Beyonce hands down

She gives you EVERYTHING and more

Gaga also gives you a great concert

I've also recently caught clips of Madonna's tour, it looked amazing even though I don't like the religion imagery, but hey you will always see that with Madonna

Florence.

To me, it has to be:

- Madonna (I saw her live several times and what you see on telly it's exactly what you get! She's full of energy, fearless, bossy at times, sweet in other times, flirty, funny & her shows are visually stunning! Yes, she has it - not 'still' Mr Pinder)
- Tina Turner (She easily puts Beyonce into shame. The Lady is full of energy and unlike Beyonce she knows how to balance it out between singing and full on dance moves without having to rely on her backing dancers to sing the remaining of the songs)
- Michael Jackson (Never been a real fan of him but each time I saw him live I was blown away. Like Madonna he's pretty much the Best and unbeatable live)
- Mylene Farmer (A complete different style of live shows. Very macabre and dark, very arty but stunning and theatrical)
- Donna Summer (She just knew how to own the stage by her presence and amazing voice)
- Robbie Williams (Again not fan per se - only like a few songs - but saw a couple of his live shows on telly and the guy is natural born entertainer)

it looks like the thread has went OT already, unless people don't understand the meaning of "LIVE" and "TODAY"

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros always look like they're having so much fun playing live.

Maiden are totally amazing live

As we are talking about the best live act in the world today I have to agree.

I finally got the chance to see Rammstein a couple of years ago @ Sonisphere and I saw them again in Birmingham in February and they are truly brilliant live.

From the introduction to the end of the show they are flawless and their use of pyrotechnics is stunning.

not my cup of tea but the start of XXX or whatever it is with them playing is pretty cool

U2 are way past their best (their best being ZooTV). They're only watchable live now because of Willie Williams' elaborate sets and visual show. Glastonbury was a good indication of how tired they are as a musical act these days.

Best live acts IMO are:

Rammstein (as mentioned)
Muse
Foo Fighters
Biffy Clyro
Rage Against The Machine
Prince
Springsteen

Also, big shoutouts to the acts who keep on delivering live, ie Metallica, Iron Maiden

Anyone who has the need for a backing track need not apply.

The best live act in the world over the past 10 years or so are The Brian Wilson Band.

do you mean the band itself, excluding brian?

the actual band he used comprised mainly of the wondermints who were pretty much a beach boys inspired band, but the line up has changed a bit through the years

the band sound great, but ironically brians vocals let down the rest of them. it's like a brian wilson tribute band with the real brian wilson. a replacement vocalist would ironically sound a lot better

i'm not sure how good they would be improvising and jamming as they tend to just play 40+ year old music in the exact same style as the record as far as they are able