Who said that being in a band is about getting anywhere? It's about hanging out with your friends and having a nice time, not sweating over if the audience will like song a followed by song b. Of course if you're in small roiom with a handful of individuals sat at table drinking wine, then you should play a quieter set, but that's not 'reading the audience'... it's common sense. You may not like it, but that's how we do it, and it's working just fine, thank you. There are alternatives to brown nosing your way to popularity. I'm not saying that you should treat the audience with disdain, as yeah, they have paid some cash to see you, but what I'm saying is that you shouldn't be comrpomising your art based upon the facial expressions of a handful of strangers