38
votes
What is your favorite live album?
Share your favorite live records with us!
Here are some questions for discussion:
What performances really stand out for you? What is unique about the way the band performs live? What draws you to the live performance? Do you prefer a live version of a song over the recording? Why?
Nirvana Unplugged is phenomenal.
I'm quite fond of lake of fire and pennyroyal tea
An amazing album.
Though I think my favorite Unplugged album has to be from Alice In Chains. It absolutely rocks.
Surprisingly enough I didn't know they did one... definitely going to need to look into that
It’s awesome. You’re in for a treat.
It's amazing. My favourite AIC album, favourite Unplugged album and favourite live album. The vocal harmonies on Brother are really something else - brings chills everytime.
I didn't either! About to go find it.
I never got in to Alice in Chains, but the production on this is amazing... it feels so intimate, like I'm right at the stage.
It’s amazing when you want to write a comment and this is exactly what someone else was thinking.
MTV Unplugged in NY is really amazing, to me the recordings there are way better than the studio versions. And you can even watch the performance if you want since it was recorded on video as well.
Mtv seriously needs to bring back Unplugged.
I'd love to see Incubus do it.
I had this exact thought. Then I came here to comment this and then realized you beat me to it. My God, it's odd to find people's similar to myself online.
Came to say that. Although, I also love Phil Collins: Serious Hits...Live! My dad had this album and I would constant listen to it. Now it's on Apple Music for me to enjoy, but yeah, those two usually come to mind.
Phil Collins is legit.
My first concert was a Genesis show.
Daft Punk's Alive 2007 is the reason why I'm sad that I never had the chance to see them live. The top-tier remixes and crowd energy you hear on the album would've been amazing to experience in person.
There's also Mint Jams by Casiopea, which I don't think I realized even was a live album initially. Nonetheless, it's a great set of jazz-fusion tracks.
The Daft Punk album’s brother is Justice - A Cross The Universe. They hit so hard they’ll break your speakers and leave your home or car a smoldering pile of ruin.
yes. this album fooled me into thinking daft punk was amazing.
after years of ponderance, they are/were not amazing or bad, just medium ok.
All That Could Have Been - NIN. Phenomenal live record from the Fragile tour. My only complaint is not including Reptile which is hidden on the DVD. I also own this.
Also Live On Two Legs - Pearl Jam and S&M from Metallica as runner ups. I did not care for S&M2 though. It felt much lesser than the first.
I also wish they included La Mer which is on the DVD. Fantastic album and also my favorite
For some reason I never realized they didn't.
Sin and Terrible Lie have such a wonderful kick to it that the studio version sort of lacks. To me it’s the definitive way to listen to a bunch of NIN tracks.
Nine Inch Nails tracks just have an energy and bite to them that even the best studio tracks often lack. Though it doesn’t have an audio release, just DVD, Beside You in Time features a version of Only that eclipses the studio version, which I was never actually a huge fan of in the first place. The BYIT version just brings a power and urgency to it that I wish I could easily hear again on Spotify
Came to mention And All That Could Have Been, just a phenomenal album. I don't typically even like live albums much, but this one transcends.
Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' could be one of the best live albums ever. Something about Cash's build of rapport with the prisoners. The sound of the prison residents shuffling in and out of the audience, the calls from the warden.
However, I find myself more often coming back to B.B. King's 'Live in Cook County Jail'. It's a shorter listen, but captures a very similar environment. Cash riles up his audience, whereas I feel King really brings the blues, and the space he creates between him, the guitar, and the convicts, is really something else.
Continuing the theme of prison performances, there's the legend of John Martyn playing to a prison audience, which I don't believe ever got a recording. I heard about it on a radio documentary - there is something quite affect about the thought of Martyn playing 'May You Never' to a crowd of prisoners, and the thickness of that atmosphere.
talking heads - stop making sense
Absolutely
Surprised this isn't higher -- was my second pick after Nirvana Unplugged.
Metallica - S&M. They teamed up with the San Francisco Symphony to put out an amazing live album. No Leaf Clover is an original from this album and is one of (in my opinion) their best songs. Another one of my favorites is Avenged Sevenfold - Live in the LBC. The energy is unreal and I keep finding myself coming back to it.
Glad someone said S&M. The rendition of Of Wolf and Man is amazing.
Roseland NYC Live by Portishead is great.
Not an album, but this is my favorite version of Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden - I think the audience singing along is super cool and the energy of the show comes through even in the recording.
I also love the 5/8/77 grateful dead recording
Fear of the Dark is always a magical experience live. So, so cool.
For an Iron Maiden live album my vote would definitely go to Rock In Rio
Coheed and Cambria's The Last Supper was the album that made me fall in love with them. Always liked them, but this album put them in my top 5. Biggest highlight is when they played a 14 minute jam version of The Final Cut.
Also, John Mayer's Where The Light Is. Full of great improvisation. It's also the album that opened a lot of my friends' eyes that he isn't just an acoustic guitar heartthrob for girls. I recommend checking out I Don't Need No Doctor.
man I remember seeing them play on a snowy day when it was like 16 people in the room and them on stage. was a good show though.
I absolutely adore U2’s Under A Blood Red Sky. U2 are my favorite band and I think I have other favorite live shows as bootlegs (Dublin 93!! Point Depot 89!!), but this is my favorite live official release. It is also my bucket list show. If I could go back in time, this is the concert I’d want to go to. Red Rocks is an incredible venue and the performance of The Electric Co. is, well, electric. Also “40”…just an incredible tune and the magic of hearing the audience chant “how long…” is spine tingling. Would have loved to be there.
I think one of my other favorites is Live After Death by Iron Maiden. They perform Flight of Icarus and Rime of the Ancient Mariner and it’s incredible. Also, Phantom of the Opera from the Hammersmith is included on this remaster and that’s in my top 5 Maiden songs.
John Mayer: Where the light is live in LA 2007
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Light_Is_(John_Mayer_album)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWFToTcoVwI
A tour de force featuring three sets - on his own acoustic, with the blues trio, and with a full band.
Love his Free Fallin’ cover off this one
Live shit Binge & Purge
I’ve always loved “4 Way Street” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. They play both acoustic and electric, there’s solo and group songs and the chemistry is great.
Jean Michel Jarre in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The Youtube rip doesn't do it justice, I would highly recommend getting the DvD and listening it on a DTS surround system.
I haven’t seen it mentioned so I’ll throw Townes Van Zandt Live at the Old Quarter, Houston out there. Townes at his very best, I think. It’s an album that I can almost feel; the Houston heat, the quiet buzz of the audience at the Old Quarter. And Townes just feels so present on it, from the corny little stories and jokes he tells between songs to that simultaneously sincere yet distant delivery on songs like “If I Needed You.” I don’t know that I can fully articulate what makes me love the album but I’ve loved it since the first time I heard it; it’s music I can feel deep in my bones.
After I moved to Houston, I went to the spot where I believe the Old Quarter used to be. It was of course long gone, there was a law office there at that point, but I sat outside the law office in my car and listened to Live at the Old Quarter from start to finish.
Weld - Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
Specifically this cover of Blowin in the wind.
https://youtu.be/tWMhDjXXFzs
It’s not the “best” live album, that would go to Frampton or the 90s Unplugged stuff, but this absolutely captures what a Crazy Horse concert feels like.
Turn this way up when you listen and take the time to cut out distractions when you do. It’s a mesmerizing trip. *Caveat being maybe I’m a bit biased for the nostalgia of being at one of the shows.
The one I usually share with people is Vulfpeck Live at Madison Square Garden (Youtube, Spotify). One of the things that blows me away about that performance was how the crowd spontaneously started singing along with their song Dean Town, which is essentially a 3 minute bass solo.
I overwhelmingly gravitate towards live recordings over studio recordings when given the choice. I imagine it's because I grew up listening to a genre that primarily is recorded in live settings. So I've come to appreciate many of the "imperfections" in the live recordings (applause, background noise, etc...) and how the musicians can cut loose more.
A couple honorable mentions
Albums:
Songs:
Dire Straits - Alchemy! It's incredible and I think there's more than one song where I prefer the alchemy version over the album.
This playlist seems to be audio only but YouTube has videos as well.
Agreed! Any time the subject of favorite songs comes up in conversation, I always have the specify Sultans of Swing, but the version from the Alchemy album
Rage Against the Machine - Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
The Band - The Last Waltz
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!
The already mentioned: Johnny Cash - At Fulsom Prison
Had to scroll way too far to see Frampton!
Saw him live a few years back, he still sounds so great.
Uptown Rulers: Live on the Queen Mary - The Meters
Live at Carnegie Hall - Bill Withers
Two absolutely incredible shows from the 70's.
Death - Live in L.A. (Death & Raw)
Chuck Schuldiner (RIP) at peak performance. Even if you are on the fence on death metal, give this album a try.
Grateful Dead Veneta / ‘sunshine daydream.’ I like a lot of their shows, and there are perhaps better performances of some of the individual songs elsewhere, but the whole show just comes together so perfectly. I think a big part of this is the strong vocal performances from both Bob and Jerry, whose vocals are generally unreliable (especially Jerry (imagine a Grateful Dead in a world without cigarettes!!!)). And an absolutely blistering ‘playing in the band’ performance, truly shocking (great experiences listening to this on the latter half of a half marathon).
Also 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare, the final concert of Fishmans, is brilliant. Such a unique band and the show elevates it further - I just keep coming back to it - nothing else gives me the same feelings, the excellence of its execution somehow emanates from its every moment. Something about the tragedy of the singer’s death only a few months later sticks to it, too (thank you thank you for my life).
Oh and, they’re not a live album, but I’ll give a special mention to Wilco’s two tiny desk performances. Like a warm hug.
Oh, and Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense. Wonderful build up of complexity as the show develops, a really intensity to the performances that matches and exceeds the studio versions, and that I don’t think any of their other live records really captures. The video is also a good watch (David Byrne also at peak hotness at this time)
Also, the Modest Mouse ‘Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again’ bootleg. Again, blistering, such a great recording for a bootleg. Really captures the intensity of the band, particularly Isaac Brock’s vocals, at this early-ish point in time, which are otherwise mostly consigned to far poorer quality recordings. The performances feel like they add a lot vs the studio versions. Also includes funny ‘freebird’ rant iirc. Love the title, too.
I could pretty much listen to Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 by Dave Matthews Band all day everyday.
It’s not even “my” band. It’s moreso that my older sister would play this album on repeat as kids growing up and the melodies infected my brain.
This is a great pick. I listened to it while hiking in and around Red Rocks and it’s absolutely seared into my memory as well.
James Brown - Sex Machine
This is the classic J.B.s lineup at their peak, laying down (imo) the best version of pretty much every song on it. Half the album is "fake live", which is to say that was recorded live in a studio rather than at a concert, with obviously canned applause added after. Somehow that doesn't matter, as the songs transition into each other still feels very live.
If you only ever listen to one JB album start to finish, this should be it.
Hawkwind - space ritual. It's essential listening for any psychonaut and anyone who just wants to have a rocking time.
Goat - fuzzed in Europe. Probably the best live shows iv been to. Every time I see this band they are just pure joy and a great vibe.
Waltz for Debby by Bill Evans. It's the perfect entry point for him as the leader of a trio, and has Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums, two of his key collaborators. Links to YouTube and Spotify. It may be my favorite recording of Bill's, tied with Undercurrent, a studio album alongside guitarist Jim Hall.
Reel Big Fish's Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album has always been a favorite of mine. For a long time I used to say that understanding that album was vital to understanding me.
Probably not so true these days, and that's both a positive sign of my growth and a negative sign of my diminished joie de vie, but it was still a defining album for a number of my early adulthood years.
I'll be checking this out, I love Reel Big Fish but have never listened to their live albums.
Obviously Throwing Copper is the best Live album - it’s all bangers.
One of my favorite live albums is Me First and the Gimme Gimmes' Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah. San Francisco punk supergroup MF&GGs play an actual Bar Mitzvah and play punk covers of classic songs (Beach Boys, Styx, Beatles, traditional tunes, etc.). It's fantastic; you can tell how much fun everyone is having as the band really hams it up throughout the album. They even get the Bar Mitzvah boy on drums at one point, so it sounds like a rousing success even if (or maybe because) they aren't taking themselves too seriously.
woah. thats a band I have not heard of in a looong time.
I love Jeff Buckley's Live at Sin-e. Quite a few of the songs are covers but he does them so well.
It's a beautiful album that really showcases his voice. It's silly, but I love hearing him banter and goof off when he interacts with the audience in between each song. Probably because it makes the album feel more immersive and it helps that he is so likeable! His renditions of "I Shall Be Released" and "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" are lovely. I really like "Je n'en Connais pas la Fin" because it's melody reminds me of a dream-like carousel ride. But the crowned jewel is his cover of "Hallelujah". It's breathtaking and it is honestly better than his studio recording.
love this one!
For me it’s Little Feat’s Waiting for Columbus. I went through several copies of it on CD when I was younger.
I'm generally a fan of harder, newer rock, metal, or electronic stuff, but Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond off the live Pulse album always blows me away. Regardless of how many times I listen to it, every listen on a good sound system seems to leave me speechless with how beautiful and perfect it is, down to the timing, execution, and expression of every note of every instrument, and the spaces between. I've seen a lot of live shows, but they're generally from the rock, punk, metal, or electronic genres, so maybe there's less of the nuance that I'm so captivated by in Pink Floyd. I've never seen them live and a part of me is a little bummed I'll never experience that but I'm just glad there was an excellent recording.
The Song Remains the Same by Led Zeppelin
Not How The West Was Won??
Jk. Song Remains the Same is excellent for sure.
HTWWW is awesome too but it is more of a compilation of live performances IIRC. SRTS was from 3 nights at Madison Square Garden. Plus the film of it is great too!
Maybe not live album but the Live version of Maniac by Carpenter Brut is the best version of that song period. Its such a jam
Pinegrove on Audiotree Live is incredible; well mastered, impressive playing, good songs.
Queen - Rock Montreal and The Doors - In Concert are 2 of my favorites.
probably The Real Will Wood, by, believe it or not, Will Wood; the way the songs are kinda remade compared to their album version is great and imo some of them are better than the originals
I love live albums. Here are my favorites:
Rock of Ages - The Band
Live at the Fillmore East - Allman Brothers Band
Waiting for Columbus - Little Feat
It’s Too Late to Stop Now - Van Morrison
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Definitely O.A.R at Madison Square Garden. Honestly I don't even like the band that much but that album is something else. The last few songs are magical and routinely give me frission.
Close second:
My favorites are all heavy on groove or swing, improvisation, and the energy feedback loop between audience and performers.
James Brown - Love Power Peace - Live At The Olympia, Paris 1971
This is the godfather of soul with his hottest band, the original JBs including Bootsy and Catfish Collins and Fred Wesley. The band is so tight it defies belief. There are tempo changes that I thought for sure were edited, but when I watched some of the original footage on youtube it was right there - they were doing it live. Absolutely some of the nastiest funk ever put to tape. Unfortunately it wasn't released until the mid '90s, because shortly after it was recorded the entire band quit! JB shelved the record and instead recruited a new band.
Miles Davis - The Complete Concert 1964: My Funny Valentine + Four And More
The early phase of Miles's Second Great Quintet, with George Coleman on sax and a very young rhythm section of Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. This was recorded at a benefit concert, and the band didn't learn that there was no pay until just before they got on stage, and they were pissed! The tension led to explosive results, particularly on the uptempo numbers with Tony pushing the tempos into the stratosphere.
Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker - Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945
This recording was totally unknown until 2005! Bird and Diz headlined a multi-artist concert just before bebop hit the mainstream of jazz. At the time, they were still on the rise, unknown to all but the hippest jazz fans (as opposed to the god-like figures that they are today). And they were young and hungry and going for it. This is by far their best live recording, playing some of their now-classic songs just before the famous recorded versions were released. Again, the recording just crackles with energy. Bird was late to the gig, but you can hear the audience erupt when he strolls out onto the stage during the first song, and when he finally plays, the brilliance pours out of his horn, and Dizzy matches him note for note in his own solos.