Five of the best live songs in the history of rock music

Kiss - "God of Thunder"

This is a quite silly song created for effect. The irony is that you likely find yourself singing the words without truly realizing what you are saying. It's fine. It's Kiss. The point is to enjoy yourself and not worry about life for a while. They are kind of like the Cheers of hard rock bands. That is perfectly fine if that is the point and with Kiss, that is the point.

Kiss, like Slipknot, might be even better live than most of the records would suggest (unless one is talking about Destroyer which is a ridiculously good album). Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and whoever is touring with them cake on their makeup and become glam gods. Or in this case, glam gods of thunder.

The great thing about this track live is that many times Simmons rises to the rafters as if he is on a high mountain and eventually starts spewing fake blood. It is comically theatrical and absolutely perfect.

Black Crowes - "Remedy"

Forget the Allman Brothers, Phish, and the Grateful Dead, this song is the best jam song ever performed live. Every element of the track is amazing, but together it produces five minutes of pure bliss. There is the rock of the guitar, the blues of the bass, the funk of the drums, and Chris Robinson spitting truth at us.

The song is blues-based as many of the best of the Crowes' songs are, but what makes this one a bit different is the breakdown near the end where the whole track turns into pure funk perfection. This song is listenable many times over in its studio-recorded form, but live it takes on a new life. If you don't believe in some kind of deity before you experience the track in concert, you might before the song is done.

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