I have a friend who owns a club that hosts only original bands which is cool.  I ran sound for him a couple of times when he started it about a year or so ago but his system was small and basically only vocals.  In return he let me hang a 2'x4' banner for my studio right on the stage which has been cool.  Well he now has expanded it, bigger & better.  The systems is pretty good.  He ran into a bind and asked me to come run sound last night... 
   It is now fully equipped mic'ing vocals, guitars, DI on the bass, kick, snare, & toms.  I didn't have to bring anything but I had to be there at about 7:30 pm (show started at 9).  I got all the mic's & stands pre set up & as soon as the 1st band got there I rigged everything up and ran a soundcheck.  I had never used this system before and was fighting to figure out what compressors, gates, etc. were wired into what channels?   what is sending the monitor feeds?  Aux 1? Aux 2?    How do I get the drummer more guitars in his monitor?!  ahhhh sh*#@&$(*#&$(*#@&(*!!!    Well I got it...  cool.  Then it was non stop, 2-3 songs in and they sound pretty good.  Their done!  get the mics off the drums and amps, get them out of the way.  Next band up, reset mics, check em, roll!   Wash, rinse, repeat!!!  I didn't have time to grab a beer which was good cause there was no time to take a leak!        The last band finished at about 2 Am, by the time they were done & I was able to wrap up all the chords, cables, mic's and stands it was 3 Am when I left.  He was grateful, said thank you, and handed me $50 (which I wasn't expecting anything but still) that was entirely too much work, for too many hours, and some very tired ears for $50. Hell with that.  They can have that junk.   I'll stick to studio engineering!!

Live sound will prepare you for just about anything. :-)

Ya, know there is a Blues Society type club here, and they have a jam (sorta) and bands on the weekend. Of course just stage mics for vocals and drums mics that are always set up along with the drums, bass guitar amp, guitar amp and lights back to the sound booth (sorta) with the sound guy there on the weekends. If they bring in an amp or drums like last weekend, then the mics are hanging for the drums and still the vocals are all the same. But of course it is not a big place anyway, and running anything else mic-ed would be too much anyway.
 
Works fine for the jam on Thursdays, because someone may bring in a guitar amp and others may play through the house amp ( Fender Frontman - which is too loud usually because guitar players are too loud) and the drums are used as they are and the bass guitar amp and all of that except for the keyboard guy who brings in his own small Peavey amp and sits on it with his 61 note Roland keyboard synth.
 
Well, long story short, just use the equipment the way that it is.
 
(The sound guy on the weekends for the bands just turns on the equipment and adjust it since it is already marked as to what is what up there (and that is not all that much but still it works)).
(Well, not all the drums mics are hanging but the set is there, bring your own bass drum pedal perhaps and the rest is only what it is going to be then for the house drums - cymbals bring if a lot of energy whatever - snaredrum but it becomes simple to just come in with drums sticks and play).
 
 
 

I similarly hate it while I'm doing it, but I love it in retrospect. You can capture great tapes with live bands.
 
It's a trade off.

I wasn't recording it man, just running sound for the event.  

 "I wasn't recording it man, just running sound for the event."
hi chuck-hows business? 
would have been surprised if you didn`t enjoy recording live-I record exclusively live-that`s my gimmick(custom templates and mic setups)no overdubs unless for tech problems.I spent years tracking the 38th identical solo overdub till I decided if you cant cut it live go see my mate.He has ProTools and needs the money.
I tend to stretch the initial soundchecks as long as possible(whilst recording)and these can be the best takes-it`s funny but once you say "we`re rolling" you can lose the vibe-people tighten up and start overplaying.
Hendrix(allegedly) kept the tapes rolling from the minute he arrived until leaving.
(only because he didn`t have Sonar and 2TB of storage) 
cheers
 
 
 

When I run sound, I usually find making a field recording irresistible.

    I guess had I been recording I may have enjoyed it more, however, It just seemed a pain in the can.  Manning the board during each set and running yer but off in between bands to make the transition as smooth as possible, then back to the board.  Crazy high volume levels, not to mention while a drummer was finishing adjusting his kit I was attaching a tom mic and the jerk of sits down and smashes a crash right in my freaking ear.  I had all I could do to keep from kicking his ass. 
   Then every half cocked wanna be sound tech who's standing 10 feet directly in front of a mesa full stack comes over and goes "hey man, the one guitarist is like... way louder than the other one (who's running a 2x12 fender combo)" "can you turn him down a bit?"     Answer: "No, man cause he is out of the mains entirely, I asked them to keep the stage volume down before they started..."   Dork replies "oh, well it's hard to hear the vocals over him... can you fix that?"   Answer: "not from where you were standing dude, I can't turn the mic up anymore without it feeding back."

Oh man, your stories bring back memories...! I enjoy working live, but there's too much hassle. I only do lights if I'm doing live gigs these days. And that's not too often either. I've been thinking about quiting the studio work and go full time live PA and/or light, reading these posts makes me reconsider.
 
 
I think I owe you a beer!

For the record, I enjoy posting things twice!
 
 
This time I decided to edit it aaway