Rolling Stones Live Albums Ranked

Face it: Most Rolling Stones live albums can seem like quick cash grabs or stop-gaps between their studio records, as you’ll see in the below list of Rolling Stones Live Albums Ranked.

For every classic Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! there are two or three records such as the mostly forgettable 1991 concert set Flashpoint. Few bands have damaged their stage legacy as much as the Stones; then again, few acts have remained as active as the Stones for so many years. So it comes with the territory.

Still, how often do live albums get to the heart of a band? In the Rolling Stones’ case, they felt the need to chronicle almost every one of their tours on record once they proclaimed themselves the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band on the planet. So that means every single bump along the way – the drugs, the bloat, the greed – often seeps into the records.

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That also means there are some truly inspired performances – like 1970’s historic Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! (when the Stones truly were the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band on the planet) and even an album as late as 2008’s Shine a Light, in which they ripped away all the celebrity, bloat and greed for a brief moment.

From their first, vibrant (but barely discernible) live recording to latter-day “official bootlegs,” we take a look at the band’s many concert LPs over the years in the below list of the Rolling Stones Live Albums Ranked.