Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense. David Byrne's performance is captivating. I've probably watched the video a hundred times and listened to the album countless times. Every song is better than the studio version

I don't know if it counts as a live album as such, because as far as I'm aware it was never released, but The Weakerthans - Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre is a wonderful show. I ripped the audio from it to put on my iPod, so technically it is a live album to me...

Edit: Totally counts, it's available in all of the places...

I clicked to come in here and post Throwing Copper but then I read the actual post!

Journey's most recent one (Chicago) is great, even sans Perry.

I listen to Rush's Time Machine frequently (even though I saw it live too!)

The live Blizzard of Oz is fantastic as well.

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.

Probably a three way tie among:

Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

Portishead - Roseland NYC Live

Dave Matthews Band - The Central Park Concert

I also have a soft spot for The Complete Monterey Pop Festival

Can't believe it hasn't been said, Pink Floyd's P.U.L S.E.

Genesis’ Seconds Out is my favorite live album of all time. For people only familiar with the Phil Collins era of the band, it’s a perfect gateway to their brilliant past. Phil treats the Gabriel vocals with love and affection and really brings his all. Steve Hackett gives possibly some of his strongest work with the band. And the drum interplay between Collins and Chester Thompson (and, on one track, Bill Bruford) is :chef’s kiss:

Zappa/Mothers Just Another Band from LA showcases one of my favorite eras of the band, cut tragically short. The best, most complete rendition of Billy the Mountain until the release of the Carnegie Hall show

To speak on the topic generally rather than answer the question specifically, I would say that almost every blues album is better live than studio recorded.

Rush - Snakes and Arrows Live 2007. It was a perfect set list. Plus, the cinematography of the concert DVD was beautifully done.

The Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East

Do yourselves a favour and find a good copy, put on your headphones or whatever, and enjoy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Fillmore_East

Now I will go listen to my copy and smile.

Thanks for making me think of this album.

Metallica’s S&M is a standout for me. It was so fresh and exciting and rich experience to listen to for the first time.

I like Joe Satriani’s live in San Francisco. He generally approaches live recordings as a unique experience so the songs and performance are quite different each time. He’s one artist I almost like his live albums more than his studios

Iron Maiden’s Fear of the Dark live versions are just another level in energy

Bjork - Vespertine Live

Every song seems like a slice of magic. It’s both perfect and naturally in-exact.

E&A by Eyedea & Abilities is phenomenal. Eyedea's approach to lyrics pairs well with DJ Abilities unreal scratching and beats!

Two of my favorites that are relatively different (with Spotify links):

• Viva the Underdogs by Parkway Drive: This album was recorded live at Wacken Open Air 2019 and also has a really cool accompanying documentary the band released with the same title. The energy on this album is insane and the band put on an all time performance! I've listened to it repeatedly since its release.

• Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland by Rush: This album was recorded at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH in 2011 on Rush's Time Machine World Tour. This was Rush's first ever live album recorded in the U.S. and is one of their best IMO. They play all the hits and the crowd brings great energy. The full video version is also on YouTube, which is awesome!

Paris by Supertramp. The performances, recording quality and song selection are all top notch.

Alice in Chains Unplugged

Pink Floyd Pulse

Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park. I know Art was choking the whole time but it's just a great album nonetheless. Definitely a concert I would time travel to attend.

Frank Zappa's "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore: Vol 2 is probably my favorite. At least for commercially released live albums. Choosing someone like Zappa or the Grateful Dead is somewhat cheating as an answer to this question though because they toured relentlessly and recorded all of their shows. So you have thousands of live recordings to choose from.

LCD Soundsystem: The Long Goodbye

S&M - Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony

One of my top albums of all-time. James Hetfield's voice sounds better than on the studio albums. Plus an entire fucking orchestra.

Heilung - LIFA. Their performances are rituals, and you can really feel the energy in the live version vs the studio version. A particularly good example is the LIFA version of Hamrer Hippyer vs the studio version from Furtha.

Blaze Foley's Live at the Austin Outhouse

https://open.spotify.com/album/20jfTvbCUwJjOAhPkeIv61

Blaze was an outlaw country artist who, like many outlaw artists, struggled with relationships and substance abuse. His awareness of these issues made his music more powerful and his early death even more tragic. Recently a biopic was made about his life, named Blaze.

Tyler Childers Live on Red Barn Radio.

His music already has a lot of heart and emotion in the studio and it's even better in these live recordings, also excellent set list.

"Coldplay Live 2003", mainly because it contains some of my favorite deep cuts.

coldplay live in buenos aires 🔥

Iron Maiden- Live After Death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XECqZcIO1fU

Aside from having a great setlist, I was a huge fan at the time, and they manage to make minor changes to some of the songs which really enhanced them. I don't usually feel that way about live performances, but I listened to, and watched the hell out of this one.

I really love A Show of Hands by Rush. It's one of my favorite of their eras, though I feel like the "synth era" isn't as universally loved by fans

For me it is Fleetwood Mac's The Dance, which brought Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham back into the fold, a decade after recording Tango in the Night. It's not really a hidden gem, as it was very popular, but if you like them and haven't heard it yet, give it a shot.

I remember watching the concert on TV and it was spectacular and magical, so the nostalgia goggles are firmly in place. I don't usually enjoy recorded live albums, but this one holds a special place for me.

Maybe Fishmans? I also prefer Carrie & Lowell live over the studio version.

Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball

Back Sabbath - Live Evil Metallica - S&M

I've posted once but another favorite and something that everyone should experience at least once is Monsters of Rock 1991 in Moscow, Russia during the dissolution of the USSR.

I'm not sure if I'd call it a live album in the classic sense but it was a giant concert recorded live featuring Metallica, Pantera, AC/DC, E.S.T (A Russian heavy metal Band), and The Black Crowes performing at Tushino Airfield. Here's a more in-depth article about the event.

It was documented into a film called For Those About to Rock: Monsters in Moscow, which is available on YouTube

Sonata Arctica - Songs of Silence, Live in Tokyo

Listening to the studio versions of these songs is weird for me now. It is one of the few live albums I've listened to where the audience adds something.

Everything Everything by Underworld is one of my favourite live albums.

Probably an odd one, but Yanni—Live at the Acropolis. It is damn near the perfect live recording if you can listen to it on an old school CD player or on a media player that supports gapless listening (no breaks / pauses between tracks). It's a series of full orchestra arrangements and medleys of his solo piano work that really doesn't have any flaws.

For probably 99% of the music I listen to, I vastly prefer live over recordings and live recording over studio. Big band jazz is my oldest love, trad (instrumental folk) my deepest, opera my newest. They're all genres centred around live performance. It's the way music has been for most of human history, people playing for themselves and other people. Studio effects can be interesting but they don't have the same immediacy. While it may be a shared endeavour for the musicians and producers, we as an audience can only give them our money, not our energy.

Top is (Duke) Ellington at Newport, from the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Superbly talented geniuses who were on fire and we're so lucky it was recorded. The gem amongst gems is the sequence of Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue with an Interlude from Paul Gonsalves. Both group and solo work are excellent, everyone on top of their game. Starts out mellow, and then builds, and builds, and builds. Listen to the crowd loving it. They know they're experiencing something truly special. https://piped.simpleprivacy.fr/watch?v=wIX7fnYANak

Lau Live Lau (word for a particular quality of light in Orkney) is a Scottish & English experimental trad band who are phenomenal live, especially in tunes like this where they build and build the energy. They crank the musical tension and when they let it go, it's visceral. Being in the room and feeling the vibrations is the best, but this album (good headphones mandatory) will do. https://piped.simpleprivacy.fr/watch?v=hoEYutpgnuQ

That said, the last time I heard them play was a double bill with a young Danish trio called Dreamers' Circus and they out-Lau'ed Lau.

Trad music is great like that.

More mainstream, I'm also very fond of The Allman Brothers Band at Filmore East.

There's a couple that I really enjoy:

• Vulfpeck - Live at Madison Square Garden: I was never really one for live albums, more often than not I found it tough immersing myself in the music and the performance so I (wrongfully) write them off. But this album flipped a switch in my brain I didn't even know I had, I could physically feel the energy from the band and the crowd, it's seriously infectious! every single one of the musicians on stage brought their absolute A game, to the point where there's several songs on the live album that I prefer over the studio versions (e.g. Funky Duck, Christmas in LA, 1612, Cory Wong)

• LCD Soundsystem - the long goodbye: I got into LCD Soundsystem a little after their touring hiatus, so I'd always listen to this one sad that I probably won't be able to go to one of their live performances in the foreseeable future (I did get to see them at Re:Set though which was great!). Hearing the crowd go crazy during the drop in dance yrself clean is a religious experience! and all my friends is a song that's always made me pretty emotional, so hearing it in a live setting always gets me going lol. Absolutely recommend this one to anyone who's even remotely into their music.

Pink Floyd was already mentioned, but David Gilmour’s Live at Pompeii is also a thing of beauty. I accidentally ran across it playing on PBS a few years ago and was glued to the screen for the whole thing, then immediately ordered the Blu-ray to watch again.

On less mainstream note, New Grass Revival’s Live cd is not just better than their live albums, but is close to my favorite bluegrass album of all time. Studio bluegrass can sound too “manufactured” for me.

Also, aside from the Zappa already mentioned, there’s a Zappa Plays Zappa live album/dvd with Napoleon Murphy Brock and Steve Vai, which I also really love. The Zomby Woof from that on YouTube is a great highlight.

Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall

Lou Reed - Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal

The Puscifer live albums that released during lockdown and Slayer - Decade of Aggression

My first choice ended up in my top played albums for two years straight, these are all frequent/recent favorites...

• Steven Wilson - Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
• Puscifer - What Is...
• Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

Tom Waits - Glitter & Doom

James McMurtry & the Heartless Bastards - Live in Aught-Three

16 Horsepower - Hoarse

Pain of Salvation - Be (live)

I almost never prefer live albums, but these work for me. Some live albums are "you had to be there" things for me. And even some where I was there (Rush Snakes and Arrows Live), they don't work for me. I can't really articulate why.

Daft Punk's "Alive 2007" is still one of the best live shows I've ever heard.