We record each practice on one of those portable things (Tascam maybe?) and then agree which version we like, which is usually the last one we record, and use that as the basis for practice until the next session and so on.
In my last band I gigged with no backline. Bass into a simple pedal board with tuner, micro thumpinator, DI box and to the PA. Bass put into the monitor nearest me. Worked fine.
Current band much the same but I now have a small rig acting as a monitor as we have less wedges!
Only thing I'd mention is think about a mute switch somewhere in the chain (tuner maybe) so you can do stuff off line without being heard.
It was a nice bass, sat well on a strap and the neck was nice to get up and down. The pickup wasn't my favourite thing and as you can probably see I stuck a Seymour Duncan SPB3 in which worked very well, once I realised that, to my ears, these high output pickups work nicely in P bass form with the tone rolled down about 30%
I've only ever owned one, a Squier VM P5. Nice bass and I wish I was better at 5ers, meaning really spent more time practicing on them. I'm pretty welder to 4 string basses in reality.
I'd probably put more of the blame on the social media echo chamber than the press, although true to say reporting stardards these days are so sloppy and lazy journalism just adds to the problem. Just my view YMMV etc.
Saw the Manchester show last night. I've been a big fan of all the Porcupine Tree output and his solo material and really enjoyed the show. Like you say I think the bass could have been handled better. Great set though, going back to some 15 yr old stuff as well as the latest CD. The stripped back him and his guitar version of Even Less was outstanding.
Sorry to be a tedious bore, but quite a few orchestral players wear earplugs (as do some conductors). Normally it's the 8dB attenuation filters which do just fine. I know a few players go for the 15dB filters (in and around the horn section mostly) which I use for band work.
Maybe not all have had several incarnations but off the top of my head: Yardbirds, Deep Purple, Faces, Pretenders, RHCP, Metallica
More controversial maybe, Pink Floyd, AC/DC
Either way two tribute bands without Mr Squire then, and imho Rabin is not an adequate substitute for Steve Howe. As I say make your choice and pay your money
Is it maybe that not everybody holds your world view of what a band line up should be. I personally am quite relaxed about an evolving line up in any band and there have been a few global bands that have done just this. If this is a red line for you that is fine, but it's not for some of us.
For what it's worth I completely agree that BB was/is a far better drummer than AW, but I've only seen BB once with Yes and AW mulitple times so I associate him with the "classic" line up. What I choose to spend my hard-earned on is my decision, and if you believe I've been overcharged that's fine too, your choice not to go.