It's Wednesday night and quiet here in my neck of the woods. What better to do than to provoke a little discussion?
We've probably been down this road before, but you can ask the same question more than once and get different responses. And you might learn something new. So the question is this:
If you were to list the ten (or however many) best live recordings, in any genre, what would they be? The only qualifier is that they can't be live performances that were collected over a long period of time. So "From Here to Eternity" by the Clash or "By the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" by Nirvana wouldn't qualify because they're compiled from many concerts in many locations.
Your choices have to be either one concert or performances recorded at one venue over several nights. (Curious to hear what you might choose DB...)
Here's my list- subject to change- in no particular order: 
James Brown- Live at the Apollo- This 1962 recording- financed by Brown himself- may be the best live R&B recording ever made. On fire!
John Coltrane- The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings-This four CD set covers multiple nights at the Vanguard. The most spiritual music I've ever heard- and the most intense. I can't listen to more than one of the discs in an evening.
Allman Bros. Band at the Fillmore East- Every middling guitar player I know studied this album until the grooves wore thin. Duane Allman was a genius who drove this band to the heights. They, like Little Feat after Lowell George, were never quite the same after he died.
Grateful Dead- Live at Fillmore West 1969- I don't even like the Dead, but this concert- or at least parts of- it are fucking amazing. The three song set of Dark Star, St. Stephen, and the Eleven may be the single most incredible set the Dead ever played. The duels between Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia are breathtaking. It's not hard to see why Ornette later chose Jerry to play on his albums.
Little Feat- Waiting for Columbus- It's not all great but the good parts are really great and Lowell George's playing, singing, and charisma dominate the proceedings. The rhythm section is also very, very good.
Bruce Springsteen- Hammersmith Odeon Live '75
In the 1970's Bruce Springsteen was the most dynamic performer around- and the E Street Band were like a choir of Angels. I picked this because it best represents Bruce near his peak; The Darkness on the Edge of Town tour that followed several years later arguably was Bruce at the top, but that concert only exists in bootlegs (and I'm trying to follow my own rules here).
If God played bass he'd have taken lessons from Jack Casady. Jack and Spencer Dryden's drums and bass intro for "3/5 of a Mile in Ten Seconds" is one of the greatest eight seconds in R&R.
Bob Dylan- The Royal Albert Hall " Concert 1966- With all the bootleg Dylan being officially released it's hard to know what to pick from the live recordings but I have to go with this one. I especially like the acoustic side and it's hard to believe that Dylan actually sang a better version of "Visions of Johanna" in concert than he laid down in the studio.
Santana- Lotus- Recorded in Japan I don't know when- a long time ago- Carlos and his rhythm section are humming like a fuckin' tuning fork.
Midnight Oil- Oils on the Water- The Goat Island Concert
National heroes in their own country- Australia- the Oils were kind of "one hit wonders" in the States- except to me and a couple of other DBIS'ers. This recording- from 1985 I think- is brilliant, high energy, political R&R. Pathetically, it's unavailable in the USA.
Otis Redding- Live at Monterey- The concert set is included in this anthology. The other greatest R&B concert ever recorded. Otis died in a plane crash shortly after this performance. Did you know that he never lived to hear "Dock of the Bay" played on the radio?
Special mention: The Who Live at Leeds. They'd be in my top ten if only they'd stop making such a sad spectacle of themselves and spoiling their legacy.
