is this the greatest live band of all time?

To me, Phish is by far the best live band experience. Nothing even comes close. However I am too young to have seen the Dead in their early yrs (68'-72'). I have seen around 1000 live shows, and there are a few that really stick out.

Phish New Years 95
Prince at The Fillmore in 2004
The Original Meters in 2005
Phil Lesh & Friends 1999 
Zero  93-97
Almost every Phish Show...
Pink Floyd 
Allman Bros
Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeshi
Moe. 
Tom Petty

sam here again i notice nobody mention hair metal bands? i turned 18 in 1980 so i am the mtv generation. i never got into hair metal it all sounded the same to me?

I heard Santana at the Pavillion in Flushing Meadows the weekend before Woosdstock (1969).  No one there had ever heard of them (headliner was Savoy Brown BB, 2nd act was Charlie Musselwhite's BB), but Santana opened, and tore the roof off the place...and this was an open air concert!!  Every bit as good as their legendary set a week later.
But the best live shows I caught were Talking Heads in 1980 with the "Remain In Light" band, and Little Feat in '76-77, both at the Orpheum in Boston.  Absolutely masterful performances, full of improvisatory touches, but perfectly in control...