I moved from analog world to digital about a year ago. I can tell you that it does take a few times out to get the hang of it, but if you want full control of each sound source, which it seams as that is the case, the digital will provide you with all of this control in one place. As Even pointed out, every channel has everything you need right in the board. Hey, if you don't want to use the internal gates, comps, effects, etc. There are still insert jacks and auxs to send to your outboard gear. Then you would not need to use the screen for anything but basic setup and eq freq. selection on the parametric.
Oh yeah, next time you need to re-route inputs and outputs on your analog desk, I would love to race you with my digital.
All in all, I think you need to look at what the bigger bands are using who are making money and doing shows with much larger budgets then your low budget fair. They are using digital for a reason.