List ‘Em Carefully: Top 10 Live Albums
The live experience is the culmination of every music fans being. Getting up close (if you can) and personal for your favorite artist is always a once in a lifetime experience, no matter where you are. The stage also provides a place for those bands to let lose, be themselves, and show their paying audience what they are made of. The moments are priceless for those that attend, and can become the envy of those that don’t.
For the many that can not make it however, there is a remedy. In fact, more than a few bands known for their live performances have chosen to release a live record and ultimately, be it bootleg or professional recording, these albums have become cherished pieces for music lovers everywhere. While too many to count have been released by this point in time (thanks Pearl Jam), I give you below, a top 10 list of the must-listen live recordings.
10.) Metallica - S&M
This two disc epic is what you get when you combine metal royalty with San Francisco’s Symphony Orchestra. Recorded over two days in April of 1999 at the Berkeley Community Theater in California, the two disc set is some of the bands best work as it takes every one of their hits up a notch with excellent conducting work thanks to composer Michael Kamen. Selections cover tracks from Ride the Lightning to the dual releases of Load and Reload. The songs that every Metallica fan have been listening to for years were given new life, and will never be heard the same way again. I still have no idea how they pulled off “Battery” the way they did.
9.) Foo Fighters - Skin and Bones
Following the release of their double album effort In Your Honor, Grohl and company hit the road to cover the rock half with Weezer. After that long stint, they felt the need to cover their softer side live, so the guys headed out again, but this time they brought out the acoustics… and few more friends. With the new “afoostic” summer tour underway, a live album was cut covering 15 tracks over three nights in L.A. You have never heard the band quite like this as you get brand new renditions of old and new songs, as well as Grohl’s famous charisma.
8.) Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge
Epic is the only word that comes to mind when thinking of the feat that was pulled off by the Seattle grunge kings. Over the course of three days at Washington’s famed amphitheater, Eddy Vedder and crew did the unthinkable, and seemingly unrepeatable. They played every song in their catalog and recorded the entire event over a seven disc set. While the band is no stranger to the live record, this one is for the books. To listen is a journey within itself as literally everything the band has written is covered. You may need to block out the whole night for this one.
7.) Velvet Underground - Live at Max’s Kansas City
This captures Lou Reeds’s last performance with the band he helped start as they finished off a nine week stint at Max’s Kansas City in New York. Being that a friend of then manager Andy Warhol recorded it using a mono tape recorder, you get the entire night uncut from the music to the drink orders. The early 70’s were a hell of time weren’t they?
6.) Jimi Hendrix - Live at Woodstock
This double-disk set captures the legend in his prime at the legendary festival. Insane improvisation is rampant through out the set that also includes his famous rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner”. You can just imagine him setting his guitar on fire after making sweet love to it.
5.) Concert for Bangladesh hosted by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar
This all-star line up for charity is mind blowing. The event was held on August 1, 1971 for the Bangladesh refugees that were left stranded after a cyclone had killed 500,000 people during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Hosts Harrison and Shankar pulled together an all star line up that included ex-Beatle Ringo Starr as well as Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan to name only a few.
4.) The Who - Live at Leeds
Another one from 1970, this was the Brits’ first live record and is considered by many to be one of the best live recordings of all time. It even made it into the book 1001 Recording You Must Hear Before You Die as it is the ultimate in rock and roll experience that must be played loud just as anything by The Who should.
3.) Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!
Another first for rock and roll, this is considered to be the bands’ first live recording, and is by far their best. The album covers two concerts, one in New York, the other in Maryland in 1969 just before the release of the album Let It Bleed. The tour that the recording is based off of is also the first time you hear Mick Taylor with the band after the death of Brian Jones just a few months earlier.
2.) Bob Dylan - Live at the Royal Alberta Hall 1966
After a motorcycle accident that nearly took Dylan’s life, he decided to call it quits from touring. That soon ended, however, when he took the stage in 1966 for his most infamous performance. It was on this night in England that Dylan, after an acoustic first half, took his new electric sound live in spite of the heckles and boos. At one point he is called Judas, but Dylan keeps on going through his set. This reaction would carry through to folk purists in the states, but only after this performance, which was captured via bootleg, never actually being released officially. There is video footage as well, which is startling to say the least. If only the audience really knew what they were witnessing.
1.) The Band - The Last Waltz
When Bob Dylan’s back up band hit the road and recorded as themselves, they exploded. The music community at that time loved them, and for a short moment they were on top of the rock and roll world. When it was time to call it quits, they did so in style with one last performance that would referred to by many as the be all and end all of live recordings, and with good reason. The collaboration list reads like a night at the Grammy’s. Dylan of course showed up for a few songs, but so did Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, and Van Morrison. After 16 years of touring, it was time to hand up the hat, and with some help from Martin Scorsese, they were able to capture what was appropriately called The Last Waltz. For anyone who enjoys rock and roll, this is the one live record that I will say is required listening, and if you can, pick up the movie.
So, that’s it. Fire away!
Metallica? The Foo Fighters? No Jane’s Addiction or Peter Frampton?
Riiiiiight.
i know its on every alt best of list so its almost cliche but Nirvana Unplugged?
Wow, ken beat me to it, but Nirvana Unplugged is the first CD that popped into my head when I saw the title of this list. I know the Gorge performance was sick, but Pearl Jam at Benaroya Hall is pretty damn good too… honorable mention.
Guy, your lists fuckin suck.
WHERE THE FUCK IS THE BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE EVER — AKA, STOP MAKING SENSE by THE TALKING HEADS!?
Song Remains The Same? Donde esta?! Allmans Live at the Fillmore? That new Clash CD — Live at Shea, that thing’s pretty tasty, haven’t heard the whole thing, but I guarantee it’s certainly better than the friggin flaming fucking Foo Fighters or Metallica!
Put some god damn fuckin time and effort into these lists, would ya pleeeaaaase?!
What about Pink Floyd’s Live From Pompeii or P.U.L.S.E.? Nirvana and Alice In Chains Unplugged? Great list, though…truly.
Wow! I think the list is pretty awesome. I’d have a different top 10, of course, due to my taste in music, but there really isn’t a bad album on there.
Plus, Pearl Jam made it. They’d probably get 1-10 for me.
Pearl Jam sucks bro, they haven’t done anything good since Yield, that’s a fuckin fact.
good list. i liked the inclusion of the Foo Fighters. that’s a very underated album by a band playing out of their norm.
i know i may catch hell for this, but you didn’t mention Dave Matthews Band when talking about bands that release insane amounts of live stuff. that said, i think that Dave’s shows with Tim Reynolds (”Luther College” or “Radio City”) could have snuck onto this list. go ahead and bash me, but those albums are great.
also, “Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium” by Rage Against the Machine. some of the luster has come off of that album since they regrouped, but awesome nontheless.
This is a great list! I think The Who may deserve to be pushed up a bit, but as long as it is on the list, I’m happy. Everyone has their favorites (don’t know if I’ve even heard it before and I’m not a fan of the band, but the reputation of DMB’s Red Rocks album is getting up there with the legends).
As far as a couple of my favorites, I have this Guns n’ Roses double album (from the UYI world tour) that I bought off ebay two or three years before the official release that is phenomenal. Great recording, great song selection and great cameos and covers.
The live Hot Water Music and Avail albums will always be special to me, but I’m a sucker for those guys. The Avett Bros. live recordings are also great.
I’d be willing to put the Clash’s recently released, Live at Shea Stadium in this category. Yeah, it’s that good.
A few thoughts:
1) Metallica S&M is an…interesting…album, but for the real live experience you can’t beat Live Shit, which is a perfect time capsule of Metallica when they were the biggest band in the world.
2) While Live at the Gorge isn’t bad, per se, Pearl Jam and the word “epic” have no business being in the same sentence.
3) Where is exactly is the Royal ALBERTA Hall? Somewhere in western Canada?
4) A couple of albums I’d suggest: 1 - Tesla’s Five Man Acoustical Jam. It, along with the famous Bon Jovi performance at VMA helped to start the whole unplugged craze. 2 - Daft Punk’s Alive 2007. Proving that live albums aren’t just for rock bands. 3- Alice in Chains’s MTV Unplugged. Nirvana’s is more famous, but AiC’s is every bit as hauntingly beautiful, arguably musically superior, and equally as tragic as their Seattle counterparts.
5) I’m sure you meant to include Frampton Comes Alive, and Kiss Alive, but merely forgot, or perhaps their inclusion is just inferred so there was no reason to type them out on your list.
Otherwise, a good effort.
I agree that “Stop Making Sense” and “Nirvana Unplugged” should be included. Also Daft Punk’s “Alive 2007″should definitely be on the list. It is such a great live album and such a great live show.
Go for Talking Heads! Definitely.
This isn’t too harsh of a list, but “Unplugged” something should have definitely been on there. Fortunately, this list reflects a writer’s POV and not just the site specifically.
things you missed:
kicking television - Wilco
Neil Young Live albums
Four Way Street-Crosby Stills Nash and Young —come on
Bootleg Iron and Wine life stuff is out of this world, if you can find their bonnaroo performance this year, i highly suggest you get it.
also, pearl jam and foo fighters??
since this is top live albums, where is Portishead?
I’d like to play a song…psycho killer…
David Byrne kicks ass. Catch him in concert if you can, guys…
Alice Unplugged was great as well, though I think seeing a frail Layne Staley return was better than the actual performance…it was just nice to see him singing again…as we all know, it was down hill after that…still, a really solid album…
mm
wow i’m surprised how mad some people are about this list. i don’t particularly agree with it all but hey that’s why i didn’t make the list. i do think there are lots of great live albums out there
frampton comes alive
pantera live 101 proof
nirvana unplugged
phish’s bittersweet motel
allmans at the filmore
zeppelin song remains the same
the list goes on forever when you include the thousands of fan recorded material there are oysterhead sets out there that are absolutely mind blowing
nirvana definately, pink floyd and led zepplin no doubt. but you would expect those for sure, we all know that those are unbelievably good live albums. i honestly would say Lotus’ live album, cant think of the name, is amazing. Incubus’ Live a the redrocks is amazing as well. Primus, hallucenagenetics (sp) tour is mind blowing. but really why do some of you hate on the articles so much? no one wants the negativity. that past few times ive read the comments, its flooded with bitching. lay off it or read a different websites’ material.
Wow… Good list but seriously…
how can you miss the KING of life performances
LED ZEPPELIN!!! wow… song remains the same is classic, as is there newer remastered how the west was won..
Dave and Tim - Live at Luther is def another classic
Dispatch Gut the van is a personal fav
but seriously… how is this list missing LED ZEPPELIN?
ohh i forgot about dispatch… just like all the other frat bands out there except a million times better. They should be added to this list no question
No Alive 2007? For shame CoS, for shame…
FUCKING FRAMPTON, MAN
FRAMPTON!!!!!!!!!
DO YOUUUUUU…YOU!
FEEEEEEEEL LIKE WE DOOOOO!
how old are you? 50?
band of gypsys >>>>> woodstock
Chas on Nov 12th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
A few thoughts:
2) While Live at the Gorge isn’t bad, per se, Pearl Jam and the word “epic” have no business being in the same sentence.
——————————————————————
That might be tough seeing as though Epic was the name of Pearl Jam’s record label throughout the 90’s.
you know this list is pretty bad, in addition to all the other things missing that people brough up, there is no Allman Brothers at Filmore East and Muddy Waters at Newport, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison,
these are non-arguement top live albums, not listening to these are the only cause for ommission
As for newer stuff, Alive 2007 is amazing
Captain,
Yes, I thought of the irony of Pearl Jam being on Epic records after I had posted my thoughts.
Ones I believe should be in this list or nearby…
RBF - Our Live Album is Better than Your Live Album
Portishead - Roseland NYC
ACDC - Live
Not a bad list but with all that guitar driven rock I probably would have included How the West Was Won.
I think the list and some of the suggestions (even the unbelievably indignant and belligerent ones) were pretty good. No single reviewer could come up with a list of only 10 live recordings that would cover the topic for everyone. As a 60 year old reader and liflelong rock devotee, I particularly like the callow suggestion that you might be 50. Ageism is a luxury not of the young but of the immature.