I thought this would make for an interesting discussion. I have been finding of late that I have been really enjoying live performances by artists. I am not quite sure why this is the case. What have other people been finding with their collection of music? Do you find yourself listening to live performances more than the studio versions of albums?
Let the discussion begin!
I enjoy live performances as well. When a new album comes out from some of my favorite artists, they usually have a blu-ray disc that come along with the CD. That’s usually the reason I’d buy physical over digital–because of their live performance. I like the stripped-down version of their songs when they sing live more often. Although, if it’s a well-recorded studio album I enjoy it as much.
Also, it depends on the artist. Some artists excel when live and some when in the studio. The fact that you only get one-take in a live performance is also a big factor I think. It puts pressure on the artist to sing at their best.
I prefer (Classic-) Rock as Live, for other genres, I prefer studio recordings.
For me, it depends on the genre and the sound the recording is going for. Also, the mood I am in too. Let’s say if it is singer-soundwriter, duet, or acoustic, and sometimes orchestral, I like how it’s just naturally them and I get a lot of room information. There isn’t any mumbo-jumbo, just talent. It’s an intimate, I’m playing for you a concert in a cafe setting. Otherwise, some others are not recorded very well and I prefer the studio version.
Many of my favorite live pieces have been acoustic performances of bands in more intimate settings. AIC and APC are two that I love their unplugged and acoustic sets respectively. The latter being pretty mediocre recording quality.
I will mostly by choice listen to studio recordings, I consider the production to be a part of the piece once it gets to be more than just mic-ing a space and a band playing.
But there are live recoding’s I do really like and in some ways prefer, I think Zappa was better live, because his live shows were about more than just playing the music.
Also for some Genres I really enjoy the sound of a band playing together in a space.
Phish comes to mind.
The Dead too, for that matter. Though I can’t say based on first hand experience.
Some bands like zoé (mexican rock band) have live performances that were recorded better, I cant stand some of their studio versions lol.
But mostly I only listen to lives for the sake of variety, or for particular songs were the artist did some interesting arranges (dire straits, cream) like new guitar solos.
In jazz also sometimes they go all out (crazy improvisations) only in the live versions
If the studio version and the live version are both recorded nicely, usually I’ll go with the live version. I just like the interaction with the audience and the lively atmosphere in the live version. Sometimes they also have some variety in their jazz performance which I also like. For classical, sometimes it is also nice to hear the room in which they played it. So, yea in general I like live music. But I can’t deny that there are a lot of badly recorded live music, which if that’s the case, I’ll go with the studio.
There are good live recordings that are much more fun to listen to.
I wouldn’t have thought that if the equipment has and sounds harmonious, it’s almost pure goosebumps.
Alica Keys-unbreakable
Or Nirvana recorded by Mtv back then simply awesome.
this one good too listen:
Simply great for the mood, although I’ve never been a big fan of it.
Unfortunately, thanks to Corona, there’s not much to see in the way of live performances at the moment.
When you listen to the recording and compare it with the studio version, I leave it up to everyone to decide which version they like.
For me it’s clear 
.
There are a few “Unplugged” albums that are simply amazing. You said Nirvana which is the pinnacle of Unplugged episodes. Eric Clapton Unplugged of course, Hole Unplugged was also an amazing performance and had Courtney Love performing a Nirvana song less than a year after Cobain’s death.
Also, Jimmy Paige and Robert Plant did a semi live acoustic set called “No Quarter” that was pretty good.
YOOOOOOO YES! I got into zoe by listening to their live version in like mtv unplugged or something and when i heard the album version i was like damn, don’t kniw about that. One of my biggest disappointments was also this American rapper Chika, he appearance on npr tiny desk concert was amazing with the background vocalists and her just vibing. So good that i bought her album only to be not just disappointed but MAD it was similar to the zoe album where it loses alot of soul and sounds much less natural etc
There were some Howard Stern gems including Dave Grohl just ripping Everlong solo acoustic off the top of his head. Sadly i dont think many if any of those were recorded or archived any better than the random youtube videos of their late 90s performances.
Example: I am not a huge Oasis guy but this slaps. That studio had an oddly good setup for those type performances. It also sounds better with much less of the “british” from the recorded version