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Live Albums Ranked

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A good selection on this list but what would get your vote?

Misty In Roots is a glaring omission!

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  3. I always rate the triad of solo live recordings:
    Richard Thompson’s Small Town Romance,
    Graham Parker’s Live, Alone in America and
    Warren Zevon’s Learning to Flinch, as they are alll documents of artists who, then at least, tended to front bands or be in bands.
    But a new album has swept into my toppermost favourite, that being Solas Na Maidne Live, the recording of Niteworks last ever show. I had been at the London show a week before, but, unsurprisingly, the Glasgow show was a blinder and makes for a great memento of a favourite band, almost from when I set ears, a decade and a half ago. And, despite being, at least in part, an electronic band, dealing in programmed sounds, sequencers and synths, there is enough live instrumentation to demonstrate the live aspect.

  10. My favourites are Feat – Waiting for Columbus, TMT Bursting Out, Johnny Winter And Live, Rory Irish Tour 74, Roadwork by Edgar Winter’s White Trash and the Donald Fagen live Nightfly. None of which are on the list of course.

  11. Whoa there… hidden away in all that text is the revelation that the chat between songs on the Dylan recording is edited out on Spotify. Oh, that’s a good idea. Well done Silicon Valley.

    Reason to own physical product if ever you needed one.

      • £10 for the 2-CD will secure it.

        Presumably this means that after every song has ended, there is a gap before the next one begins. Oh, very conducive to the concert experience.
        Someone’s living in a house fifty times the size of mine for inventing that!

  12. Whither John Martyn, Live At Leeds?
    Welcome To The Canteen by various members of Traffic is also a fantastic live album.
    I think Jefferson Airplane’s Bless It’s Pointed Little Head is probably worthy of inclusion too. More so than The Grateful Dead.

  14. Yes to the Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell on that list. Some of my personal favourites include the two volumes of Jackson Browne’s Solo Acoustic, both volumes of Jason Isbell Live at the Ryman (but especially volume 2), Joe Ely Live at Liberty Lunch, the blisteringly good Live 1975 by Fleetwood Mac, Nanci Griffith’s Winter Marquee, James McMurtry Live in Aught-Three, War On Drugs Live Drugs, REM Live in Wiesbaden (Perfect Square) and any number of Neil Young archive and bootleg series albums too numerous to mention.

  15. That Jerry Lee Lewis record is indeed incredible. Off the top of my heard, others that would probably be on my personal list would include
    Allman Brothers – live at Fillmore East
    Rory Gallagher – Live in Europe
    Bob Dylan – colour me sacrilegious but I’d take Hard Rain or Down in the Flood before the ‘Albert Hall’ gig (I know, I know)

  18. 2 more QI Klaxon moments that should be in any list of Best Live Albums:
    Ramones – Its Alive
    The Band – The Last Waltz

    And 2 outside bets that I (and possibly only me) would defend their place in the list:
    U2 – Under A Blood Red Sky
    Dire Straits – Alchemy

    • I’m with you on Alchemy – for me, it’s ver Straits’ best album overall – but UaBRS is too short to be included among the greats.

      I’ve never understood why it’s only a mini album when U2 were gigging like mad, had plenty of live songs to choose from, and the video version is proper concert length. Yes, the performances are good, but as soon as it really gets going, it finishes.

      Re live albums missing from the list, I nominate Springsteen’s Live 1975-1985 box, if a box set is allowed.

  19. It has to be The Name of this band is Talking Heads (disc 2, original vinyl version). As a listening experience, it’s so much better than Stop Making Sense with the all time best versions of so many songs e.g. Crosseyed and Painless or Life During Wartime. The band is better than SMS thanks to Adrian Belew and Busta Jones.

    The Live Adventures of the Waterboys is great too but is culled from many different appearances. Special mention too for Final Flame the That Petrol Emotion live album. These two are personal favourites but the Talking Heads album should be top of that there list.

  20. Two more for the best live album list:

    UFO – Strangers in the night

    Steve Earle – Shut up and die like an aviator.
    This spent a long time as my go-to Steve Earle record.

  21. A fave round here is CD2 of Singles / Live by Alison Moyet from the mid-90s. Recorded at the Albert Hall and Concert Hall, Glasgae, with a band featuring Pete Glenister on guitar. She has big lungs, does Alf.

    Inexplicably, it was given away as a bonus CD of a limited edition of her singles compilation.

  22. My favourite live album is probably Keith Jarrett Koln Concert. Also have a soft spot for Humble Pie live at the Fillmore.

    Two more opposing artists/styles would be hard to find!

  25. By now I’m sure nobody will gasp in surprise when I say that my number one is Taj Mahal’s The Real Thing…followed by Bob Marley, What Do You Want From Live by The Tubes, Johnny Winter And Live and of course Wilco’s Kicking Television. Oh, and Michael Nyman: Live is a banger too! And The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads…Jeff Tweedy’s Live Is The King, hmm, there really are a few great ones! Marc Almond had a great live album a couple of years ago too.

    But the one missing from that list is definitely Taj Mahal!

  26. In no particular order:
    The Fall: Totale Turns (yes, really; better versions than the singles)
    Can: Live In Paris 1973 ( a latecomer, but worth it for peak Damo )
    Television: The Blow Up (sounds rough, but has Little Johnny Jewel)
    Henry Cow: Concerts (because it’s there)
    (agree about Misty in Roots and John Martyn)

  27. It’s a pleasingly diverse list. I like Alexis Petridis and I think he does these things well. It’s good to see things like Sylvester in among the list. Also good that he resisted any temptation to include live albums by Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Black Sabbath or the Stones.

    I do think though that some of the albums are one the list by reputation though. The Dylan album isn’t brilliant apart from the Judas section, and I don’t think No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith would be there if it were called Motorhead Live. Also, I confess that I’ve never heard it, but is Live At Leeds really that good? It’s described as “visceral and explosive”, which suggests that it isn’t.

    • Dylan 66 is amusing, mesmerizing, incredible songs brilliantly played and sung. And that’s just the solo acoustic disc. The electric 2nd half goes to another level.

      Don’t understand your Who comment, maybe give it a listen before judging it? Preferably the original 6 track version, for me a definite case of less is more when it comes to this album. Incredible

      • I agree with dai about Live At Leeds.
        The expanded version is greatly diminished by the presence of A Quick One. For me it’s a song (a mini-opera no less) that contradicts its title and seems to go on interminably. Or in short, it’s shite.
        Happy Jack further diminishes the full version.

      • Agree on getting the original version first. I have several expanded versions, including the sister Hull gig, but it’s the original version the reputation is based on. It’s like a text book in rock riffage.

  28. Made in Japan
    Get yer Ya Ya’s…
    The Last Waltz
    Mott the Hoople Live
    The Live Adventures of the Waterboys
    Nighthawks at the Diner
    Wings over America
    Jethro Tull- Bursting Out
    Kick Out the Jams
    The Doors- Absolutely Live
    The Elvis 68 Comeback Special
    Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo- Georgie Fame
    Modern Lovers Live

  29. Ellington at Newport, Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard… I guess these and many, many others don’t count as they aren’t from the ‘correct’ genres. It’s a good list but a very specific and narrow minded one.

    • Good call re Red Hot Burritos. The bluegrass segment was probably my first exposure to that genre other than the Beverly Hillbillies TV theme. I haven’t heard We’ve Got a Live One Here, but their Deep in the Heart of Texas album recorded live at the Armadillo HQ is a brilliant live album.

  31. Without repeating any already mentioned

    Yessongs
    Journey to the Centre of the Earth ( obviously)
    Two for the Show – Kansas
    Live Gonzo – Ted Nugent
    Play – Magazine
    House Full -Fairport Convention
    Live at the Padget Rooms – Man
    Live Dates- Wishbone Ash
    Sessions at West 54th -John Prine
    Unplugged -Nirvana
    Seconds Out -Genesis
    Rock of Ages – The Band
    Magnolia Electric Co – Trials and Errors
    Before the Dawn -Kate Bush

  32. There’s quite a few on that list that I don’t know. I thought that was a great article/list even if it’s never going to please everyone. I’m grateful that it reminded me of the Otis Redding set, which I forgot about during my long illness years ago- I’ll track down a copy now… I also don’t recall hearing or even seeing the Joni one. It’s like I’ve woken up in an alternate universe.

  34. Many of my favourite live albums have already been mentioned in the thread – no point in repeating – so I’ll just quickly mention a couple.
    Van der Graaf – Vital. A brutal live album which succeeded in dividing even their most devoted fans.
    Gentle Giant – Live: Playing the Fool. Demonstrated what an astonishing live act they were – and also their sense of humour.
    I’m tempted to mention Kubelik’s recording of Smetana’s Ma Vlast, live with the Czech Phil, back in his homeland for the first time in 40 years. Not a perfect recording – but what an occasion!

  38. I would move Van album up to No. 1 and add Little Feat Electrif Lycanthrope, Lou Reed Rock N Roll Animal, The Band Rock Of Ages, Warren Zevon Stand In The Fire

      • I certainly am! For me It’s Too Late To Stop Now is not just the greatest live album of all time but it’s my favourite Van album and of course I love a lot of his albums. For me that album showcases a 28 year old artist in full flight at the peak of his powers with the greatest band he has ever had

  41. A decent list & it contains 2 of my all time favourites with the Sam Cooke & Bob Dylan ones – Dylan is probably my most listened to live album & in fact I think I will queue up Desolation Row!

    I would have added in Jackie Wilsons At The Copa too, i think this is a phenomenal live one & should be listened to.

    2025 was pretty healthy for live albums too & it included two which I think will be lauded in years to come.
    The Blaze – FOLK which is a recording of their Royal Albert Hall gig I attended & it is wonderful:

    Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Live God, an excellent document of a band who seem to be getting better & better

  42. I was just about to mention Warren Zevon’s effort as it is my favourite live album, and away down here, and it hadn’t been mentioned yet.
    I just got my 150 or so LPs back from my brother(who’s had then for over 35 years….long story)and have been slowly going through them. A few days ago, I listened to Derek and the Dominos In Concert. Glad to see it wasn’t on the list and that nobody has mentioned it so far, as it’s probably the worst live album I have ever heard. Double album, 8 tracks(I think) and each with a 15 minute guitar solo…..geez, what was I thinking?

    • I know…replying to my own post, but I feel I have to cut Clapton a bit of slack here. Still going through those old LPs, and today’s was ‘Just One Night’….Clapton’s double live album from Budokan in Japan 1980. It’s very good and I really enjoyed it. There’s still is a bit of over indulgence, but nothing like the other effort, and it’s never going to be on a top 20 list, but it’s fine.

  43. Live albums are a weird one. The vast majority of them are a bit underwhelming and don’t really seem to add a great deal to the studio material. I guess probably because it’s hard to really catch the magic of live music on tape – it only really works in the air.

    That said, there are a handful of live records that are about as good as anything ever recorded, generally where the crowd makes their presence properly felt and adds to the occasion and/or reveals something about their relationship with the artist. I’m thinking here of Live At The Harlem Square Club and Albert Hall 66.

    Then there’s Daft Punk Alive 2007, which is the only live album I know of that has both epic crowd response and an artist completely reinventing their material live and on the hoof. How that’s not on this list I do not know.

    Those three are probably the one ones I can think of where if you asked me about the artist in question they’d be the first place I’d send you. Most other live albums are an afterthought, an “if you like their records you should also listen to…”.

    Anyway, with all of that said, the ones that I haven’t seen mentioned above and that I’d call out here are as follows:

    * Jeff Buckley Live At Sin-E – Part of the magic of Buckley is the sense that he is perennially unfinished; that he gave us all the early demonstration of the breadth of his talent, but wasn’t given enough time to focus and channel it into the work of which he was capable. He left behind a ton of interesting live recordings – there are some magnificent bootlegs floating around and Mystery White Boy is pretty good. But Sin-E is worth a listen because it nails his early legend; just a guy with an incredible voice and his guitar, off in some cafe, leaning on the wall and banging out magical cover versions on request. Flexing, in other words. It isn’t a truly great record, but it’s like getting a chance to leaf through the artist’s personal notepad, with all the intimacy that entails.

    * Nirvana Live at Reading 92 – Everyone always goes for Unplugged, but the Reading set has both a crowd going bonkers and a band at the peak of their powers before they got surly. Nirvana have the unusual advantage here of being an act that were better live than on tape, and here they show all their strengths – that ability to be simultaneously tight and sloppy, that absolute juggernaut of a noise they were able to generate, the strength of Kurt’s vocals. The roars that greet each new riff as it emerges. The weirdest biggest band in the world to ever get so massive.

    * Tibetan Freedom Concert – No one ever talks about this record, but it’s my favourite live album outside the real biggies. Recorded at the iteration of the Tibetan Freedom show organised by the Beastie Boys in New York in 1997, and opened and closed by the sound of monks ceremonially chanting, it has the simple virtue of featuring one fabulous 90s alternative track after another. In a single release you get live versions of Cast Now Shadow, Fake Plastic Trees, This Is A Call, Yellow Ledbetter, and Electrolite. But there’s also a wonderful variety to the material: at one stage you get Lee Scratch Perry performing a fairly scorching Heads of Government, before Taj Mahal race through She Caught The Katy, eventually giving way to Blur doing Beetlebum. Bjork doing Hyperballad melds into Rancid’s version of The Harder They Come. What other live album gives you that kind of sonic whiplash? The record also does a lovely line in Hip Hop – Tribe Called Quest give us what is unquestionably the definitive version of Oh My God, KRS One wheels out an awesome medley of The Bridge Is Over, Black Cop and South Bronx, the Fugees and De La Soul drop by to essay Me, Myself & I and Fu-Gee-La, and the Beasties themselves close disc one with a superb Root Down. As a snapshot of a moment in time, it’s next to perfect. As a record, it’s so much fun – it’s like your mate has put together an absolutely world class mix tape and then gone to the trouble of having all the acts come and perform the tracks live, with extra monks for good measure.

  44. Keeping it simple – which live albums do I still listen to ?
    Sinatra at The sands
    Jarrett trio standards
    Ya yas
    Hard rain
    Van.
    Bob Marley
    Allmans Filmore
    Townes VZ at the Old Quarter
    JLL Star Club
    Aretha Filmore
    Santana lotus

  46. I thought it ws pretty good list but would incude …

    Slade Alive!
    The Rolling Stones – Brussels Affair
    Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham – Moments from This Theatre
    Gram Parsons & Fallen Angels – Live 73
    Creedence Clearwater Revival – Live at Woodstock
    Durutti Column – Domo Arigato (if only for Vini’s opening welcome)
    Reigning Sound – Live at Goner Records
    The Move – Live at the Filmore 1969
    Stiff Little Fingers – Hanx!
    Five Live Yardnirds
    The Byrds – Live at the Royal Albert Hall
    Isaac Hayes – Live at the Sahara Tahoe
    Joe Cocker – Mad Dogs and Englishmen

  48. Erm … has anyone mentioned Tangerine Dream yet? No?
    OK, then I’ll say Ricochet, Encore, Logos Live and LiveMiles.
    All excellent – you gotta love the Tangs.

    Nanci Griffith: One Fair Summer Evening – beautiful versions of her best songs

    Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall – a wonderful recording: you can hear the magic in the auditorium

    The Thelonious Monk Quartet: Live in Tokyo – Top-notch Monk!

    Muddy Waters: “The Lost Tapes – Live in Washington and Oregon, 1971” – My favourite live blues album of all time. Check out “Long Distance Call”.

    Rolling Stones: “El Mocambo” and “Stripped” (am I the only Stones fan who feels that Ya-Ya’s is a little overrated?

    Nils Lofgren – Acoustic Live. Just amazing. The version of “Keith Don’t Go” is superlative.

    R.E.M. – Live at the Olympia and “Unplugged: The Complete 1991 and 2001 Sessions”. What an incredible band they were. I love all the deep cuts on “Olympia”.

    Albert Ayler: “Stockholm, Berlin 1966”. A nice album to play at a dinner party.

    Tom Waits: Nighthawks at the Diner. A live album with a setlist of completely new material. Very unusual.

    Keith Jarrett – At the Blue Note: The Complete Recordings. His crowning achievement.

    Aswad – Live and Direct.

    Genesis Live – Should’ve been a double album, or maybe a triple.

    Jackie Leven – For Peace Comes Dropping Slow. The Big Man from the Kingdom of Fife is on tremendous form here.

    David Bowie: Santa Monica ’72 – this has a rough-and-ready quality that I rather like.

    Pink Floyd – Pulse. Unhip but good

    Shall I throw in a Grateful Dead live album as well? OK, then … how about Dick’s Picks volume 36 (September 21, 1972 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia)?

    As you can probably tell, I LOVE a live album!

    • El Mocambo is The Stones best live performance. However, it needs judicious editing (less Preston/Black & Blue) and reinstate the non PC chat from side three of Love You Live (“Awright Margaret?” )

      Buena Vista is magnificent.

      Genesis Live is the best setting for that material. Making it a double will probably dilute it in my opinion.

      Also At Pompeii should count in 2025.

    • I’ve seen Tangerine Dream live twice and the second time, at Liverpool Cathedral, was probably the worst gig I ever witnessed. It wasn’t their fault. The sound flew up the tower and echoed back down, clashing with that coming from the stage. It was dreadful.

      The first time, at Liverpool Stadium, was livened up by an audience member mocking them with a Nazi salute, while wearing a German army great coat fashionable at the time.

    • A million times upvote for REM at the Olympia (39 Songs). I love it. I think the pre-release versions of the Accelerate songs are on fire, disproving everyone’s theories about everything to do with REM (I may be overreacting here, because I love it so much…). The onstage chat is also very funny.

      Tangerine Dream live albums, yep, also very good choices there. I am a big fan of the band. I also rate Poland although this falls outside of most people’s favourite eras. The main problem with their live albums is that they aren’t live, a lot of the time – but they have the spirit of a live album anyway.

  49. Can I mention a few newish albums that have impressed me?

    Sara Bareilles – Amidst the Chaos: Live from the Hollywood Bowl. Good songs and good banter with the audience. I love ‘She Used To Be Mine’. A good primer I think.

    Tori Amos – Diving Deep Live. I had kind of forgotten about Tori and this was a good reminder of her unique songwriting skills. Just two backing musicians on bass guitar and drums (plus loops and samples) but they make a great big muscular sound. Drummer Ash Soan was a stranger to me before I heard this but looking at his discography, he has played with a lot of people and seems to be held in high regard.

    And the live album included with The Divine Comedy’s recent album. Really nice and My Lovely Horse! (Neil’s other half Cathy Davey is co-founder of an animal charity of the same name that I donate to when I can)

  50. Yeah, Live and Dangerous. Loved everything about my orignal vinyl copy. The cover photo. Even then, if anyone else had been photographed from the crotch up in leather strides playing a black Fender Precision it would have been laughed into oblivion. Lynott could sell that schtick though.

    All the photos on the sleeve and the inserts. A rock band on stage looked to be the best thing in the world to see. The Les Pauls. The hair. ‘I am a warrior. I serve the death machine…’

    A soft spot for Alchemy. Straits at their Strat-totin’ peak. Thin strings and great lyrics. I lost interest at BIA.

  52. Two personal favourites:

    Laurie Anderson: Live at Town Hall New York City September 19–20, 2001
    Because of the date, songs like O Superman (They’re American planes, made in America) take on special resonance. In fact the whole album is a resonant, meditative, almost transcendent experience. Rather wonderful.

    Penguin Café Orchestra: When In Rome
    Basically all their best songs done live in front of a respectful and adoring audience. Their lovely chamber world folk (however you’d describe it) really swings when heard in concert format. A band I’d love to have seen live.

    • For Laurie Anderson, it has to be United States Live. Strange, fascinating, extraordinary. I need to be in the right mood to sit down for all four CDs, but I’ve never heard a performer like her: part gig, part lecture, part insight into America.

      The finale, Lighting Out for the Territories, with somebody seemingly ordering the stage lighting to be turned off bit by bit, is just perfect.

      • Love it, love it, love it. I had it on cassettes, and it accompanied me via my Walkman as I crossed America from San Francisco to Philadelphia by Greyhound bus in 1996. It was the perfect soundtrack as I crossed through the Midwest where she had her origins to the east coast where her arty sensibilities found their home.

        She inspires me that everyone can and should be able to echoes themselves in every form of language, from music to drawing to cinematography to dance to etc, no matter how professional or amateurish they are. To do this with the grace, the loss, the stillness that she has is majestic.

  53. USA by King Crimson is a great album. It’s a good introduction to the band, if this doesn’t scare you away, then it might be worth listening further. As is the more recent Meltdown, a massive collection including a video where you can actually see who is playing what (unlike most live videos!)

  56. My favourites:

    Nils Lofgren – Acoustic live.
    Elvis Costello and the Attractions – live at El Mocambo (Attractions at their incendiary best)
    Dire Straits – Alchemy live
    The Who live at Leeds
    Johnny Cash – Folsom prison
    Van Morrison – One night in San Francisco

  57. Live at the Star Club is one of my favourites, so I was delighted to see it at Number 1. Several other of my favourite Live LPs which do not always get recognition were there too, which is nice – Sam Cooke, Curtis, Hendrix at Monterey.

    The Otis is great – I got it on an Amazon deal, and I really enjoyed picking a few gems from that this morning.

    Many great LPs posted here already, I would suggest J Geils Band – Full House as a hidden gem.

    Live Jazz LPs is a whole other ocean. I’d nominate Coltrane at Birdland, Coltrane – A Love Supreme Live, Miles Davis – Live/Evil, Duke Ellington at the Blue Note, and Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall as ones I have listened to and thoroughly enjoyed in the last few months.

  58. Good to see some of my faves in the comments, not least Roadwork (Edgar Winter’s White Trash) and Get Yer YaYas Out. My all-time number one is Between Nothingness and Eternity (Mahavishnu Orchestra).

    In second place, probably the first (1969) live, acoustic album by Hot Tuna. My copy seems to have a different track listing to the version currently advertised as “Live at New Orleans House, Berkeley”.

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