Best Live Album Of All Time

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Axe-Master
Man, back before Youtube, if you couldn't attend a show because you were too young,
all you had were Live Albums. From Frampton Comes Alive to Kiss Alive the 70's were
the heyday of Live Albums. I thought it might be cool to start a thread about the greatest
live albums of all time.

I have a couple of faves that I still listen to, but will only post this one. I had this LP on double
vinyl and also discovered a Tab book on a family trip in the early 1980s. Michael is one of my
guitar heroes. If I could play lead like anyone it would be like him. His melodic sensibility and
the way his solos have their own movement like a Sonata still blows my mind.

I was telling my son today about one of my best friend's in High School, and how he was a
couple of years older than me, but was into music and used to invite me to his place to listen
albums. He's the one who turned me onto Michael, UFO, and MSG. Sadly, he passed in a car
crash with another friend the night before my going away party, as I had enlisted in the military
after graduating.

RIP Robbie, and Keep Rockin', Michael. :)

 
For me, it all started with KISS ALIVE1 76 - my first live Album, and still in my top favs of all time:
Even now, listening to Cold Gin (below) - timeless, totally holds up today, sounds fresh / new - back in the day, we Kiss freaks would take shit from all the proggers with their Yes and Genesis musicianship - though I later became a fan of those also, I'd defend Kiss to the end - those prog snobs didn't get it back in the mid 70s. It's rock and roll baby!!
 
I never really liked Frampton Comes Alive. Of course the radio cuts were always played at parties, but overall, I didn't care for much else.

Mine would have to be Exit Stage Left!! Especially since it was my first concert.


Villa Strangiato probably my fav live album track, but All The World's a Stage is what introduced me to Rush so I have to place it a bit higher. When I bought this album a year or two after it was release I was just getting off the Kiss train - not yet a prog fan, but back then Rush was as much straight ahead rock band as they were becoming a prog band which is why I love the old stuff - this album just rocks! - the cover says it all:

 
This is tough, especially considering influential moments in music. There were the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. The Ramones at the Rainbow Theatre. The Who at Leads. The Foo Fighters at Wembley. U2 at Red Rocks. And, while not an album, Prince at the Rock and Roll HoF ceremony. Not a fan of all the above, but these are live performances that stick out to me over the course of my life. Well! Not the Beatles ..lol.
 
This is tough, especially considering influential moments in music. There were the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. The Ramones at the Rainbow Theatre. The Who at Leads. The Foo Fighters at Wembley. U2 at Red Rocks. And, while not an album, Prince at the Rock and Roll HoF ceremony. Not a fan of all the above, but these are live performances that stick out to me over the course of my life. Well! Not the Beatles ..lol.
Have to agree re - the Beatles - I have a hard time finding live moments that are memorable for me - maybe because the 70s were more my thing - but along that Beatles lineage, Wings Over America is a fav live album of mine:

Great lead guitar tone here (SG!!) > > >
 
The first live album that really grabbed me was the Woodstock '94 compilation. I was 12-13 years old at the time, had just gotten into guitar, and at least knew of most of the bands and artists that played there. It was a cool mix of stuff I knew from contemporary radio and stuff I knew from what my parents would play when I was growing up. I loved reading through the liner notes and photos while listening to that and imagining being at that kinda show, as at that point the only live shows I'd ever seen were just small local acts.

My dad had the Cheap Trick 'Live at Budokan' album on vinyl and I remember really diggin that one as well.
 
I'm biased cuz it's the reason I got so into playing, but AC/DC's If You Want Blood live album is always at the top of my list!

That first audience reaction right off the top used to pump me up as I walked to grade school, with my cranked headphones.


Haven't listened to that in a long time - awesome - brutal live sound !!
 
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