulates the senses
enough to hold someone's attention. the most effective ways of achieving this
is to either stimulate as many senses as you can or to bombard one of them
relentlessly. so you can either do something visually or crank up the volume,
or make decent music (which is by far the most difficult)
and if people are talking too much in the audience it means either that:
a. the performance / music is exceptionaly dull or
b. that the people in the crowd don't know who the person performing is
both of which are very characteristic of idm shows...
i suggest that people on this list start attending some non-idm shows (you
know, the kind where people play non-digital instruments) and you'll
understand why we find the laptop shows to be boring. please take a visit to
your local jazz club or folk fest or hiphop concert or whatever. you will
have a new appreciation for performance, i promise.