Good indoor shots w/o flash

[KeithAlanK]

Here's an example of what I was talking about.

This was at iso400, around f2.
(NeatImage'd for the heinous noise my camera has at high iso)

Mainly, it's important to note just how little blur there was at 1/30th of a second shutter speed.
Rudy was working that hi-hat pretty hard--not a slow song.
The lighting wasn't anything special, pretty average for a small club.
But even a "slow" shutter of 1/30 (handheld) was enough to freeze what was important while allowing some dynamic motion to also help the image.

Something to consider...try longer shutter speeds yourself before writing them off.
Admittedly, you'll get less 'keepers' but you'll certainly have some well-exposed photos to show for your efforts.
Cleaner high-iso cameras and faster glass only improve on what's possible.