I have an axefx 2 (had a 1) and gigged it extensively. Its a great tool but it has its limitations.
The axe records PHENOMENALLY, and FEELS GREAT!. Its really an amazing piece of equipment but its performance is limited by the FOH speakers.
First off, you usually have to bring your own monitor (which weighs a ton) have to bring a GCP or Acesss or liquidfoot (which weighs a ton also!) and even if you do all that, youre still at the mercy of the sound guy if he puts you out the FOH. Now, for large stages with IEM I can see why this makes alot of sense, specially where most of what the audience hears is FOH. The other thing that bogs down its use is the Stage mix. Most venues have 1 stage mix so sometimes, they dont let alot of guitar out of em and focus on vocals (which is really more important anyway). End of the day, for the venues I play, I find that getting an optimal performance out of the Axe is weak... however for recording and practice it is a joy to play. When I do play big gigs.. they are awesome too.
Tube amps have their place when they are trying to power the small club like a saguijo where what the audience hears is the amp. I also like them for more "set up" bars and I use them with a direct box like a palmer DI to get a good clean sound to the board.
End of the day it really depends on what you wanna use and how you wanna do it. No right or wrong answers... but for certain Genres, a tube amp will out perform a SS amp and for others, the reverse is true.
Now for playing my sharona... well...