Top Ten Songs that are Better Live Than Their Studio Versions

The Top Ten
1 Phantom of the Opera - Iron Maiden

Live After Death, 1985, is better

2 The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix
3 Dark Star - Grateful Dead

It was a Deadhead rite of passage to hear this song live back in the day.

4 Strange Kind of Woman - Deep Purple
5 Difficult to Cure - Rainbow

Agreed. The best version is the one from "Finyl Vinyl". Extended to 11 and a half minutes!

One of the live versions is incredible

6 Mistreated - Deep Purple

Oh yes, live in California 1974 is better than the studio version

7 Banish from Sanctuary - Blind Guardian

Several live versions are better, including the sample here that is from a live show in 2015, released on a live album in 2017 (studio version is from 1989)

8 Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones
9 Tearin' Out My Heart - Rainbow

San Antonio live version is twice longer than the original one. Amazing guitar performance from Ritchie Blackmore. Best I have ever seen from him. Not only his guitar playing skills but also acrobatic skills. My favorite part is when he switches between the pickup and at the end of the solo.

Not long ago zxm told me about this version and yes, Ritchie Blackmore playing is sick.

10 The Boys are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy
The Contenders
11 Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
12 Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
13 In Memory of Elizabeth Reed - The Allman Brothers Band
14 Space Truckin' - Deep Purple

I wanted to add it. it gets about 20 minutes long live. That's a lot of time. You can smash about 20 guitars in that time when you're good. Ritchie Blackmore was also good enough to burn down the stage.

15 Good Goodbye - Linkin Park
16 Bobby Brown Goes Down - Frank Zappa
17 Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin
18 Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
19 You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi
20 One More Light - Linkin Park

The live version on Jimmy Kimmel was way befter than the studio version in my opinion. You can tell was a whole lot more emotion put into this version, especially after Chris Cornell, a very good friend of Chester, had passed away a day or two before this concert. You could tell by Chester’s face and even by his voice that he was trying not to cry, and the “I do” during the break really added to it. You can hear it in the studio version as well, but it sounds a lot better here.

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