When else was the live version better?

I think Dire Straits performance of Sultans of Swing at Alchemy Live should be here, easily elevates the song far past the studio recording and the drumming is incredible.

To my mind, the Pulse concert had the best version of Comfortably Numb (and one of the most beautiful solos of all time).

1:44 Led Zeppelin - The Ocean (Live at Madison Square Garden, 1973) 2:27 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (Live in Pompeii, 2016) 3:58 Steve Vai & Metropole Orchestra - For The Love Of God (Live 2004) 4:43 John Mayer - Neon (Live In LA, 2007) 5:32 Metallica & S&M - One (Live in 1999) 6:30 Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues (Live at San Quentin, 1969) 8:02 Nirvana - All Apologies (MTV Unplugged, 1993) 9:17 Porcupine Tree - Anesthesize (Live in Tilburg, 2008) 10:38 Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Two Step (Live at Radio City, 2007) 12:43 Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun (Live At Filmore, NYE, 1969)

AIC Nutshell, MTV Unplugged just gives me chills man. It’s almost like at the time the concert was put on, layne was nearing the end of his life and it amplified the lyrics and the song overall to a whole new level of raw and emotional with the bare acoustics. Truly a breathtaking and heart wrenching performance by one of the greatest frontmen and bands to ever do it.

I would add Pearl Jam's Black from their MTV Unplugged concert to any shortlist. It's absolutely fantastic.

RHCP - Slane Castle. The whole concert is a gift. The outro in "Dont forget me" touched my soul and "Throw away your televison" just becomes a whole new song.

Otherside by the red hot chilli peppers at slane castle. The backing vocals are incredible and you can tell there’re really enjoying themselves

Lindsay Buckingham’s Big love and go insane live in 1997 was just phenomenal beyond measure

Eric Johnson Cliffs of Dover Live in Austin always gets me, i can't find a better song to have such an amazing intro. Definitly makes it better than the original

That version of Sultans of Swing from dire straits' live album Alchemy has some of the best energy I've ever heard in a song. The heavy drums really take the song to a new level and Knopfler's solos are absolutely killer. Great video!

That Anesthetize performance is what got me into Porcupine Tree, and now they’re on of my favorite bands of all time. Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson in general have so many neat perfect live performances of their songs, it’s insane.

Tin Pan Alley live with SRV and Johnny Copeland has to be my favorite live performance. They were just electric and those mics were so hot they couldn’t play a wrong note

Something about there being a live version of a song just makes it automatically more intriguing because it shows a very raw, yet powerful take on the creation. Nothing like experiencing the song yourself, in fact.

This definitely needs a pt 2. With Randy Rhoads and several others. Could be a series that I would love watching.

Eric Clapton Unplugged changed my musical interests/opened my mind at a young age. The unplugged performances were all amazing and need to make a comeback.

“Hollow Years” - Dream Theater from Live at Budokan. Hands down one of Petrucci’s most ripping solos with a perfect mix of shred and emotion! I break out into a cold sweat every time I listen to it. The build up at the end of the solo before breaking back out into the live only soaring version of the chorus…::chills::

Dipping back into the MTV Unplugged bucket, the criminally underrated Alice In Chance performance gives me chills and goosebumps. My favorite, I think, is Nutshell, though it's very hard to pick one. Dave Mathews has a voice? Yeah, no one had a voice like Layne Staley. I know Nirvana is held up as the pinnacle of unplugged performances but I think the AIC performance is just as good.

Peter Frampton’s Do you feel like we do live is amazing he stretches out every solo and it’s just great

Queen - Love of my life - live at Wembley ...gives me goosebumps every time!

Maybe mostly unknown in the world outside of Germany, but The Bard's Song + Valhalla live in Wacken 2016 by Blind Guardian always gives me chills, when watching it.

The unplugged version of “ Would? “ by Alice In Chains is HAUNTING, many have said it before but it’s as close to someone attending their own funeral as you can get. Layne, in the darkest depths of his suffering somehow delivers an Astonishing vocal performance and the context of the event changes the song from being about Andrew Wood, to Layne accepting his own fate. Not to mention it just sounds kickass as well, amazing reimagining of such a driving song as well, still keeping the momentum but striping back and letting the meat of the song truly shine.

Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird- Live in 1977. The piano added in adds a whole new richness and the atmosphere throughout from the crowd to the energy from all the musicians just pure amazing.

1985 day in the green for whom the bell tolls is prolly one of my favorite metal performances ever, cliff burtons bass intro was amazing

Prince’s live version of Purple Rain in Syracuse 1985 is absolutely one of, I think, the most underrated live versions, and one of my favorite guitar solos ever, bro shreds for like 10 minutes and every second is magical

Some I love are Domination by Pantera live in Moscow, next is Hollow Years by Dream Theater live at Budokan and then Blind by KoRn live at Woodstock 99. The crowd energy for KoRn and Pantera is nuts. And John Petrucci's extended solo for Hollow Years is a fun mindblow conpared to the softer and short acoustic solo on the album.

Alter Bridge playing Words Darker Than Their Wings at the Royal Albert Hall is possibly one of the best live versions. That high note by Myles Kennedy at the end is incredible and with the orchestra I get goosebumps immediately.

Any Rory Gallagher live album.....his improvisation was off the charts and he would play songs differently live, completely blowing the original out of the water. I honestly cry with tears of joy watching him play. J filled with so much energy and the showmanship is one of a kind

I would say Pantera - Domination Moscow, Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark Rock in Rio, Nightwish - Ghost Love Score Wacken, Gojira - Backbone Brixton Academy. They all are so freaking awesome live perfomances

Today I learned that you are a Porcupine Tree fan, I'm always excited to hear that someone else likes them, I feel like not enough people listen to or talk about them. Hopefully you can mention them more often in your content whenever appropriate, they do so much that can be used as an example in your videos. And that Anesthetized album is a go-to for me, it really is full of performances that outshine their studio album counterparts.

John Mayer's songs are almost always even better live. My favorite recorded shows are Where the Light is and also that time at Austin City Limits in 2007. Its honestly crazy how he improves and changes his own songs every night!

Shakey Graves- Family and Genius. Can never get the live out of my head and constantly forget that there even is an original

I love that you're giving Anesthetize proper drift. It's a damn work of art

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain - Live in LA 1982 The greatest breakup song in history in its purest form. The raw pain and heartache is palpable on that stage. An amazing performance.

Alter Bridge - Words Darker Than Their Wings (Live at Royal Albert Hall) is absolutely epic. Tops the studio version for sure!

I have listened to For the Love of God thousands time and I have seen Steve Vai quite a few times since the "noughties" and every time he has played that song live he is getting deeper and deeper in the interpretation of it. Crowd goes mental as soon he hits the melody and so do I ❤❤

Rush always did a great job live, YYZ live just pushes all three of them into some kind of higher plane of existence. RIP Neil.

Van Halen’s Live Without a Net concert had so many songs that were just phenomenal live.

Live in the LBC by Avenged Sevenfold is an absolutely amazing concert and the peak of their career imo.

The Killers "When you were young" live at the Royal Albert Hall is my all time favorite live performance. Made me cry first time I watched it

Down in a Hole live by AIC on MTV unplugged is another masterpiece. Then Open Car, Arriving somewhere but not here Live by Porcupine Tree and Deform to form a star live by Steven Wilson, Folklore live by Opeth. On an Island live by David Gilmour in Royal Albert Hall, Love Can only Heal Live by Myles Kennedy, Creep live by Radiohead are also some live performances that I can recall which are absolute gem.

One of my favorite ever live performance is Creeping Death live at Moscow. The energy in the audience and in the band is just unmatched. Hearing a bunch of Russians scream during the bridge of that song just gives me goosebumps.

I would add pantera’s version of planet caravan in 2022 in tribute to Dimebag and Vinnie, although they weren’t there it felt so raw and so legitimate to see Phil have closure and peace to see him perform like that. It almost brings me to tears

Anastasia by Slash, in Sydney is my favorite version. The improv and longer outro is better than the studio version by a mile. And Myles Kennedy kills it on the vocals aswell. Amazing live performance.

Rush's La Villa Strangiato live at the Pink Pop in 1979. Alex Lifeson played with a smashed left hand ring finger during that concert. Due to the sensitivity to that finger, Alex's playing of the song and the sound will never be duplicated ever again. It even cost them 3 shows on that tour cause he couldn't play !

Some personal favourites: “Cause we’ve ended as lovers” live at Ronnie Scott’s 2007- Jeff Beck and Tal Wilkenfeld “Parisienne walkways” live at royal albert hall 1993 - Gary Moore “Nutshell” MTV unplugged 1996 - Alice in Chains “Hotel California” MTV unplugged 1994 - the Eagles

Stevie Ray Vaughn - Life without you (live in Montreux) There is just so much soul in this song and especially in the solo at the end... Every time the part with the feedbacks starts I get goosebumps it's so good

SRV “Riviera Paradise”Austin City Limits. Still gives me the chills and tears at the same time ❤

A note about Hotel California. Walsh and Felder described the live soloing of the song as having become a contest between them. One would bring something new and the other would say “oh yeah? Watch this”

For me it’s Fleetwood Mac’s version of “Go Your Own Way” on their live album “The Dance”, it’s much more energetic than the studio version and Lindsey’s solo at the end never fails to amaze me.

Fleetwood Mac - Big Love played at Warner Brothers Studios is probably the most popular version of the song, and for good reason. The sheer emotion absolutely pouring out of Lindsey Buckingham is incredible. The power in his voice, finger picking each string with perfect precision and attack, that’s probably my favorite live song. Period.

I love your channel bro. This YT vid is a great one, Kudos!

The live versions of any Allman Brothers Band song is almost always the definitive version. Whipping Post off of Filmore East is something I would recommend.

I dont know if you will ever see this, but i have been really inspired by you. for the longest time i've wanted to learn the guitar, but every time i tried to learn nothing sounded good and those who were teaching me weren't there at the right times. after a while i just quit the guitar thinking it want meant for me until watching some of your videos one day and trying it again. For the first time in a while i felt like i was making progress and started getting complements that im good at it. Thank you :)

I would have to say Eric Clapton's live performance of Layla from his 2014 "Plane's, Train's, and Erik" world tour is my favorite. It just so perfectly wraps around you when you listen to it. Between his amazing tone and feel on stage to the absolute solid musical group behind him it just wipes all other versions off the map for me. Just the the music following the opening riff moves my whole body for such a relatively calm song. It's also, in my opinion, Nathan East's best performance of the song. I'd love to see a reaction from you in the future, or maybe in another similar video to this one. As always Tyler, your channel inspires me to go pick up my guitar and play. Looking forward to more.

"She's got a way" by Billy Joel. The studio version is great but the live performance is just leaps and bounds beyond amazing

I think the most striking performances from Nirvanas MTV Unplugged are Pennyroyal Tea which Kurt does alone and it sounds like how they should have done it in the record, and of course Where do you sleep last night which is legendary in itself

Corey Taylor’s live acoustic performance of snuff is absolutely incredible

Anesthetize is my favourite song of all time. And Gavin Harrison's drumming ist absolutely out of this world on this track. Very good choice.

Pearl Jam-Black at MTV Unplugged. Idk how it's only in the list it's the most emotional, heartbreaking epic perfomance of the song. And an honorable mention to What it Takes by Aerosmith 2002 Tokyo live

Voodoo child is soo good live I swear one of the greatest performances every

To me, the song from S&M that worked the best and that I truly prefer over the original is “The Call of Ktulu.” It’s the only song where my mind fills in the missing parts from the symphony when I listen to the original recording, and to me is the definitive version of the song.

I am thoroughly impressed that you included Anesthetize in this list...Good on ya'...Magnificent performance.

Queen’s Sombody to Love either from Milton Keys or Live at Montreal are absolutely powerhouse performances

"Nutshell" by Alice in Chains on MTV's Unplugged. Absolutely painful, raw and beautiful all at once. Also, have to give a shout out to U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" Live from The Red Rocks in 1983

I personally think that Crazy Train (Live 1981) is the best version of the song. The intro is so perfect! Especially when Randy is on the 4th fret on the g string using his pick up selector as a way to change how the note sounds!

ZZ Top live in Germany. 1980 Rockpalast. Damn near the whole concert. Fool for your stockings and tube snake boogie. Pearly gates almost sounds like a horn. So raw! I believe Billy is at his finest at this time. His playing is absolutely amazing.

RHCP Dont Forget Me live at La Cigale France and also Venice Queen from Slane Castle, incredible performances.

That Porcupine Tree live version of Anesthetize is amazing. Gavin Harrison's drumming is on another level.

Just ones that stick out from listening to the Radio back in the day which made them iconic: Led Zepplin - Stairway, (Song Remains) Pearl Jam - Elderly Woman (Live on Two Legs), Dave Mathews - Ants Marching (Live Radio Edit/Busch Stadium), Phish - Bouncing around the Room (A Live One), Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird (Gold + Platinum) , Frampton - Do You Feel Like I Do (Frampton Comes Alive) and not on Radio but Alice in Chain's whole MTV Unplugged but really Nutshell, Brother, Got Me Wrong, and Would?. Just a greater appreciation for that band/those songs, their meanings and what they were going through with Layne.

Dream Theater has a version of Peruvian Skies live , I think it's in the Once in a LIVEtime album where you get interludes of Have a Cigar and Enter Sandman within the song and I think that is brilliant because it shows their Metal and Prog influences

Fat old sun live in Gdańsk! Gilmore’s solo at the end is face melting!!!

Just a small gig for a few friends. Live at Day On The Green, 1984. For Whom The Bell Tolls. *Cliff. Burton.*

In 1974-ish I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd , Rod Stewart/Faces, Loggins & Messina, and Fleetwood Mac play at Balboa Stadium and the entire concert was better than any album. Free Bird was unbelievable. Every band there was absolutely on fire that day. Best concert I ever went to.

Harvester of Sorrow in Moscow in 1991 and The Outlaw Torn from S&M in 1999 are at the top of my list. Harvester for how aggressive and heavy it is, Outlaw for how everything comes together to make the emotion so palpable. Thr Unforgiven III from S&M2 in 2019 is a close third for the beautiful union of Hetfield's incredible vocal performance and the orchestra backing him up. It's profound.

I love the live version of Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac from the midnight special. Stevie's energy during that performance was radiant, the way she stares the cameras down gets me every time.

Porcupine Tree is LEGENDARY! You should do some more with them, or even with Steven Wilson’s work with Guthrie Govan

Nirvana - Drain You (Live and Loud, Seattle, 1993) has always been one of my absolute favourites. The raw aggression is peak Nirvana imo. Kurts YEEEEEAAAAAAHHH at the end of the quiet interlude is so amazing in this particular show.

Ever since I had the epiphany moment where I realized that Satch leaves open space in most of his studio recordings so that he can transform the piece live with improv, his live performances were on another level for me. I remember being a 6,7,8 year old kid riding in the car with my dad, and he would pop in the CD for one of Joe's live concerts on car rides (even just to walmart), and often that would be my first time hearing a particular song. It wasn't until later once I get into playing myself that I'd hear some of the studio versions of songs like Cool #9, Just like Lightning, One Robot's Dream, even Always or Ice 9. I remember thinking that they were so empty and missing so much compared to the live version. It took me years to realize that he wrote it that way on purpose, so that when he plays it live can the song transcend into the true and full version of itself. IMO Joe definitely belongs on a list like this.

On S&M, there's a version of The Call of Ktulu that is MILES AHEAD of the studio recording (which is already really good)

All of these are spot on! Great list!

Rhcp "Don't forget me" live at la cigale was so great and so much better than the studio version. One of there best performences

The Tragically Hip - "Grace, Too." Their final concert, recorded by the CBC. Gord Downey had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and he knew his time was coming up. The raw emotion of someone who, until that moment, seemed to be at peace with his fate, just boiling over, and yet somehow he maintained in control of his performance. They went into multiple encores that night for the first and only time in the band's history. Incredibly intense show, and they were in top form for every track they played, but "Grace, Too" was the bittersweet punctuation mark on the whole thing.

Sunshine of your love ~ live at the Royal Albert Hall 1968

Also I'll Never Smoke Weed with Willie Again, with Willie standing next to them. Funny, and great acoustic guitar playing live.

sometimes it's shocking how good Dave Matthews is -- and i've been listening to him for like 30 years

Big Love - Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey Buckingham's live performance is unreal. Just him and an acoustic guitar.... amazing.

What makes my favorite live performance so great was PURELY an accident - Hum appeared on Howard Stern in 1995 and played their hit "Stars". It was also being taped for the Stern TV show so it showed behind the scenes things, but there was drama about the amount of equipment they brought. Howard insisted that the band play, and so they set up Brian St. Pere (RIP) and his drum kit in the hallway of the radio station and the rest of the band in studio with all their amps. Matt Talbot starts in the very soft intro guitar, and the band all comes in for that moment of loudness at the end of those first two lines. Where the mistake was - Stern's audio engineer forgot to turn on the drum mics and the mics to the bass cabinet. So there's the little breakdown after the intro and BSP goes into his part, which is only picked up by the in-studio mics. But because the guitars are cranked up at this point, all you hear are Matt and Tim Lash blasting away, so BSP is just drowned out and you can't hear Jeff Dempsey at all, so you're treated to 10 seconds of nothing but a full-distortion guitar attack. The studio engineer realizes his mess up and flips on the microphones to the drums and bass at this perfect moment and the band just goes full force through that song.

I was already in when you listed The Song Remains the same, then you threw in PORCUPINE TREE 😍😍😍

Oingo Boingo’s live versions of « who do you want to be » were always pretty dope, and especially when they performed their last show. the sheer speed of it alone is impressive

Suspicious minds, live 1970 just brings a whole different feeling from the original but still carries over the same theme, not to mention the live rhythm making you just want to move along with it

"Frampton Comes Alive" was all songs that already appeared on albums that went nowhere. The live version brought them to life.

Many others I would pick - Deep Purple - Child in time (live on the old grey whistle test) Chris Cornell - When I’m down live 2010 Alter Bridge - watch over you (live in Amsterdam) Rainbow - Catch the rainbow (live in Germany) Led Zeppelin - Since I’ve been loving you (MSG 1974) Pantera - Domination (Live in Moscow) Black Sabbath - I (live in 2010) Joe Bonamassa - Sloe Gin (live at the royal Albert hall) SRV and Albert King - don’t lie to me (in session) Thin Lizzy - Emerald (live and dangerous) Gary Moore - Still got the blues (live in montreaux 1990)

Mister Crowley is my favorite Randy Rhoads contribution. The live version from Tribute is so much better than the album cut. Cannot listen to that without getting goosebumps.

Glenn Hughes - Mistreated (2004 in Los Angeles). It's just mindblowing

Glad to see where the light is on this list

I dont know if it counts... but the radiohead live versión of in rainbows is great

Queen "Somebody to Love" Live in Montreal 1981. Incredible performance. Also, Queen "Hammer to Fall" Live Aid 1985.

Mark Knopfler Sultans of Swing live in London 1996.... awe inspiring.

I'm one of those people that tends to love the live version most of the time... I want to hear the uniqueness, the human elements over the punch ins, overdubs, and cleaned up studio recording. Oakland Coliseum Van Halen, Austin City Limits SRV or Eric Johnson, Paisley Park Prince for just a few examples. ☮❤🎶