How easy is it for a musician to cover for an absent band member on a tour?
Wolf Alice are a terrific UK rock band currently supporting Olivia Rodrigo on her US tour. Bassist Theo Ellis has left the tour because his wife is having a baby, and his place is being covered by Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean, who supported Wolf Alice last year.
What’s this like for Julia? At this level is it relatively easy to step into a band and play bass for two hours? I don’t suppose the songs are complex but there’s a fair amount of variety for the genre and the band is very tight having toured together almost non stop for years.
Obviously she will get rehearsal time and presumably will have had a fair bit of notice that this was coming, so maybe I’m answering my own question. Still feels like a big ask but maybe not. Just interested in how people see this kind of thing? Easy? Hard but doable with time and prep?
Post script: thanks all, super interesting