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That I can make the band suck less. Sure, there’s something to be said about polishing a shit... But ultimately, it’s shit in>shit out. Your guitar doesn’t sound like ass because of the EQ; it sounds like ass because the guitarist had nine beers before he even walked on stage, and he can’t stay on beat to save his goddamned life.
Psychoacoustics is a fascinating subject. Just like placebo, people will fool themselves into thinking that something sounds good or bad, simply because they want it to. I always keep a DFA fader on my console, for when random people walk up and have suggestions. I make an adjustment to the DFA fader, they smile and nod to themselves, and then walk away. DFA means “Does Fuck All”. It’s literally a fader that isn’t doing anything at all. It’s not in the mix, it’s not in the monitors. It’s just a spare fader. But by adjusting the DFA, audience members will feel like I took them seriously, and they’ll placebo themselves into thinking that I took their advice.
To be clear, not all audience advice is bad advice. But for every “it’s too loud” complaint, you’ll inevitably get an equal and opposite “it’s too quiet”. There’s a reason music festivals have their audio console fenced off with a very wide perimeter. It’s specifically so drunken audience members can’t just saunter up and start yelling suggestions. That shit is distracting and 99% of the time is entirely unproductive.
When I worked in retail, I'd have customers ask me to raise or lower the temperature in the store I worked at. "Of course!" I'd say and then disappear into the back area and play on my phone for a couple of minutes. I'd come back out and ask if it was starting to feel better, to which they'd reply, "I feel it working already, thank you!"
At my home venue, I have no protection. If you fuck with me---particularly within the first twoish songs of a set---my usual response is to look them dead in the eye and say, "Where do you work? I'm going to come to your job and help you on Monday." And that usually scares them off.
Sometimes, I feel bad about it and will find and apologize to that person later, explaining why I reacted like that.
My favorite is when it's a local/college-age band and parents are around. Or spouses of older band members. "No, I can't get her vocal any louder because she's whispering six inches from the microphone and Jimi Hendrix up there is blasting his amp at 11."
All this said, it's a common misconception that "asshole" is the default mode of operation for a sound engineer. It's just that the job is fucking stressful, and if you catch us at the height of that stress, we will react poorly. I've definitely come across a few grumps, but most folks are nice on average
kinda have to be so that people will want to work with you. Most of us just want to work with the team to make a good show happen.
To your original point, it's 100% true that the better the artist, the better/easier the mix. Can only polish a turd so much before it crumbles.
There’s a reason the lead singer’s girlfriend is the butt of so many jokes. And I have 100% had to use the Baffle of Shame for guitarists who won’t turn down. It’s just a doghouse made out of pink foam board and tape, that you can throw over the top of problem amps. Add a corner notch for cables to run in/out, and dust it in some black paint.
If it’s a tube amp, I can at least understand it; Tubes distort at higher volumes, and the distortion is part of the tone. And if you try to argue with a guitarist about their tone, you’ll lose every time. The nice once will smile and nod, then not make any changes when you ask them to turn down. The rude ones will make direct eye contact as they turn it up more.
But if it’s a solid state amp, putting a 2x4 block under it (or putting it on a spare guitar stand) to tip it towards their head usually works. The guitarist is used to having all of the sound blow right past their knees, so actually aiming it at their head makes a world of difference.