I agree that in a live setting you at least got to give something to the audience. I mean something to remember, good or bad. Especially with people that are NOT used to noise at all, it's a shame for expample if they get exposed to knob-turning at low volume. The same knob turning but at punishing volumes could make a totally different impact.
In my opinion it doesn't really matter if you have a sort of performance Emil Beaulieau style, if you confront the audience a-la Slogun, if you have impressive backing videos or lights, or if you simply turn your knobs, stomp your pedals and play loud as fuck with your back turned at the audience - as long as it shakes people at least a bit from their torpor.
Not "entertainment" in the classic meaning of the term probably, but it's "our" entertainment.