Warning a crowd in advance is a tool for surviving the expectation gap when you change genre

When a performer shifts style, part of the audience arrives expecting the old product and can resist actively — Skream had a crowd member keep shouting for dubstep even after two hours of it. His practical countermeasure is to set expectations before the show (a routine pre-gig Twitter warning that he will not play dubstep), so those who come are self-selected to accept the new direction. Acceptance also varies by place (LA was fine, North Carolina less so), so the same set can land differently and the DJ must read the room. The stance: value the crowd who stays over the one demanding the old sound.

Examples

Skream’s pre-show tweets warning ‘no dubstep’; a Loughborough punter shouting ‘Dubstep!’ through New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ after two hours of dubstep, ending in security ejecting him; LA vs North Carolina reacting differently on the same tour.

Assessment

Name the expectation-management tactic Skream uses before a genre-shifted set and explain why it changes who shows up. Why does the same set land differently in different cities?