[Mandobart]

I was out of the country for a few weeks, without any instruments. During this time I got a message from a friend - the band scheduled for our monthly acoustic coffee house concert had to cancel and he needed a replacement act for tonight, which was two days after I returned to the states. Could I cover it? Sure I said. Piece of cake.

I flew home (11 hour flight), got through customs, baggage claim, picked up my car, drove 4 hours home, unpacked, caught up on mail, bills, friends, dogs, did a mess of laundry. By the time that was all done I had about a day to get ready for the gig. I put together a set list of appropriate songs (30), arranged in the right mix (variety of keys, rhythms, tempos, genres, instruments). These were mostly songs I've performed many times over the years plus a few new ones. I skipped one of my standard preparation steps though. I didn't do a practice run through the entire set. During the gig things went ok, but not as smooth and seamless as usual. I went back through my set list when I got home and graded each song. A good amount of A's, B+ and B's but quite a few C and lower due to flubbed lyrics, missed chords and sloppy leads. I did best on complex fingerstyle instrumentals, song I've learned recently (in the past year) and songs I first learned many years (decades) ago and have performed 100's of times. The lowest grades went to songs I learned between 1 and 3 years ago. This reinforces the need for me to take the time to do a "dress rehearsal" every time.

Anyone else have a similar (or completely opposite) experience?