[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1487888865' post='3244011']
You should play some jazz gigs.
I've played gigs where I've never heard the tune before. Chord chart, watch, listen and pray.
[/quote]
My audition for a ceilidh band consisted of turning up to a gig and playing (they did ask me to). No chord chart, just got told the key for each tune, and not only was it a genre I'd never played before, I'd never heard any of the tunes before either. They decided to keep me.
However, the rock covers band I've just joined is of the same mind that I am - get the songs polished with me in, get gigging (target is 20-30 gigs a year), rehearse if there are things wrong and to bring new material in.
steantval said 45 songs seems like overkill. My covers band that has just folded had around 50 songs, and we wanted to increase that a little more. It means we could choose the 25-30 songs we fancied doing for that gig, rather than (like a club band I used to be with) playing an identical set at every gig for over ten years.