Some great ideas from Bob and thanks to his persistence, cured the problem.
 
One further idea regarding his option 2) - what i would do is export the backjing tracks as wavs exactly like Bob describes.
Then import them into an empty project, onto their own separate tracks - so if you've got 9 songs you'll have 9 tracks.
 
Now, drag the second one out on the timeline so that it starts shortly after track #1. Repeat for the other songs, dragging their start points so that it will run as a single piece but with short gaps.
 
Now all you need to do is hit pause at the end of one song and hit play again once the rapturous applause has receded!!

     I have bounced the tracks down to one and copied it to a new project, with several songs in different tracks, and solo the track with the song I want to play a few times before.  The projects have evolved over time and have different settings in most of the projects for the live mic and live guitar tracks.  I thought the songs kind of missed a little without the different blend of EQ and reverb chosen for the individual projects live mic and live guitar.
     Of course the backing tracks turn out great, and CPU levels are much better, but at the cost of the live mic and guitar tracks effects staying the same in each performance.  But, for the sake of a uniform and stable performance, maybe it is best.  
     I will experiment with the export to wave file and import method as well.  Bobs patience is indeed appreciated and so is the generous sharing of ideas from everyone.  
 
Ron   

This is why I recommend you at least think about just exporting the waves, And play them back with a very simple piece of software, one that will be  more stable. One that uses almost zilch CPU, one that won't cut out, even with red DPCLAT spikes. 
One that can be controlled with a usb footswitch. One that allows fast on the fly playlist order editing. One that can stop automatically after each song. 
Win Amp.. the king of players..free. http://www.filehippo.com/download_winamp/
 
Unless your computer/ audio interface is super duty and built for it, Vocal and guitar efxs are better handled by hardware that won't possibly add latency. 
To me one is taking a high risk by using software that is not really designed to be used in the way you are using it and standing in front of a crowd of people waiting for the next song. 
Man, myself, I want something bullet proof. 
As a sound guy, I've sat and waited while some solo performer dicks around with there Laptops, iPads and even cell phones trying to get the next song cued...always apologizing... "sorry folks,, ya know ,,, technology" 
Using a player takes all the fuss away and especially if you can control it hands free.
 see my thread in hardware;
http://forum.cakewalk.com/The-Handy-Dandy-USB-foot-Controller-m2998482.aspx
 
 
I've thought about trying Sonar for EFX's using a second laptop. But in the end it's easier for me to use my guitars stomp boxes and 2 hardware efxs units.. I can change the delay and reverb parameters on the fly for each song. If win amp could send midi prg change it would be the ultimate gigging software. 

If the goal is different live mic and guitar setting for each song, maybe I would group the archive buttons on separate a live mic and guitar tracks for each imported backing tracks. Then set each of the live mic and guitars as needed.