Back when I was doing live sound, I was never content to sit behind the board all night. I was constantly out wandering around to see how things sounded in other parts of the seating area. Of course in some most of our less-sophisticated venues, the console location was stuck back in the corner somewhere where it was difficult to hear or even see anything properly.
Also, those were usually the areas the punters would choose to visit when they wanted to vomit against the back wall, so that was a motivator as well. Ahh, free, fragrant youth...sometimes I do pine for thee. Other times not so much.