Best Live Album Ever...

01-02-12: Tomcy6
"Emmylou Harris - At The Ryman"

I second this choice. 'At the Ryman' concert album is an amazing value to have. It is my belief that her concerts would rank as top choices of the live performances in a poll by the knowledgeable people. Pity [and crime] that her record company did not bother to issue EmmyLou's concerts on albums, they exist only as bootlegs. From her late early period there is nothing aside from 'The Last Date' and this album is actually a selected compilation of a few live recordings. I would actually rank both her two performances at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati in 1985 in the top 10 best and most valuable American concerts of all time. I tried to convince Warner Bros. to issue one of them on CD.

There are some excellent suggestions--I'd add B.B. King live at the Regal.
Those BBC "live" recordings, while usually great, are often really studio recordings, sometimes with overdubs. The Dire Straits and perhaps Led Zeppelin tapes are exceptions. Pretty sure the Beatles were "live in the studio" with no audience and in a very controlled situation.

Hendrix in the West

Aswad, Live and Direct.

Spyboy (Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Brady Blade, Daryl Johnson)

The live portions of Wheels of Fire, Cheap Thrills, and Undead (Ten Years After)

Bless Its Pointed Little Head (Airplane)