Live Indie And Alternative Rock Albums From The 1980s

I’ve decided to group indie rock and alternative rock live albums together to reduce the problems distinguishing between the two related categories.

Wikipedia defines Indie Rock as

“Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Indie rock was extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include indie pop, jangle pop, C86, and lo-fi, among others. Originally used to describe record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. As grunge and punk revival bands in the US, and then Britpop bands in the UK, broke into the mainstream in the 1990s, it came to be used to identify those acts that retained an outsider and underground perspective.”

Wikipedia defines Alternative Rock as

“Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s. The “alternative” definition refers to the genre’s distinction from mainstream rock music, expressed primarily in a distorted guitar sound, subversive and/or transgressive lyrics and generally a nonchalant, defiant attitude. The term’s original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their collective debt to either the musical style, or simply the independent, D.I.Y. ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music.[4] At times, “alternative” has been used as a catch-all description for music from underground rock artists that receives mainstream recognition, or for any music, whether rock or not, that is seen to be descended from punk rock (including some examples of punk itself, as well as new wave, and post-punk).”

There is an issue of where indie rock and alternative rock emerged from punk rock and new wave so I’ve provided links below to the punk and new wave live albums by decade.

Alternative Rock and Indie Rock Live Albums Recorded In The 1980s

Laurie Anderson United States Live 1983
Bauhaus Press the Eject And Give Me The Tape 1981 1982
Bauhaus Rest in Peace The Final Concert
Camper Van Beethoven Mississippi Nights St Louis October 12 1989
Cocteau Twins BBC Sessions 1982 to 1984 + 1996
The Cure Concert The Cure Live 1984
The Cult Dreamtime Live at the Lyceum 1984
Echo & The Bunnymen Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1983
The Fall BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert
The Fall Seminal Live
Fields Of The Nephilim BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1988
Robyn Hitchcock Gotta Let This Hen Out 1985
Robyn Hitchcock The Kershaw Sessions
Midnight Oil Scream In Blue 1982 to 1990
The Mission Live No Snow No Show for the Eskimo 1988 1990
The Pixies At The BBC 1988 to 1991
Portishead Roseland NYC Live 1987
The Psychedelic Furs Radio One Sessions
REM Live Greensboro Coliseum 1989
REM Dreaming In Paradise 1983 Live Radio Broadcast
REM Right On Target 1984 Live Broadcast
REM Songs For A Green World The Classic 1989 Broadcast
R.E.M. Live At Muziekcentrum Vredenburg 1987
Simple Minds Live In The City Of Light 1986
Siouxsie & The Banshees Nocturne 1983
Siouxsie & The Banshees At The BBC 1977 to 2001
The Smiths Rank 1986
The Smiths Hatful Of Hollow 1983 1984
Soundgarden Louder Than Live 1989
Split Enz The Living Enz

You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk

The All Time Best Indie & Alternative Rock Live Albums

I don’t have a readers poll for this decade but I do have a poll to find the all time best indie and alternative rock live albums:

You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk

Indie & Alternative Rock Live Albums By Decade – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s

Punk Rock & New Wave Live Albums By Decade – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s