Is there anything better than live recordings?

For me, many of the classic rock bands made better studio albums than their live performances--Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Derek and the Dominos, Frank Zappa. This is particularly true with those artists who really used the studio as an instrument, employing panning, flanging, etc. On the other hand, the Allman Brothers Fillmore recordings creamed their studio albums both in performance and, arguably, sound quality. The Grateful Dead also stretched out in their best live performances, captured on their live albums.

@woofhaven1992  I happen to like Pink Floyd’s live performances of DSOTM and some of their other classics. David Gilmour could approach a song differently in live performance--e.g., his bluesy Strat playing on the 1974 live version of "Breathe" nicely replacing his lap steel part on the studio album. And with their quadrophonic sound system they could recreate or surpass their studio effects in live performance.

From my experience it’s rare that rock groups could put out a live performance that matched the quality of their studio efforts, even if just considering the musical, rather than audio, qualities. For one thing, many classic rock musicians were, shall we say, in a less-focused state of consciousness when they played live. Like Pink Floyd, the Who was a group that could do a great live performance that was quite different from the equivalent studio versions. I enjoy a live Who performance (from the 1969-1971 period) more than any other live performance, even if the audio has its problems like Live at Leeds. The Deluxe Edition of that album, with the full live Tommy recording, is probably the greatest live rock recording, for my tastes, but this is based on the performance, not the audio quality. The Isle of Wight performance--basically the same setlist--is wonderful to watch and hear on DVD, with its better sound quality.

@gosta Thanks for suggesting Live at Hull--I didn't even know about this recording!  I've been streaming it and enjoying it.  Without comparing them directly, from my memory the guitar and drums sound better than Leeds;  I think the vocals are mixed too low, but given the state of PAs back then (and how loud the Who played), this might be an accurate portrayal of what the audience heard, and I think it's a more complete concert.  I'm doubtful that either recording captures the low end that well; even though Entwhistle emphasized the treble at this time, I would think his bass would have had more low frequencies than these recordings reflect, a low end better captured on Tommy, for which he was similarly playing a Precision Bass, probably through a 4 x 12 cabinet.