Top 10 Greatest Live Musical Performances of All Times

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Music is regarded as the boundless universal language which have been uniting people across cultures together under the same umbrella. Music is also considered as the food for the soul that nourishes human minds and takes one to a different world of joy and ecstasy. A force of change; music is the best comfort. World famous musician of all times, Jimi Hendrix once said- “Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.” Through years of practice, hard work, education and knowledge in the field of music, several artists and bands have come up with their unique styles to register their fame.

Liver performances are something that are for masses. When music artists or bands bring out an album or a track, you record and re-record, edit and finally bring the best out of themselves. But, live performances are something every fans would want to experience as it truly conveys the essence of the artist or the band itself. There have been myriads of liver performances all over the history of music and they are still talked about now. The best performances that they shared are more than just music to the audience. They took music to an entirely new level, an experience that will resonate itself for years to come throughout the generations.

Best Live performances in history

So, here we list the top 10 best live musical performances that might have been featured in arenas, TV shows or music festivals.

10. The Rolling Stones rock Wembley Arena

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The ultimate iron-men of the rock and the roll genre, English rock band- The Rolling Stones were formed in 1962 in London. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, this ban is also ranked fourth in the “100 Greatest Artists of All time” list. With over 250 million copies sales of their albums, their 1972 and 1975 tours are considered to be the greatest tours in rock history.

On the September 13 and 15, 2003 the hall of famers of rock and roll celebrated their four decades of musical journey with a concert at the Wembley Arena, London, England, as part of their Licks Tour. Band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts kicked off their two days concert with the opening guitar riffs of ‘Street Fighting Man’ and pumped up an estimated audience of 12,000 with the stage energy synonymous to the Rolling Stones. Songs played in the show included their global hits such as ‘Satisfaction’, ‘Start Me Up’, and ‘Honkey Tonk Women’. They ended their two days, 19 songs concert with the second-day encore of ‘Jumping Jack Flash’.

9. U2 plays on a liquor store rooftop

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Irish rock band U2 from Dublin was formed in 1976. With band members  Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. they have so far released 12 studio albums which have sold out to more than 150 million copies world wide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards which is more than any other band. In 2005, U2 were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 22 in its list of “100 Greatest Artist of all Time” and has labeled them as the “Biggest Band in the World”.

On March 27, 1987 U2 staged an impromptu performance on the rooftop of a liquor store in Los Angeles. The popular Irish quartet had played about four songs when the city police decided to stop the show and spoil the fun for the fans, who had managed to block the traffic in the streets, gathered below. The 20 minutes long performance on the rooftop and the subsequent police intervention was captured on cameras and made into a captivating ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ music video, which was the point of the whole show.

8. The Who – Live at Leeds, February 14, 1970

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English rock band “The Who” formed in 1964 is regarded as one of the best rock bands in Britian after Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stone magazine wrote: “Along with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the Who complete the holy trinity of British rock.” Time magazine wrote in 1979 that “No other group have ever pushed rock so far, or asked so much from it.”

‘The Who- Live at Leeds’ captures possibly the best live band in their absolute best. At that moment the band had everything  a rock band would dream of; Roger Daltrey, a natural frontman with great vocal ability, a greatly talented and energetic bassist in John Entwistle, Pete Townshend, one of the most charismatic and skilled lead guitarist of all time, and driving them all on was the tireless, robust and excellent drumming of Keith Moon. According to biographer Chris Charlesworth, “a sixth sense seemed to take over” leading them to “a kind of rock nirvana that most bands can only dream about.” When they took the stage at the Leeds Metropolitan University in February, 1970 what followed was a true celebration of rock and roll. The highlight of the show included a 15 minute version of ‘My Generation’, a brilliant rendition of their single ‘Substitute’ and a clutch of excellent cover songs. This concert is possibly the benchmark by which all other rock concerts should be judged.

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