I get your thinking Steve, its something that I've had many a drunken banter about after mixing a live show. I suppose, in the end, it all comes down to the ethos of the guy driving the desk. You can approach the job in two ways - you can listen to what is being played, and make it sound the way you think it'll sound best, or with discussion with the band, you can take what they're playing, and merely capture it - for myself, I much prefer to take what is happening on the stage and amplify it it as natural a way as possible. I'd rather mix a show in five minutes flat, work my arse off throughout the set and really capture the feeling of a band, than piss about with the mix for hours and end up with a generic "rock band" mix at the end of the show. From my (very limited, and technically misguided) experience of your work, it seems to me that that is the main drive of your recordings - to capture the essence of the band, without superfluous (is that how ya spell it???) fiddling.
Or, maybe I'm just wrong, and came into this discussion far too late. shoot me down, go on I dares ya!