10 Greatest Shows In Rock History

10. Cheap Trick at Budokan

The '70s really cemented itself as the decade of the live album. While you had the studio wizards like Queen warping the sound of songs like Bohemian Rhapsody to absolute perfection, bands like KISS and Peter Frampton probably wouldn't be the stars they are now if they didn't capture the magic on stage. If you really want a taste for the brash sounds of rock and roll, Cheap Trick had you covered once they visited the land of the rising sun.

Despite their hooks being perfect for the time, Cheap Trick couldn't get arrested with any of their material in the States until they played this one date. Blowing up their songs to massive proportions, the set list for the night runs like a virtual greatest hits from a band that was just getting their feet wet. The raw performance of I Want You To Want Me alone blows the original out of the water, replacing the dorky piano solo with an electrified fireworks show by Rick Nielsen.

On the record, the crowd is practically an instrument, as you hear every single participant absolutely losing their minds whenever they kick off something like Ain't That a Shame. It might be stretching to call Cheap Trick the American Beatles, but for a brief shining moment, they became the poster children of all things power pop.