Originally Posted by Andy Lockwood 
One other way that might keep costs down would be to nip to your local secondhand store and buy a cheap DV camcorder (our local store knocks them out from £60 these days) and place that one at the back of the room. The added bonus would be you would have a B camera to cut away to now and then. |
And another way would be to get a digital recorder (I'm considering a Zoom H2 at the moment) or even cheaper, a MiniDisc recorder (you can pick them up for £15 from eBay) + mic.
However, recording bands is tricky and as Andy says the desk is the best bet.
But even hat has underlying problems. In the average small venue, not everything goes through the desk and you'll not get the "real" balance, so you still might need to mix in some sounds from other sources.