That's great that you have an audience to play for. You should be encouraged that they keep asking you to play.

When you are doing these performances, are you playing over a backing track or a drum machine?

If not, I strongly suggest you do. I discovered last week that my Zoom G5 pedal has a selection of drum beats built in. By themselves, the drum beats sound really boring and may not match the song exactly. But a magic tranformation occurs as I play over it - as long as the time signature matches (4/4 rhythem or 3/4 rhythm), it sound incredible. And if you move from song to song, it sounds like you've put together a medly. Throw in a looper (the G5 has one built in) and you're like a one man band. Lay down a chord progression and you can jam until the cows come home!

I find the drum beats help my improvision too because you can really feel the timing and rhythm and it makes it easier to get creative with your phrasing.

You feel like you have a tireless drummer backing you who doesn't lose patience because you are playing the same damn thing over and over and over again :-).

Your amp may have built in drum sounds. If so, check it out.