It's no coincidence that, as a rule, live records tended to be much better up until the late 1970's. Albums were seen for generations as a way of advertising a great live act, rather than vice versa, as tends to be the case in the previous couple of decades. Some acts, however, remain truly special on the stage, and can transform their good songs into great ones, and make their great ones into an experience that lets you live in the world that they have created for you. This has been a truly difficult piece to write, largely because it has been so hard to narrow down to ten a selection of songs and performances that in some way transcend the recorded original version. The ones I have included here are not necessarily my favourites, or the live performances that I believe to be the best of all time; Rather, they are the best examples I could find of songs that either sound markedly different from the album version, or simply better versions. Despite being my personal favourite genre, I haven't included any hip-hop here, and there wasn't enough room to discuss classic live acts such as Kraftwerk, Nirvana, Bob Marley et al. If I've missed a definitive song, passed over your love of Peruvian nose flutes, or am simply completely wrong, feel free, as always, to chip in with your own suggestions on the comments section...