Originally Posted by
Excalibur
Absolutely correct. But:
If we only did gigs we knew off by heart, we'd never learn anything. With a little forward planning and communication, coupled with a hefty dose of the invaluable Spotify, it's possible to do these at a more than acceptable level.
Once you've got a heads up about what's requested, you can often see songs you're familiar with which would work.
Some of my best reviews have come from gigs where on paper I wasn't overly familiar with the music beforehand, but once in the swing of things I found a lot of songs I knew which fitted in nicely.
Also, there's an immense amount of knowledge and help available on this forum, so he wouldn't be going in blind.