i have skipped plenty of live releases and will probably continue to do so
i like the polish of studio tracks, mostly, and i like to listen to songs in the context of the albums they're from a lot of the time
I'm right with you, a lot of the time. Generally I prefer studio albums for the sound quality, and quality of performance and production. And the original track running of studio albums is usually better.
There are exceptions. The big one is Iron Maiden, of course, who are infinitely better live.
Live After Death and
Rock In Rio are the two places I'd tell someone to start with Maiden. But for me, they are the exception, not the rule.
I don't skip all the live releases, and there are bands other than Maiden that I like live albums of—Coldplay, Transatlantic and Portnoy-era DT being three. But the live album is something I get after getting all the studio releases and is sometimes something I never get around to or get around to really late.
I just now bought LSFNY (I already had the
Metropolis 2000 video, though). Just like a week ago. And I still haven't seen or heard anything from
Breaking the Fourth Wall. So it's not a high priority for me either.
I totally get how it would be different in the pre-YouTube, pre-Spotify days, though.
Btw, I'm three years younger than Parama.