Anyone play without headphone cueing?

I played in a club for the first time last week, and I'm wondering ... how do people manage to play while using cueing in headphones? Maybe it's because it was my first time, but I was found myself too overwhelmed with the sound of the main speakers + booth + headphones -- couldn't focus. So I went without the cue. Any professional DJs here manage to play without cans? That set was pre-planned, so I could do so ... might be harder to do on the fly though.

Just trying to get advice from some professionals, so I didn't ask in r/beatmatch.