I was hired with one day's notice as a dep for a very posh do in a famous Knightsbridge department store last New Years Eve..... and I was told the following by the band's MD:
1) Here are the 3 sets in song order.
2) Here are the few songs that we play in different keys (& the new keys).
3) Arrangement-wise we play them just like the famous versions so that the audience are completely familar with them.
I knew a few of the tracks and already had many written out, so I wrote out the rest that I didn't know/needed to transpose.
The reality of the situation was very different, thus:
1) They changed the song order on a whim as they went along, leaving me scrambling for my cheatsheets from 3 separate piles of paper!
2) I'd explained beforehand that I needed to change to a detuned bass for a couple of songs so to give me 30 secs to do so. This they forgot/ignored, leaving me scrambling for a new bass & then back again as necessary...
3) They changed/jammed the arrangements on many songs on a whim...or to their 'usual' way of doing it (NOT like the famous versions) again leaving me fighting to keep up with where they were going. On top of this, the guitarist then took on endless 'widdly/tapping' guitar solos in EVERY song, even stuff like Soul Man!!
Afterwards the keyboard player said "that's just how the guitarist/MD does it....it's not great but I try not to care", and the dep drummer told me he survived by the skin of his teeth & likely would not work with them again...
All things considered, I actually played pretty well that night and my experience of jamming/listening closely to what was heppening around me got me through.
All I can say is that I can't believe such an unprofessional, poorly executed & loose sounding outfit managed to get themselves such a prestigious gig.... and thank God I earnt handsomely for my efforts that night!
They thanked me profusely afterwards and said I played great, but I for one will NEVER perform with them again!
My trouble is I CARE about performance and hate something as seemingly straightforward and familiar as function band covers being turned into bad, loose jams with little thought for feel, arrangement or suitability of solos....