I'm exceedingly proud of the contribution that I make to the sound of a nine-piece touring band. I battle smilingly against impossibly tight small-festival time constraints, whittle channel lists down to the barest minimum and beyond, and laugh in the face of gear inventories that would embarrass an underfunded high school. Come showtime I mix with both hands, constantly fighting to balance 3 lead vocals, ad-libbed BVs, 3 brass, drums, keys, bass and various guitars whilst adding carefully chosen spot delays and reverbs to a constantly evolving setlist. I sing and dance and smile while I'm doing it, and I get respect from the local crew.
But when I walk up and see a digital desk at FOH I feel physically sick. I'd rather mix from side-of-stage on a B*******r analogue desk with one semi-para per channel, budget FX and no gates/comps/31s than do another show from the best position in the house on another Yamaha digi or anything else that doesn't give me one controller per function. Seriously, honestly, really, I've been there and done it several times.
If providers are going to insist on deploying these abominations I'm going to have to start saving for one of those APB pro-racks or something. Even the Midas XL8 looks like a big pile of expletive from where I'm sitting.