Show Cue System

I have a show that the director wants the last song before curtain to be a specific one, but he often holds curtain 5 min, 10 min etc. so timing how much preshow to prepare is often a challenge. I always plan more then I need but in this situation I need to be able to start that last song. It would be nice say in the editor window to plan a list of songs and maybe have a check box that said skip track. Any song checked would be skipped and any cross fades would apply to the next unchecked song. This way I can have alternative songs just before the last song and uncheck them, as I need them. This of course must be done while the playlist is playing.

What you can do is create a separate cue for this 'last song', positioning the cue immediately after your pre-show playlist cue. This cue should contain two sub-cues: the first sub-cue being the audio file sub-cue to play the required song, and the second sub-cue being the SFR (fade out) of the Playlist cue. For example:

Cue PRE_1: Playlist (excluding the 'last song'), with a playlist fade-out time the same as your cross-fade times between tracks.

Cue PRE_2: 'Last Song'
Sub-Cue 1: Audio File 'Last Song', with a fade-in time the same as the playlist fade-out time.
Sub-Cue 2: SFR cue to fade out and stop Cue PRE_1.

Note that sub-cues within a cue start together, unless you set a sub-cue relative start time.

With the above, you can also take advantage of random play in your playlist.

LOL. That is exactly how I did it to a tee. I still think the check marks are a good Idea, so as not to waste another que and having to create a Fade out, Fade out que for the last song.

I do the exact same thing too, add preshow announcement.

I would have to agree with Mike on the method for this one. With your checkbox idea you would have to wait for the current song to stop before your intro song played. I don't know about you, but I would be pretty upset if I got a GO from the house and the next song is about 10 seconds in and then you have to wait to start the intro.