I'm going to speculate and say that the story of Stevie having a sore throat was not in fact the real issue. Maybe Chris has a finger issue and she's okay with a keyboard, but can't handle a normal piano until whatever issue heals. They are probably all exhausted and decided to axe silver springs while they were at it.
They may have been concerned about being criticized with having a backing musician fill in for Chris, if in fact that is what they are doing to a certain extent. Defer the attention to a sore throat and try to proceed as best as possible.
Again, total speculation.
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