I have to agree with:
Iron Maiden - Maiden Japan
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Cheap Trick - At Budokan
and add:
Ted Nugent - Double Live Gonzo
I was having trouble coming up with a favorite live album, mostly because I dislike live albums in general*, but #1 would be Los Straitjackets’ Damas y Caballeros. The song intros (all in Spanish) are hilarious. Example: “(rapid-fire string of incomprehensible Spanish syllables)ITCHY CHICKEN!”.
*Bad sound quality, audience yelling and other interruptions, bands that toady to the crowd and insist on including long segments of cheering and applause to feed their egos. The good thing is that when recording these albums to digital files I can easily cut out all this dreck (including the band’s exhortation to the crowd on one recent album I was recording this past weekend, “Let me hear you say YEAH!” Cripes, I thought that one was embarassingly passe in the '60s.
That says it all - and might be the best live album title ever.
Two from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
Live, 1975-1985 --an epic compilation of the group at the height of their powers.
Hammersmith Odeon London '75 --almost an eerie experience to hear such a great live performance without the roar of approval that would become a Springsteen cliche.
I’ll second Cheap Trick - At Budokan, Ted Nugent - Double Live Gonzo and Iron Maiden - Maiden Japan. And, of course, Kiss Alive II.
I’ll add Queensryche - Operation Livecrime. It’s not a classic, but it’s the live version of Mindcrime and you can really feel the energy of the live show on that one. It remains one of my favorite concerts.
In 1982 they opened a US tour in Colleg Park Maryland. I interviewed them in teh afternoon, having come down form Baltimore where I was a DJ on the college radio station at my school.
I hung around until evening, eagerly anticipating the crowd, and the excitment grew as the crowd did.
finally, it was time and Paul Weller came dashing out to center stage, leapt in the air with his guitar at full stride, did a scissors kick as the crowd went wild, and executed a power chord to star the song, and …
…fell flat on his ass!
BTW, the answers on this thread makes me think most of us are almost 70 years old?
Black Sabbath - Live Evil
Queensryche - Operation Livecrime
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
This. I don’t think there can possibly be any competition.
I’ll try to stick with some not yet mentioned:
Neil Young, Live at Massey Hall 1971
Simon & Garfunkel - Live in Central Park
Lou Reed - Rock n Roll Animal
Bob Dylan & The Band - Before the Flood
mmm
I’m generally not too impressed by live albums. Often it doesn’t really add anything to a song over the studio version or, worse, when they can’t perform it well live, it can ruin an otherwise good song. However, there are a couple live albums I do very much enjoy.
Ice Earth - Alive in Athens
I’m not even a terribly huge fan of these guys, but it’s 3CDs of their best stuff all performed with precision. It’s a very impressive listen.
Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes
They are an excellent band to see live, and their live versions are always a slightly different interpretation because, on studio albums, they often switch between eletric and acoustic in the middle of songs, but that obviously isn’t possible to do live. Moreso, it really is awesome to hear some of their old stuff, which is excellent in it’s own right, reinterpretted with the addition of fulltime keys. I feel like some of the interpretations add a whole new element to the originals.
Wu Tang Clan’s Disciples of the 36 Chambers is an epic live album too. That one is live from San Bernardino. The CD has 27 songs, and all of them are just pure energy.
Les Claypools Frog Brigade - Animals (Frog Live 2)