Thats how VR was intended. Its not for a moving subject, but for a still subject using a slow shutter speed. VR helps when hand holding because its designed to help stabilise the camera/lens from user hand shake, not subject movement. Also, VR mechanics take some fractions of a second to kick in, so you have to wait before hitting the shutter, So its not that useful if you want to capture that facial expression that lasts a nano second.
In fact, during a gig, i'd say VR was no help at all. Flash to stop action would be most useful, but i presume you'd already be using this.