15 incredible LIVE albums from Indie artists

6 September 2025, 10:00 | Updated: 8 September 2025, 11:35

Who doesn't love a live album? Here are some of the very best gigs caught on vinyl over the years, from The Smiths to Sam Fender.

By Radio X

@RadioX

1. The Killers - Live At The Royal Albert Hall: release date 9th November 2006

   Anglophile Brandon Flowers realised a lifelong dream by performing at the iconic London venue in July 2009. The interplay between the musicians is given more legroom, as the band dip into each one of their three albums to date: Hot Fuss, Sam's Town and Day & Age. They also throw in their cover of Joy Division's Shadowplay for good measure.

   

   The Killers - When You Were Young (Live From The Royal Albert Hall)

2. Sam Fender - Live From Finsbury Park: release date 9th December 2022

   The high point of the summer of Seventeen Going Under saw Fender headline his biggest show to date at the London park. The sound of 45,000 people singing the title track to his second album can still send shivers down the spine.

   

   Seventeen Going Under (Live From Finsbury Park)

3. The Smiths - Rank

   Released a year after the legendary Mancunian band called it a day, this is a testament to their versatility on stage. Recorded at London’s Kilburn Ballroom on the Queen Is Dead tour, this LP opens with the title track, complete with Morrissey ad-libs and Johnny Marr and Mike Joyce going crazy. There’s a sweet medley of Rusholme Ruffians and the soundalike Elvis song His Latest Flame, expert renditions of Ask, Panic and The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and a rare outing for the instrumental Draize Train.

   

   The Smiths, 14, Bigmouth Strikes Again, Rank

4. Arctic Monkeys - Live At The Royal Albert Hall (2020)

   Alex Turner and his team give the Tranquility Base album a live outing at the RAH, which skips between the longe lizard chic of the band's later material and the storming indie bangers of their earlier work. The fan favourite 505 is all present and correct.

   

   Arctic Monkeys - Arabella (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)

5. Oasis - Familiar To Millions

   Recorded on 21st July 2000 at Wembley Stadium, Familiar To Millions was the first live album from Oasis, and included huge performances of Champagne Supernova, Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger. An immense sound.

   

   Oasis - Supersonic Live Wembley 2000 (Familiar To Millions)

6. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York

   Kurt Cobain's suicide in April 1994 sent this recording into the stratosphere. His performance of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World flashed around the world soon after his death, making this an essential purchase for mourning fans.

   

   Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World (MTV Unplugged)

7. LCD Soundsystem - The Long Goodbye Live Album

   The album, which charts LCD Soundsystem's last gig at Madison Square Garden accompanied their documentary film Shut Up And Play The Hits: The Very Loud Ending Of LCD Soundsystem. And then they got back together. Bah!

   

   LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (Shut Up and Play the Hits)

8. Muse - HAARP (Live at Wembley)

   Muse's HAARP album documents the first sold-out show at the then all-new Wembley Stadium in 2007. HAARP stands for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, a US government-funded ionospheric research program in Gakona, Alaska. What do you mean you’ve never heard of it? The band dressed their shows at Wembley to imitate the HAARP, suiting Matt Bellamy's interests in UFOs and and conspiracy theories and the setlist leant heavily on the Black Holes And Revelations album.

   

   Muse - Knights Of Cydonia: Live At Wembley Stadium 2007

9. Green Day - Bullet In A Bible: release date 15th November 2005

   Recorded at the Milton Keynes Bowl in the middle of a heatwave, this caputres the American Idiot tour at its height, in front of 130,000 sweltering fans.

   

   GREEN DAY: 'Minority' [Live HD | Bullet in a Bible]

10. Blur - Live At The Budokan: release date 22nd May 1996

    Captured in Japan on the Great Escape tour, this double-set is a fine document of the band at the height of Britpop, with the lion's share of the Parklife album getting an airing, including favourites such as Tracy Jacks, Bank Holiday and To The End. Also extra points for an appearance of the great "lost" Blur single, Popscene.

    

    To the End (Live at the Budokan)

11. Depeche Mode - 101: release date 13th March 1989

    Basildon's finest play the 101st and last show of their Music For The Masses tour at an enormous stadium in Pasadena, proving to Britain that their popularity in the States was not to be underestimated. While much of the music is sequenced, there's a palpable excitement from the sound of the crowd, with frontman Dave Gahan hyping them up for all its worth. The accompaying documentary, in which a bunch of Mode fans win a competition to travel to the show, is well worth a look.

    

    Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again 101 - FULL 4k -

12. The White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights: release date 16th March 2010

    It's easy to forget how powerful Jack and Meg White sounded back in the day, and this is the finest way to experience the duo at their most feral. Recorded across shows in Canada in the summer of 2007, the album accompanied an excellent documentary, shot by Emmett Malloy. The Stripes called it a day not long after the film was released, almost as if this was the furthest they could take the whole thing.

    

    The White Stripes - Icky Thump - (From "Under Great White Northern Lights")

13. Radiohead – I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings: release date 12th November 2001

    Captured as the Kid A tour made its way from as far afield as the Côte d'Azur and Oslo to the band's native Oxford, this concise collection sees Radiohead elaborate on the arrangements of their then-relatively recent material. You also got to hear a version of True Love Waits recorded 15 years before they finally laid down a studio version on the album A Moon Shaped Pool.

    

    Idioteque (Live in Oxford)

14. Foo Fighters - Skin And Bones: release date 7th November 2006

    Dave Grohl and co turn it down a notch for this summary of the Foos' first decade, performed acoustically at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood over three nights in August 2006. The stripped-down arrangements give the songs and melodies room to breathe, particularly on the classic Everlong.

    

    Foo Fighters - Everlong (from Skin And Bones, Live in Hollywood, 2006)

15. The Cure - Show (1993)

    Robert Smith issued this double album recorded in Michigan on the 1992 Wish tour alongside a concert film and while the collection avoids some of the deeper cuts you can expect from a typical Cure show (try the accompanying Paris album for that), Show has the pop moments nestled next to the anthemic gloom very nicely. In Between Days, for example, segues perfectly into the angst-ridden From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea. Show received a picture disc reissue on vinyl for 2023's Record Store Day.

    

    The Cure Tape/Open (Show 1993) (HD Remastered)