The sixties man... Ok, they made both Sticky and Exile in the early seventies, but they already wrote a lot of those songs in the sixties. They were revolutionary in those years. Also, I think both Keith and Mick shined in the sixties.
F.U.C. the Captain Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > studio 1964-1973 > live 1969-1978
The "overlap years" there are 1969 to 1973... that's a pretty good estimate of the "very peak"...
After that they slowed down a bit, raising kids, maturing into adults, and cleaning up addictions, etc...
But there have been so many other high points...
I think that Forty Licks was such a brilliant tour and stands up in it's own way to any prior tours, so I'd put 2002 and 2003 as a "2 year decade" of great live concerts.
"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."