diff --git a/plugins/career/routes.py b/plugins/career/routes.py
index 7f8b423..7ec4a17 100644
--- a/plugins/career/routes.py
+++ b/plugins/career/routes.py
@@ -522,27 +522,39 @@ def _current_venue():
     return best
 
 
-def _unplayed_genre_songs(gkey, exclude, limit):
-    """Library songs of a genre with no stats yet — a young passport's gig
-    still gets a full set (playing them is how stubs start).
-    ponytail: full stat-less scan + python-side genre match (a few ms at 7k
-    songs, single-user); push the match into SQL if propose ever feels slow."""
+def _fill_genre_songs(gkey, exclude, limit):
+    """Library songs of a genre to round out a gig — ANY song of the genre the
+    set hasn't already picked.
+
+    Was `_unplayed_genre_songs`, restricted to `filename NOT IN song_stats`.
+    That restriction created a hole: a song you'd played on a DIFFERENT
+    instrument's arrangement has a stats row, so it was excluded here — and it
+    lives in the played bucket for THAT instrument, not this passport's, so it
+    was excluded there too. It could never be gigged. A player with 137 metalcore
+    songs, all played on another instrument, got a 404 (reproduced). The player's
+    library is the pool; whether a song has stats on some other instrument has no
+    bearing on whether it can be in THIS gig.
+
+    Shuffled, so re-roll actually changes the set. The old version returned the
+    library's first N in table order every time, so re-roll was a no-op for any
+    set drawn from the filler (reproduced).
+
+    ponytail: full genre scan + python-side match + shuffle (a few ms at 7k
+    songs, single-user); push into SQL if propose ever feels slow.
+    """
     db = _state["meta_db"]
     if db is None:
         return []
     rows = db.conn.execute(
-        f"SELECT filename, title, artist, {_genre_expr(db)} AS g FROM songs "
-        "WHERE filename NOT IN (SELECT filename FROM song_stats)"
+        f"SELECT filename, title, artist, {_genre_expr(db)} AS g FROM songs"
     ).fetchall()
-    out = []
-    for filename, title, artist, genre in rows:
-        if _genre_key(genre) != gkey or filename in exclude:
-            continue
-        out.append({"filename": filename, "title": title or filename,
-                    "artist": artist or ""})
-        if len(out) >= limit:
-            break
-    return out
+    pool = [
+        {"filename": filename, "title": title or filename, "artist": artist or ""}
+        for filename, title, artist, genre in rows
+        if _genre_key(genre) == gkey and filename not in exclude
+    ]
+    random.shuffle(pool)   # re-roll must vary; free per call
+    return pool[:limit]
 
 
 def _validate_pack_dir(pack_dir: Path):
@@ -836,7 +848,7 @@ def setup(app, context):
             picks.append(s)
         if len(picks) < size:
             exclude = {s["filename"] for s in picks}
-            picks.extend(_unplayed_genre_songs(gkey, exclude, size - len(picks)))
+            picks.extend(_fill_genre_songs(gkey, exclude, size - len(picks)))
         if not picks:
             raise HTTPException(404, "No songs of this genre in the library.")
         venue = _current_venue()
diff --git a/plugins/career/screen.js b/plugins/career/screen.js
index 7600735..4e47db1 100644
--- a/plugins/career/screen.js
+++ b/plugins/career/screen.js
@@ -1192,7 +1192,21 @@
                 if (typeof window.setViz === 'function') window.setViz('venue');
             } catch (_) { /* viz optional — restore stays intact */ }
         }
+        // Push the gig's venue pack to the crowd layer NOW.
+        //
+        // crowd.setManifest(venue) is reached only through pushCrowdManifest,
+        // and pushCrowdManifest is called only from refresh() — the career
+        // tab's own reload. A gig navigates AWAY from the career tab to the
+        // player, so refresh() never runs during it, and setting the override
+        // above does nothing on its own. The result the testers saw: the venue
+        // visualization turns on (3D highway) but its crowd/stage pack never
+        // loads, so the song plays over the bare highway backdrop ("standard
+        // particles"), or over whatever venue a previous refresh() happened to
+        // leave applied. We just changed the override to this gig's venue, so
+        // re-push for it. _state is the career state the booking screen already
+        // fetched; guard for the rare null.
         _appliedManifestVenue = null;
+        if (_state) pushCrowdManifest(_state);
         _ppGigRun = {
             songs: prop.songs,
             venue_id: prop.venue_id,
diff --git a/tests/js/career_plugin.test.js b/tests/js/career_plugin.test.js
index f038727..d7f0405 100644
--- a/tests/js/career_plugin.test.js
+++ b/tests/js/career_plugin.test.js
@@ -116,3 +116,30 @@ test('career screen pushes the crowd manifest with a base URL', () => {
     // Degrades without the crowd layer (PR1 not merged / older desktop).
     assert.match(src, /typeof crowd\.setManifest !== 'function'\) return/);
 });
+
+// feedBack#… (tester): "Venue doesn't load when starting song from passport.
+// Loads standard particles." crowd.setManifest(venue) is reached ONLY through
+// pushCrowdManifest, and pushCrowdManifest is called ONLY from refresh() (the
+// career tab's own reload). A gig navigates away from that tab, so refresh()
+// never runs during it — the venue viz turns on but its crowd/stage pack never
+// loads. startGig must push the manifest itself after setting the override.
+test('startGig pushes the crowd manifest for the gig venue', () => {
+    const fs = require('node:fs');
+    const path = require('node:path');
+    const src = fs.readFileSync(
+        path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'plugins', 'career', 'screen.js'), 'utf8');
+    const start = src.indexOf('async function startGig(');
+    assert.ok(start !== -1, 'startGig not found');
+    const open = src.indexOf('{', src.indexOf(')', start));
+    let depth = 1, i = open + 1;
+    while (i < src.length && depth > 0) { const ch = src[i]; if (ch === '{') depth++; else if (ch === '}') depth--; i++; }
+    const fn = src.slice(start, i);
+    // The override is set, then the manifest must be (re)pushed for it.
+    const overrideIdx = fn.search(/VENUE_OVERRIDE_KEY,\s*prop\.venue_id/);
+    const pushIdx = fn.search(/pushCrowdManifest\s*\(/);
+    assert.ok(overrideIdx !== -1, 'startGig must set the venue override');
+    assert.ok(pushIdx !== -1,
+        'startGig must push the crowd manifest — refresh() (its only other caller) ' +
+        'never runs during a gig, so the venue pack would never load');
+    assert.ok(overrideIdx < pushIdx, 'the manifest must be pushed AFTER the override is set to the gig venue');
+});
diff --git a/tests/plugins/career/test_passports.py b/tests/plugins/career/test_passports.py
index 8687565..5b09a23 100644
--- a/tests/plugins/career/test_passports.py
+++ b/tests/plugins/career/test_passports.py
@@ -445,3 +445,30 @@ def test_gold_intake_rejects_junk(client, meta_db):
     res = client.post("/api/plugins/career/drill-state",
                       json={"byNode": {}, "goldImprov": blob})
     assert res.status_code == 413
+
+
+def test_gig_includes_songs_played_on_another_instrument(client, meta_db):
+    # feedBack#… (tester): "Metalcore says 137 songs, only shows 1 in the gig list".
+    # A song played on a DIFFERENT instrument's arrangement has a stats row, so it
+    # was excluded from the unplayed filler — and its played bucket is that other
+    # instrument's, not this passport's — so it fell into a gap and could never be
+    # gigged. A guitar passport with a library of bass-played metalcore got a 404.
+    for i in range(137):
+        meta_db.add(f"mc{i}.feedpak", 0, 0.80, genre="Metalcore", arrangements=BASS)
+    res = client.post("/api/plugins/career/gigs/propose",
+                      json={"instrument": "guitar", "genre": "Metalcore", "size": 4})
+    assert res.status_code == 200, "a full library of the genre must never 404"
+    assert len(res.json()["songs"]) == 4, "the gig must fill from the library, not the gap"
+
+
+def test_gig_reroll_changes_the_set(client, meta_db):
+    # feedBack#… (tester): "Passport re-roll does not change songs". A set drawn
+    # from the filler used to be the library's first N in table order, every time.
+    for i in range(40):
+        meta_db.add_song_only(f"un{i}.feedpak", genre="Metalcore")
+    sets = set()
+    for _ in range(5):
+        r = client.post("/api/plugins/career/gigs/propose",
+                        json={"instrument": "guitar", "genre": "Metalcore", "size": 4})
+        sets.add(tuple(sorted(s["filename"] for s in r.json()["songs"])))
+    assert len(sets) > 1, "re-roll must be able to produce a different set"