The 15 Best Live Bands in Rock History

Studio albums are one argument. Two hours in a stadium is a different one, and not every great band survives it.

1

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Three-hour sets with no setlist discipline and no obvious end point.

1000pts

2

Queen

Freddie Mercury's crowd control, distilled into twenty-one minutes at Live Aid.

745pts

3

Pink Floyd

The band that made the stage set as much of the show as the songs.

610pts

4

Metallica

Four decades of stadium shows, now built around a no-repeat-setlist tour format.

546pts

5

The Who

The loudest band of the 1970s, by measurement rather than reputation.

546pts

6

Iron Maiden

A touring production that carries its own aircraft and a twelve-foot mascot.

488pts

7

Rammstein

A German industrial band whose stage budget goes mostly on fire.

488pts

8

Nine Inch Nails

Trent Reznor's shows, closer to installation art than a rock gig.

488pts

9

The Rolling Stones

Still touring stadiums six decades after their first club dates.

423pts

10

Grateful Dead

Thirty years of improvisation, taped by an audience that never heard the same show twice.

349pts

11

Foo Fighters

Dave Grohl's three-hour festival sets, built for the back of the field.

263pts

12

Led Zeppelin

The band whose 1970s shows ran past three hours on improvisation alone.

263pts

13

AC/DC

The same volume, the same riffs, and a cannon, in every arena on earth.

263pts

14

Pearl Jam

Different setlists nightly, and an official bootleg of every show since 2000.

163pts

15

Radiohead

A catalogue of studio experiments the band reassembles live without a net.

163pts