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 1990s
Alice In Chains Live 1990 to 1996
Alice In Chains MTV Unplugged 1996
Aztec Camera Spanish Horses Live 1991
Aztec Camera Dream Sweet Dreams 1991
Barenaked Ladies Rock Spectacle 1996
Bauhaus Gotham 1998
Bjork Live Box 1994 to 2001
Blur Live At The Budokan 1995
Jeff Buckley Dreams Of The Way We Were 1992
Jeff Buckley Live At Sin-E 1993
Jeff Buckley Mystery White Boy Live 95-96
Cast The Complete BBC Sessions 1995 to 1999
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Live Seeds 1992 1993
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1997
Cocteau Twins BBC Sessions 1982 to 1984 + 1996
Counting Crows Across A Wire 1997
The Cure Paris 1992
The Cure Show 1992
Depeche Mode Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live 1993
Ani DiFranco Living in Clip 1996
Dodgy So Far On Three Wheels Dodgy On The Radio 1996
The Fall The Twenty-Seven Points 1992 to 1995
Fields Of The Nephilim Earth Inferno 1990
Foo Fighters Concert Hall Toronto Canada 1996
Green Day On The Radio 1992
Happy Mondays Live 1991
PJ Harvey The Peel Sessions 1991 – 2004
Robyn Hitchcock Storefront Hitchcock
Robyn Hitchcock The Kershaw Sessions 1985 to 1991
Jesus And Mary Chain BBC Live In Concert 1992 & 1995
The Lemonheads Rockin’ The Shell 1994
Mercury Rev Live In Brixton ’92
Midnight Oil Scream In Blue 1982 to 1990
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Live From The Middle East 1998
The Mission Live No Snow No Show for the Eskimo 1988 1990
The Mission Ever After Live 1999
Morrissey Beethoven Was Deaf 1992
New Model Army BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 1990
Nirvana From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah 1989 to 1994
Nirvana Portland, Oregon 1990 (Bleach 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Nirvana Paramount 1991 (Nevermind Super Deluxe Box Set)
Nirvana Live at Reading 1992
Nirvana Live in Buenos Aires 1992
Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York 1993
Nirvana Live & Loud At Pier 48, Seattle 1993 (In Utero Super Deluxe Edition)
Pearl Jam Live on Two Legs 1998
The Pixies At The BBC 1988 to 1991
The Pixies Live At Vredenburg 1990
The Pixies Hollywood Holidays 1991
Pulp The John Peel Sessions 1981 to 2001
Pulp Party Clowns Live in London 1991
REM Unplugged The Complete 1991 and 2001 Sessions
REM Kcrw Studios Santa Monica CA 3/04/91
The Smashing Pumpkins Earphoria 1991 to 1994
Spiritualized Live @ Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997
Split Enz Extravagenza 1993
Split Enz Greatest Hits Live 1993
Soundgarden Live on I-5 1996
Suede Brainshake 1999
Sugar Live At The Cabaret Metro, Chicago 1992
10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged 1993
They Might Be Giants Severe Tire Damage 1994 to 1998
Tindersticks BBC Sessions 1993 to 1997
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:
Loading ...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
MTV Unplugged is a live album by alternative rock group Alice In Chains. Sometimes it is just referred to as Unplugged and there is also the option of a DVD.
It was recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Majestic Theatre in New York on April 10, 1996 and broadcast on MTV.
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Across a Wire Live in New York City is a live album by Counting Crows.
It features two sets by Counting Crows, one acoustic and the other electric. The first was recorded for the VH1 Storytellers series at Chelsea Studios in New York City on August 12, 1997.
The second was more representative of their normal live act and was recorded at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on November 6, 1997.
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Live at Reading is a live album and DVD by Nirvana.
It was recorded at at the Reading Festival in England on August 30, 1992.
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So Far On Three Wheels Dodgy On The Radio is a live compilation by power pop group Dodgy.
It is a two set CD which has one disc of radio sessions recorded live in the studio and a second disc recorded live in concert at various venues in 1995, 1996 and 1997.
I discovered Dodgy with their first album and their updated power pop style of indie rock immediately appealed. They are best known in the UK for the hits Staying Out For The Summer and Good Enough.
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Continue reading Dodgy So Far On Three Wheels Dodgy On The Radio 1996
Happy Mondays Live is a live album recorded in June 1991 at Elland Road, Leeds. Together with The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays created the Madchester music style that brought together rock music and dance music.
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From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah is a live compilation album by Nirvana pulled together from concert recordings between 1989 and 1994.
The Nirvana MTV Unplugged album had been a big success but it wasn’t the typical Nirvana sound.
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Continue reading Nirvana From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah 1989 to 1994
Mystery White Boy Live 95-96 is a live album by alternative rock singer songwriter Jeff Buckley which has been compiled by his mother after his death from recordings made on the tour to promote Grace.
Jeff Buckley Mystery White Boy Live 95-96
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Mercury Rev Live In Brixton ’92 is a very early live album.
Mercury Rev Live In Brixton ’92
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Live At Sin-E was originally a live EP by Jeff Buckley but it has since been expanded to a double CD and DVD of this performance from July 1993 at the Sin-E a coffee shop in New York.
Jeff Buckley Live At Sin-E
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Brainshake is a fan club only release of a live album by Suede recorded in April 1999 in Copenhagen.
