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Among the criteria I use are: the historical importance of the release, the band's peak performance, the performance or production, and, without hypocrisy, my personal taste.”
by Gilberto Morais
To celebrate the 100th episode of our Wikimetal , I proposed publishing, in parallel, on this date, what I consider to be the 100 essential live albums.
It wasn't easy to reach 100, after all, I had to establish criteria. One of these was not including live EPs, whose cuts were heartbreaking, such as the exclusion of Maiden Japan (Iron Maiden), Kaizuko Ban (Accept), Return to Apocalyptic City (Testament), Saints Will Conquer (Armored Saint) and Intermission (Dio).
Like any list, I know it will generate some controversy, even if that's not my intention. There will be questions about why an unknown band is among the top 100 and a certain album by a big name isn't. The justification is: among my criteria are the historical importance of the release, the band's best moment (peak), an absurd and, without hypocrisy, outstanding performance or production, and my personal taste (not above the other criteria, but which influences the choices, I won't deny it). When a live album by an important band is not included, it's because it falls short of the aforementioned criteria and doesn't necessarily mean it's not good, just that it doesn't make the top 100.
Obviously, I ignored the fact that those essential and fantastic albums were recreated in the studio and then exposed as imitations, but since we don't know for sure if all the others are authentic—because there are certainly still things that are masked, there's some trickery involved—let's leave that aside.
Here's the list in alphabetical order. It goes without saying that this is not my order of preference.
- Accept – Staying A life
- Ac/dc – If you want blood… You've got it
- AC/DC Live
- Amorphis – Forging the land of thousand lakes (*)
- Angra – Rebirth World Tour – Live in Sao Paulo
- Annihilator – Live at Masters of Rock
- Anthrax – Music of Mass Destruction
- Anthrax – Alive 2
- Anvil – Past and Present Live
- Axel Rudi Pell – Knights Live
- Black Sabbath – Live Evil
- Black Sabbath – Reunion
- Blaze – As live as it gets
- Bruce Dickinson – Scream for me Brazil
- Candlemass – Live
- Candlemass – Doomed for Live
- Cannibal Corpse – Live Cannibalism
- Death – Live in LA
- Death Angel – Fall from Grace
- Deep Purple – Made in Japan
- Def Leppard – Mirrorball – Live and More
- Destruction – Live without Sense
- Dio – Inferno: the Last in Live
- Down – Diary of a Mad Band
- Dream Theater – Live Scenes from New York
- Exodus – Another Lesson in Violence
- Faith no More – Live at Brixton Academy
- Fates Warning – Still Life
- Gamma Ray – Skeletons in the Closet
- Gotthard – Made in Switzerland (*)
- Grave Digger – Tunes of Wacken – Live
- Guns'n'Roses – Live Era '87-'93
- Halford – Live Insurrection
- Hammerfall – One Crimson Night
- Helloween – Live in the UK
- Halloween – High Live
- Hermetica – En Vivo 1993 Argentina
- Horcas – Live
- Iced Earth – Alive in Athens
- Iron Maiden – Live after Death
- Joe Satriani – Time Machine
- Judas Priest – Unleashed in the East
- Judas Priest – Priest…Live!
- Judas Priest – '98 Live Meltdown
- King Diamond – Deadly Lullabies Live
- Kiss – Alive
- Kiss – Alive 2
- Kreator – Live Kreation
- Led Zeppelin – The Song remains the same
- Megadeth – Rude Awakening
- Metallica – S&M
- Motley Crue – Live: Entertainment or Death
- Motorhead – No sleep 'til Hammersmith
- Motorhead – Everything louder than everyone else
- Nevermore – The Year of the Voyager
- Overkill – Wrecking your neck live
- Ozzy Osbourne – Speak of the devil
- Ozzy Osbourne Tribute
- Ozzy Osbourne – Live & Loud
- Pink Cream 69 – Live in Karlsruhe
- Queen – Live Killers
- Queensryche – Operation Livecrime
- Rage – From the Cradle to the Stage
- Rainbow – On Stage
- Rainbow – Finyl Vinyl
- Rammstein – Live from Berlin
- Ramones – Loco Live
- Rata Blanca – Live
- Raven – Live at the Inferno
- Running Wild – Live 2002
- Rush – All the World's a Stage
- Rush – Exit Stage Left
- Rush – A Show of Hands
- Rush – Time Machine 2011 – Live in Cleveland
- Sacred Reich – Still Ignorant – Live
- Samson – Live at Reading Festival '81
- Savatage – Japan Live '94
- Saxon – The Eagle Has Landed
- Saxon – The Eagle has Landed Part 2
- Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes
- Scorpions – Worldwide Live
- Sentenced – Buried Alive
- Slayer – Decade of Aggression Live
- Sodom – Mortal Way of Life
- SOD – Live at Budokan
- Stratovarius – Visions of Europe Live
- Testament – Live at the Fillmore
- Thin Lizzy – Live and Dangerous
- TNT – Live in Madrid
- Twisted Sister – Live at Hammersmith
- UDO – Live from Russia
- UDO – Mastercutor Alive
- UFO – Strangers in the Night
- Van Halen – Live: Right Here, Right Now
- Volbeat – Live from Beyond Hell / Above Heaven
- Wasp – Double Live Assassins
- Whitesnake – Live… in the Heart of City
- Whitesnake – Live in the Shadow of the Blues
- Whitesnake – Live at Donington 1990
- Yngwie Malmsteen – Trial by Fire – Live in Leningrad
(*) Note: Although they are DVDs, they are included in the list because there is a box set edition with a CD included.
*This text was written by a Wikimate and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the site's authors.
Click here to see other texts by WikiBrother Gilberto Morais!