I'm not trying to be picky, Les - or even a perfectionist. My point is that when you know in advance that you'll probably get just 2 numbers to perform in a venue, why not just concentrate really hard on getting those 2 absolutely right and perfected without recourse to paper? And, though you may go to a club, resist the temptation to get up and sing them if you don't have them down pat.

I don't think this is unreasonable - and the reason, IMO, that so many people perform in an unprepared way is that they're primarily thinking of themselves rather than their audience. There's nothing wrong with sitting down in a family circle or with a small group of friends, armed with a songbook, if it creates an entertaining and happy evening. I very often have friends round to play, and we get out chord books and bits of paper to play around with things that we've never done before. But playing in front of an audience - particularly one that's paid good money to be there - requires more than that.