Your post is from a month ago, but it speaks to something I've also wondered about: How does FOH deal with how this "room EQ" changes when the room fills up with people? I watched a video once where the FOH engineer mentioned the difference in the EQ between winter and summer, because of how the coats & hats and long-sleeve shirts people are wearing in winter can soak up the sounds. Are they still adjusting the EQ to the venue as the crowd files in, using the house music that's blaring through the PA at that time? (Although usually that music is Lo-Fi, on purpose as I understand it, so that when the band comes on, the perception of how much better they sound is heightened.)
Or do they just continue to make adjustments during the first few songs?
I guess what I'm really asking is, It seems to me that doing the pink noise thing in a practically-empty venue is like, without people, what's the point, and how close is that really going to get you?
I've been to many concerts where the house music played through the PA before the band started (not the Lo-Fi stuff I mentioned earlier) sounded much better than the actual band mix. Like, orders of magnitude better.