I appreciate live performances of most kinds of music even though I may not listen to the same style/genre of music on the radio, or an album, or even a live recording of the same artist.

I appreciate the time, talent, dedication, and love a musician or entertainer puts into his/her live performance.

I think it's probably a similar reaction when listeners begin to believe that what they are hearing may be mostly "canned". IMHO the more the listener senses canned the more critical their attitude becomes about what music is being played.

(The average listener also wouldn't have any appreciation for the many hours one may have put in creating and tweaking the styles used to support one's playing.)

EDIT: i.e., My personal preference are the "combo" 3-4 piece.