James Brown was far and above anyone.

The Who obviously.

Jerry Lee Lewis cut some great live albums.

So did little Richard.

Elvis for 1969-1974

The Stones are consistently good.

ACDC were awesome

Fleetwood Mac in late sixties....

Rod Stewart at his peak

Areatha Franklin is unbeatable....

Another contender: Deep Purple (MarkII, 1972)

Purple MK II werent too bad along their 1985 tour either! Nor 1987.
But I prefer 1985. Saved the 80s for me.

Okay, I'm about to incure somebody's abuse and wrath with this one, but U2 is absoultely terrific live! Very few bands get most of the crowd so excited that it becomes almost like a religious experience as this band does. Maybe to many of you on this board you don't care for them, find them boring or overbearing or whatever, but they do have mass appeal and very few acts have such a large following for their live shows.

My favorites live that I have seen (no Led Zeppelin but have seen Page/Plant a couple of times)

1. The Stones (no one else is close)
2. U2
3. AC/DC
4. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (I don't care for him that much and would never go see him solo, but when he is with his band, they like U2 can charge an audience with few equals.
5. The Who or Aerosmith ( A Stones clone, who pales next to the Stones, but on their own, they're pretty darn good)

For this group, the question should include ".... not including The Stones?".

1) The Plasmatics - I've never seen/saw anything like it. Wendy RIP.
2) The Beat Farmers - Loud, drunken rock 'n' roll. Great fun. Country Dick RIP.
3) Fear - Really, really scary.
4) The Cramps - Circa late 70's. No one prowls the stage better than Lux.
5) The Blasters - Phil Alvin sweats more on stage than a fat guy in a sauna.

Scotty

Hey Hey My My. Rock and Roll Never Die.

the old :

AC/DC
Neil Young
Prince
Stones
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

the new :

Low
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Sunn 0)))
Circle
Acid Mothers Temple

Anyone mention the Bonzo Dog Band?

I'll only give my opinion on bands that I actually saw live. In this order.

Led Zeppelin
The Grateful Dead
The Meters
Peter Tosh
The Who
The Allman Brothers
AC/DC
Paul McCartney
The Rolling Stones

Everyone else tied for 10th

The Jerry Lee album 'The Greatest Live Show On Earth' isn't an overstatement. Jerry in the mid sixties at an auditorium in Burmingham. Wild rock and roll!

Another vote for THE J. GEILS BAND

Also:

The Allman Brothers (with Duane)
The Faces
Led Zeppelin (first tour)
The WHO
Traffic