USB ports not working and SMC reset

Until recently I'd never had this problem. Suddenly one of my USB ports stopped working altogether on my 5-year old MacBook Pro. It started working again after an SMC reset. Then went down again after re-connecting the same USB hubb. So I suspected the hubb. I've used another one since and all has seemed fine. Then today I had the same problem. And all I had changed in the chain was to put in a very high quality USB cable between this Mac and some audio hardware. Who knows if that was the problem - maybe it was a momentary issue with the hubb. I am using a USB 3 hubb with a USB 2 laptop but I am not aware of that being an issue. Again an SMC reset fixed the issue and I swapped out the USB cable just in case.

I have a really important gig tomorrow night and need to know that both USB ports on this laptop will work properly.

Does anyone have any advice on this issue and things I should be looking out for?

Thank you : )