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?

  • nromdotcom@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    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.

  • ModularTable@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    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

    • ohokthatsgood@beehaw.org
      0·
      2 years ago

      I mentioned this one as well! Legitimately incredible performances on this one, would recommend to anyone even a little into their music or their musical style

  • SenorBolsa@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    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.

  • Vestria@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    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.

  • emma@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    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.

  • pips@lemmy.film
    0·
    2 years ago

    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

    • SoaringFox@beehaw.org
      0·
      2 years ago

      Mine is Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City. Someone showed me that as an introduction to Dave Matthews and it was right when I was getting into playing guitar and I was awestruck! Watched the whole thing in one sitting and then learned several of the songs over the next few months.

    • Drusas@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York album is, in my opinion, as close to perfect as it gets.

    • DJDarren@beehaw.orgM
      0·
      2 years ago

      Kurt’s vocal on Where Did You Sleep Last Night is one of the most visceral things I’ve ever heard. Get that on through decent headphones and you’ll never listen to it the same way again. That breath he takes before the last lines is absolutely haunting.

  • ohokthatsgood@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    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.

  • TheBaldness@beehaw.org
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    2 years ago

    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.

  • PotentiallyAnApricot@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    This isn’t an album, but I love O’Brother’s various Audiotree recordings. They’re just so BIG and intense. I don’t know how to explain it. You can really feel some sort of alchemy happening while they’re playing, and the vocals are freaking wild. I love the recorded versions, but these ones feel turned up a notch to me. There is an energy in it that i find really compelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uflJpjdmyG8