It's not often I get very excited about live albums (especially over studio albums), unless they're from some of my favorite artists, but this year so far, I've gotten some STELLAR live releases from some of my favorite artists.
Neal Morse Band's The Similitude Of A Dream: Live In Tilburg
Haken's L-1VE
Ayreon's Ayreon Universe Live
And coming out in July, Big Big Train's Merchants Of Light
And each of these feels like a landmark live releases - Neal Morse's big epic concept album brought to life on stage was an exciting show to watch, especially since I loved that album so much; Haken's first live album is a treat to behold, with a good balance of songs (IMO), and a stunning performance of my favorite Haken epic "Visions"; and yet another Ayreon live album, but covering a TON of material from various albums, with a LOT of talented performers in every song! And of course, a Big Big Train live album is like a holy grail as the band have VERY limited live performances, so being able to get a live album from them is a treasure.
I know that Fates Warning also recently released a live album as well, though I'm not a FW fan so I cannot comment on that, but I hope it's a good one for the FW fans!
Anyone else have other new and recent live albums they want to gush about, from 2018 or even in the last year or so? It just feels like I'm getting all of these awesome live albums this year and it's such a treat, especially since some of my other favorite bands haven't had any full live albums in awhile (Dream Theater, Spock's Beard, Steven Wilson).
-Marc.