Fair enough. So I just need the slave to lug the full range PA tops around, and to buy them in the first place.
If I were setting out on a journey from zero to a gigging band, and the other members were amenable, and somebody else could do the PA storage, I would try the IEM and silent stage route - after all, if nobody liked IEMs, it would still be perfectly feasible to run a quiet stage with monitors and no backline. However, I'm 66, doing 10-15 gigs a year at pub rates, not sure how many years of gigging I have left, own and store the PA, and have a limit of 10kg per item of equipment.