yeh, EQ'ing can either be your enemy or your freind. Im yet to shake hands with EQ'ing.

I spose with a live performance, you will obviously set up waaaayy before the crowd gets there and do some general runs through of main songs and test alot of that out.
It will most proberly be diffrent for each venue huh?
for instance if its a smaller indoor venue, the sounding will have to leave room for the bouncing off the walls, but if its outdoor then you an most proberly have your levels alot higher.

damn, cant wait to learn this on a more practical approach.