Rank the Who's Live albums?

So I just have a black label MCA Live At Leeds but I find it to be intoxicating, frankly. One of my most frequent Who listens behind Quadrophenia and Face Dances. So I wanted to know; of all of the Who's live material, what's best, where should I go from here etc? Obviously I need the two disc CD Live At Leeds that has the Tommy performance and more, but in Canada it is literally $57 via amazon.

 

^ That's the one - it's not like there is other Who live music that really comes close.

Though I do like the DVD that came out several years ago from a 1975 concert.

 

Live at Leeds.

There.

 

To get a live recording as good as LIVE AT LEEDS, you'd have to buy LIVE AT THE STAR CLUB HAMBURG by Jerry Lee Lewis or one of James Brown's epochal live albums: LIVE AT THE APOLLO, LOVE POWER PEACE, etc. LEEDS is in company that rarified.

 

Live at Leeds
The Kids Are Alright

 

Dang, brutal... I was already planning on getting TKAA lol.

 

1975 concert DVD, not sure I've heard of it?

 

Just looked it up - Live in Texas. Came out in 2012.

Here's the set list:

1. Substitute
2. I Can’t Explain
3. Squeeze Box
4. Baba O’Riley
5. Boris The Spider
6. Drowned
7. However Much I Booze
8. Dreaming From The Waist
9. Behind Blue Eyes
10. Amazing Journey
11. Sparks
12. Acid Queen
13. Fiddle About
14. Pinball Wizard
15. I’m Free
16. Tommy s Holiday Camp
17. We’re Not Going To Take It / See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You
18. Summertime Blues
19. My Generation
20. Join Together
21. Naked Eye
22. Roadrunner
23. Won’t Get Fooled Again
24. Magic Bus
25. My Generation Blues

 

Wow that sounds like a KILLER tracklist.

 

My current ranking (I haven't picked up the ones from the last few tours, so cannot comment on those)

1. Live at Leeds
2. Young Vic Theatre 1971 (Who's Next Deluxe)
3. Capitol Theatre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 15 October 1969 (Tommy Super Deluxe) - Just skip the last few tracks that are from the mid-70s and throw off the feel of the album
4. Live at the Fillmore East 1968 - Raw Who Power!
5. View from a Backstage Pass - Great comp. If you can't find a copy, Greatest Hits Live is a lesser version
6. Blues to the Bush - Great performance, terrible mix/mastering
7. Live at Hull - Too similar to Leeds to rank higher
8. Live at the Royal Albert Hall - Enjoyable after editing out special guests
9. Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 - Not sure why, but never find myself going back to this one

Very little reason to explore the rest of these:
Join Together - A few interesting song choices, but didn't feel like the Who
Live in Toronto
Who's Last - No redeemable value

 

Lol, thank you for giving me some options. Two questions - one, is Greatest Hits & More not a complete copy of View from a Backstage Pass? Bet the 1975 original is expensive... and two, is Who's Last thaaaat bad?

 

Young Vic shows

 

LIVE AT LEADS! number 1 in my book...damn, I wore that album out back then.

 

Leeds and Hull thats all I want.

 

Greatest Hits Live contains about half of View From a Backstage Pass. VFaBP contains only selections from the Moon era, while GHL covers their entire career.

Who's Last just sounds flat & lifeless to me. The Live at Shea Stadium DVD is a better representation of that tour.

 

It might be tricky to find but 1999's Blues to the Bush is really excellent. For the first time since the early 80's they really just sounded like a rock band with some keyboards. It is just them, no cadre of backup singers, no horns, no tapes. They are playing fierce and mean all over again. Give it a listen.

Townshend's Deep End Live from 1985 is really interesting and often compelling.

 

Live At Leeds

The End

 

This is a great list and isn’t it funny how these recent releases have risen to the top. I would add the 1973 King Biscuit
Show that’s hinted on VFABSP. Please release as well as San Francisco 71.

 

Live at Leeds. I think the HD Tracks version is really good by the way; may be cheaper than other options. They run sales all the time by the way.

I really like the Ottawa 69 show. They are clearly having a good time on that one.

Crazy Brown's list is good; but I would move Isle of Wight higher. Not really a live show per se; but The Kids Are Alright as mentioned is good. Guess I should listen to the Young Vic again. It came with the deluxe version of Who's Next (which I also have via HD Tracks).

Deep End Live is really good; agree with that. There are really two version of that. I have a older laserdisc that is not the same show but is from the same timeframe as the current release out now for audio and video. I actually like the Laserdisc show better.

SF 71 is out in bits an pieces; we all want the whole thing.

There is also a live compilation DVD that is pretty good (thirty years of maximum R&B perhaps?). I don't watch is much; but when I want Who video I tend to go for Knebworth or The Kids Are Alright (the movie is a riot).

Quadrophenia as a movie is worth seeing by the way. Really tells the story and makes enjoying that glorious album fun. As noted, the KBFH show is pretty good too; but its only part of the show.

 

Unfortunately the sound is all mono and as Pete Townshend said during the show, the band was still trying to “find their feet” during this concert (for some reason, they seemed to be a tad under-rehearsed, despite having just played several shows in Europe). It didn’t take long for them to get into gear after this concert, however, as several great bootlegs from later in the 1975 U.S. tour prove.

 

Leeds is #1
Hull is great
The Kids Are Alright is superb

Then the Tanglewood footage, which deserves to be released, fantastic, better than Isle of Wight by far IMO.
Isle would come next
then Fillmore East 1968

there's no others released that are worthless, except stray tracks left over from the late '60s/early '70s tours that didn't get destroyed by Townshend, like that incredible version of Bargain from Oakland...most are unreleased, what remains...

Pure Rock Theatre is great.

 

I saw the Who in Long Beach around 1974 and with the Grateful Dead of all things in 1976. Then we lost Keith; I have seen subsequent shows but nothing touched Keith Moon shows. Of my top three bands (the obvious Beatles and Stones being the other two), the only one I saw live "in the day" was the Who. Watching Paul and Mick fax it in is just not the same. But I still want to be on the receiving end of the fax machine.

 

Jimmy B; you should listen to Ottawa if you haven't. It really is a lot of fun.

 

1. Live at Leeds
2. Live at Leeds
3. Live at Leeds
4. Live at Leeds
5. A Quick One -- from the Rolling Stones Rock 'n' Roll Circus -- you have to SEE (as well as listen to) THIS
6. Concert for New York (2002) -- you have to SEE (as well as listen to) THIS

.

 

I guess I'm in the minority but Isle of Wight is my go to live Moon era album. My favorite post Moon live release is Royal Albert Hall.

Yes Who's Last blows although I got a hold of a German CD and it'a not as harsh sounding as the the original U.S. version I purchased on the first day of release. That version soured me on the whole 1982 tour until I discovered boots of shows from Dallas and San Diego.

A good post Entwistle live album is the 2004 performance at Isle of Wight that came out a couple of years ago.