Playing the songs as they were written is unexciting?
Actually, yes. Some songs on LALP are downright plodding because they are played at CD speed. There is a reason why just about any band on this planet plays their songs faster live than what's on the album. It's the energy of the live setting that then gets reflected in the rendition of the song.
EDIT: Ninja'd by Scotty!
I agree, and I mentioned this when it first came out. I think the majority of songs were fine, but TROAE, OTBOA, TSCO in particular come across really flat to me on LALP.
OTBOA sounds lifeless to me on ADTOE, but I was hoping it would translate well live. Vocals aside, I couldn't tell the two renditions apart. The outro of TSCO didn't elevate the song and felt like it was being held back and all at the one level. And TROAE just felt that bit too restrained, especially once it hit the instrumental section.
Due to the differences in performance, what works perfectly in the studio doesn't necessarily work as well live, so I think sometimes a slightly faster tempo is necessary to get the right live energy and recapture the feel of the song. I don't know that there's any formula to it, it just depends on the song.
There were some songs that MP played much too fast for my liking (mostly the ballady stuff), but they were always free to find what tempo worked live, and you were getting something different to just the studio version. Those kinds of little changes are often what makes seeing a live show for me interesting.