Rolling Stones: Their 18 Best Live Albums, Ranked

Today, the Rolling Stones release another live album: Licked Live In NYC, recorded at New York's Madison Square Garden in January of 2003, while on their 40th-anniversary tour. It comes less than a month after Live At El Mocambo, a live recording of a surprise set that the band did at the 300-capacity club El Mocambo in Montreal in March of 1977; calling themselves "The Cockroaches," they were actually opening for April Wine!

There's been something of a deluge of Rolling Stones live recordings available in the past few decades: some released by ABKCO Records (who owns most of their catalog from the '60s), Universal Music (who distributes everything on Rolling Stones Records, the lalel the band set up for themselves and has put out their music since 1971's Sticky Fingers. And finally, Mercury Studios, formerly known as Eagle Rock Entertainment, licenses live recordings and other special products from the band.

So we listened to a lot of live Stones music to share with you our favorite commercially available concert recordings. Of course, there's nothing like the real thing, so yeah, we're hoping that the Stones return to the U.S. this year or next to play more shows.