using an mpc in a rock setting?

My band wants to set up a click track and possibly some sequenced drum sample/synth parts to play live. From what I've read about mpc's, they seem like they would do pretty well for something like this, but I've never actually used one before. The original thing that came to mind as I was thinking of something to do this with was ableton live, which I use a lot working with downbeat electronic stuff I do, but we decided that we don't want to involve computers in our live show, at least not just yet. There's just too much risk and hassle relative to dedicated hardware. The songs will be, for the vast majority, already set in stone, so we'd just hit play on whatever and start playing, but it would be nice to be able to have a little bit of live improvisation abilities like ableton has. Does the mpc have capabilities like this? What other options are there?