I missed out on a New Year's Eve gig... it was a 40 minute drive from my house, and half way there the niggling slight problem with my car's cooling system became an alarmingly un-slight one. Luckily our second guitarist also plays bass and has depped for me in the past, and he hadn't left home yet, so he was able to swap his gear over and covered for me. So rather than a fun evening and a healthy payday, I had a crap evening by the side of the road waiting for the AA man (who was surprisingly prompt and tremendously helpful, as was the random bloke who stopped to see if he could help), and a financial outlay.
Also nearly missed out on a gig when I arrived at the venue to find that our normally efficient crew had left my Wal behind at the previous gig venue... some frantic phone calls and smoking tyres later, it was in my hands 5 minutes before curtain up.