It’s about the time of year when people start thinking about the best of lists for the 2014 year.
What Are The Best Live Albums Released In 2014?
Normally I look at the year of recording as it matters most to the quality of the music but this time,I’m focusing on the albums released in 2014.
This of course means that we can go back to music recorded in the 1960s and 70s as well as recordings of much more recent candidates.
The Nice Surprises
Archive releases from artists who have been resistant to releasing their back catalogue is a positive sign.
It seems Bruce Springsteen is finally following his peers like Neil Young and Bob Dylan.
The Rolling Stones have moved from offering historic downloads from their own website to putting CDs and DVDs on commercial sites like Amazon.
And Queen delighted their fans with the 1974 concerts at The Rainbow. Hopefully this means that we’ll see albums from the A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races tours as well.
Of course some groups remain stubborn like The Who who need to get passed their obsession with 1970, and Led Zeppelin.
The Live Albums Released In 2014
I’ve pulled this list together by trying to get Amazon.com to show me the recent live albums and going through the first 50 pages. It’s not ideal because I realised that it missed several highly regarded live albums released in 2014 that I own.
- Abba Live At Wembley Arena 1979
- Alabama & Friends At The Ryman
- Alice Cooper Raise The Dead Live From Wacken 2013
- Gregg Allman & Friends All My Friends 2014
- The Allman Brothers Band Play All Night Live At The Beacon Theatre 1992
- Ian Anderson – Thick as a Brick – Live in Iceland 2012
- The Band Carter Barron Amphitheater Washington DC July 17th 1976
- Big Star Live In Memphis
- Blackberry Smoke Leave a Scar: Live in North Carolina
- Joe Bonamassa Tour De Force Live in London – Royal Albert Hall 2013
- Joe Bonamassa Tour De Force Live in London – Shepherd’s Bush 2013
- Joe Bonamassa Tour De Force Live in London – The Borderline 2013
- Joe Bonamassa Tour De Force Live in London – Hammersmith Apollo 2013
- Blackberry Smoke Leave a Scar Live In North Carolina
- Garth Brooks Double Live – reissue with five extra songs and a DVD
- Paul Butterfield and Better Days Live at Winterland Ballroom 1973
- Gary Clark Jr Live 2013
- Clark & Hillman McGuinn Live At The Boarding House 1978
- Coldplay Ghost Stories Live
- Leonard Cohen Live in Dublin 2013
- John Coltrane Offering Live At Temple University 1966
- Crosby Stills Nash & Young CSNY 1974
- Depeche Mode Live in Berlin 2013
- Dennis DeYoung And The Music Of Styx Live In Los Angeles 2014
- Dio Live In London Hammersmith Apollo 1993
- Dream Theater Breaking The Fourth Wall 2014
- The Dublin Legends An Evening With … Live In Vienna 2013
- Steve Earle Live in Nashville 1995
- Keith Emerson and Greg Lake Live From Manticore Hall 2010
- Fripp & Eno Live In Paris 1975
- Rory Gallagher Irish Tour ’74: 40th Anniversary Edition – Belfast, Cork and Dublin concerts now available.
- Jerry Garcia Live Volume 5: December 31st 1975 Keystone Berkeley
- Grateful Dead Wake Up To Find Out 1990
- Guns N’ Roses Appetite For Democracy 3D: Live at the Hard Rock Casino, Las Vegas 2012
- Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2013
- Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa Live In Amsterdam 2013
- Justin Hayward Spirits Live – Live At The Buckhead Theater Atlanta 2013
- Hot Tuna Live at the Fillmore West 3rd July 1971
- Whitney Houston Live Her Greatest Performances
- Imagine Dragons Night Visions Live 2013
- Eric Johnson Europe Live
- LCD Soundsystem The Long Goodbye 2011
- Little Feat Live In Holland 1976
- Magma Zuhn Wol Unsai: Live 1974
- Branford Marsalis In My Solitude: Live at Grace Cathedral
- Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers
- John Mellencamp Performs Trouble No More Live at Town Hall 2003
- Gary Moore Live At Bush Hall 2007
- Mystery Tales from the Netherlands 2013
- Nektar Live at the Patriots Theater 2002 (I think this is a re-release of the Greatest Hits Live album.
- Oak Ridge Boys Boys Night Out 2014
- Old & In the Way Live at the Boarding House: The Complete Shows 1973
- Shuggie Otis Live In Williamsburg 2013
- Passion Take It All 2014
- Peter, Paul and Mary Discovered: Live In Concert
- Queen Live At The Rainbow 74
- REM Unplugged 1991/2001 The Complete Sessions 1991 & 2001
- The Rolling Stones From The Vault: L.A. Forum (Live In 1975)
- The Rolling Stones From the Vault: Hampton Coliseum
- George Strait Cowboy Rides Away Live From At&T Stadium 2014
- Rod Stewart Live 1976-1998 Tonight’s The Night
- Stryper Live At The Whisky 2013
- Toto 35th Anniversary Tour: Live In Poland 2013
- Rufus Wainwright Live from the Artists Den 2012
- Tom Waits Nighthawks on the Radio: Knew-FM Broadcast 8 Dec 1976
- Joe Walsh All Night Long 1981
- The Who Quadrophenia Live In London 2013
Raul Malo Around the WorldLucero Live From Atlanta
Jenni Rivera 1969 – Siempre, En Vivo Desde Monterrey Parte 2
Phil Ochs Live Again
Mary Fahl Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House
Roy Buchanan Shredding the Blues: Live At My Father’s Place
Ahmad Jamal and Yusef Lateef Live at the Olympia – June 27, 2012
Scott Hamilton – Live at Smalls
Johnny Clegg Best Live & Unplugged at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town
Grateful Dead Dick’s Picks Vol. 15 Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ 9/3/77
Marc Ribot Live at the Village Vanguard
Evereadys Finally Live
Paul Bley Play Blue, Oslo Concert
Redemption Live From the Pit
Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot At The Symphony
Scott Healy With The Eastman Chamber Jazz Orchestra Live at Kilbourn Hall
The Jeff Healey Band Live at The Horseshoe
Michael Chapman Live At Folk Cotttage, Cornwall 1967
Transatlantic Kaliveoscope
Status Quo The Frantic Four’s Final Fling – Live at Dublin 02 Arena
Steve Rothery Live in Rome
Grateful Dead Dick’s Picks Vol. 16 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA 11/8/69
Keith Getty & Kristyn Live at the Gospel Coalition CD
Andrea Motis Live at Jamboree
Bud Powell Live at the Blue Note Cafe Paris 1961