Is there anything better than live recordings?

Unplugged Nirvana, Eagles, Clapton, Zep’s BBC sessions, Zappa’ New York, Roxy, A night in SF, Jazz at Pawnshop, Live at Leeds, Deep Purple Made in Japan, Talking Heads The name of the band, Portishead Roseland NYC, Belafonte at CH, China Jean MJ, Kraftwerk Min Max, Tangerine Dream Ricochet and Encore, Laurie Anderson Home of the Brave, are some nice examples. Then you have the ballets, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet... opera, classical in general but these cannot be performed in a studio.

Generally a very few number compared to studio releases (contemporary).

Supertramp "Live in Paris" is bloody amazing. Great recording.

Peter Gabriel "Plays Live" is also amazing. Great recording again...

The live performances cited by @petg60 are of excellent SQ because they were recorded by SOTA mobile recording trucks or in-house control rooms. OTOH, a good soundboard recording would be supplemented with a submix of dedicated mics. All live classical and opera would be recorded the same way as all their recordings in an empty concert hall or soundstage.

I often saw the 60ft trailers recording sound outside Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, or the Academy of Music in Philly. That was when I was young, later in my career I was working in either the sound truck or companion video trailer.

Regarding bootlegs, I used to find some very good quality LPs at Bleeker Bob's. I suspect the house mix engineer was involved in some of the high quality soundboard releases.

How can i forget this, King Crimson Absent lovers, but only on CD.