Why just listen when you can watch? Combining the musical with the visual enhances the experience far beyond what you get from CDs, and the better of the 5.1-channel surround mixes found on many DVDs make you and your guests feel like you're right there in the audience.

This far-flung collection of some of my favorite concert DVDs is admittedly weighted toward rock, but there's a bit of country and jazz in here as well. These are all live recordings—not music videos of the style MTV once played—because I want to see my favorite bands on stage, working up a sweat, not primped for a video shoot. Any of these DVDs will prove a challenging test of your system's stamina. Pop one in, turn the sound up to 11, and you're there.

Various Artists: Live From Austin, TX: Outlaw Country
Best Song: "We Don't Run"
Sourced from the Austin City Limits TV show recorded on September 22, 1996, this DVD features Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, and Kimmie Rhodes. The performances feel intimate and the sound is wonderfully immediate, mostly because there's no fancy production to get in the way. The DTS 5.1 surround mix mostly keeps the musicians up front and the audience in the rear speakers. Willie Nelson's "We Don't Run" is my favorite, if only for the way the other guys' vocal harmonies and guitar picking support Nelson. I also love Billy Joe Shaver's heartfelt a cappella turn on ""First And Last Time."

Bruce Springsteen: Live in Dublin
Best Song: "O Mary Don't You Weep"
These shows from late 2006, when Springsteen was touring to support his Seeger Sessions CD, are a hoot! The Boss is clearly having a ball and his large band, fleshed out with strings and horns, sounds fabulous. Fans will be happy to hear the song list features a large helping of tunes from Springsteen's back catalog, including "Highway Patrolman," "Atlantic City," and "Growin' Up." Granted, it's not exactly rock and roll—you hear the Irish influence, tarted up with boogie-woogie, Dixieland, gospel, and great vibes. The concert's pacing is perfect, but the high point comes when the Boss tears it up with "O Mary Don't You Weep." The song's joyous groove is flat-out irresistible. This sumptuous-looking production is a treat for the eyes as well.

Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin
Best Songs: "Bring It On Home," "Moby Dick"
With a five-plus hours running time over this two-disc set, we have the mother lode of filmed Zeppelin concerts, with legendary shows ranging from Royal Albert Hall in 1970 to Knebworth in 1979. Jimmy Page presided over the film transfers and audio mixes, and considering most of them are more than 30 years old, the sound is surprisingly good. (The video quality varies a lot; none of it is sharp and the colors are frequently oversaturated.) When Robert Plant does his Sonny Boy Williamson-inspired harmonica intro to "Bring It On Home," you'll remember Zep was at its core a blues band, and for my money Page's titanic guitar thrash never sounded better than it does here. I'm also wild about "Moby Dick" because it's amazing to watch drummer John Bonham, especially after he tosses aside his sticks and beats the skins with his hands. Led Zeppelin is also one of the rare DVDs that starts to play as soon as it's loaded; you don't have to slog through an FBI warning, coming attractions, or menus to hear the music.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: The Abattoir Blues Tour
Best Song: "Babe, You Turn Me On"
Nice Cave's music is almost unclassifiable, but if you mixed equal parts Mick Jagger and Leonard Cohen you'd get some idea of what he sounds like. His music definitely works better on DVD than on CD, just because watching Cave on stage is so damned entertaining. The man rarely stands still, and there's something about the way he spews sarcasm and bile to prod his volatile big band that's pure spectacle. Whether they are serving up cathartic cacophony or slow-burner nightmarish stories, Cave is always running the show. On "Babe, You Turn Me On," Cave is hunched over in the shadows as he unveils this strangely beautiful love song. Yes, there are times the whole enterprise threatens to break down into a drunken mess, but it never does. The emotional scope of this specially priced two-DVD/two-CD will blow you away, but it's not for the faint-of-heart.

James Brown: Live at Montreux 1981
Best Song: "Try Me"
If the sound of the Live at Montreux 1981 DVD doesn't get your mojo working, the sheer spectacle of a sweat-soaked James Brown and his killer 14-piece funk band will. The sound of the DTS and Dolby 5.1 tracks absolutely nails the music's live energy. The horns sound brassy and the rhythm section's heavyweight grooves will keep your subwoofer busy. I'm not sure why, but this DVD only sounds best when fully cranked up. It's a remarkably punchy, powerful recording, so if your system is lacking in the oomph department you're going to miss half the fun. The band is staggeringly tight and impeccably arranged, but it's Brown's pleading vocal on "Try Me" that elicits gasps from the audience. The DVD is packaged with a CD of the same show.

Larry Coryell: A Retrospective
Best Song: "Spaces"
Larry Coryell first grabbed my attention almost 40 years ago when he was a young jazz guitarist with serious chops—and the nerve to use distortion and feedback like a rock player. Coryell was clearly inspired by Miles Davis' In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, but possibly because Coryell's music was guitar-based, it was more accessible to rock audiences. The Jimi Hendrix comparisons are also obvious, and there are times watching this DVD where I imagine this is what Hendrix would have sounded like had he lived longer. A good part of Coryell's music is blues-based, but the fusion jazz tunes are the strongest selections here. On "Spaces," Larry's son Julian plays the parts that guitarist John McLaughlin performed on the original 1970 Coryell recording. The kid's no slouch, but the senior Coryell's fleet fretwork still dazzles at every turn. Retrospective isn't a collection of old clips, it's all new stuff, so the sound is full-bodied and powerful, but it's a stereo-only affair. I played it in Dolby Pro Logic II to open it up, and was perfectly happy with the DVD's sound.

Bryan Ferry: Dylanesque Live
Best Song: "Positively 4th Street"
This DVD is a separately sold companion to the studio-recorded CD Dylanesque, which consists entirely of covers of Dylan songs. The DVD offers completely different live-in-the-studio performances of the same song set. Ferry's been covering Dylan over his long career, so it's nice to see he included his 1973 video of "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" on this disc. The younger Ferry lays on the hipster attitude for a very different take on the apocalyptic tune. It's good, but I keep coming back to "Positively 4th Street" because I'm fascinated by the way Ferry inverts Dylan's vengeful rant into a song of regret and lost love. Its slower, more world-weary stance changes everything, and the piano accompaniment veers toward a cocktaily vibe. Still, it works. The sound is really good, with a sense of spatial depth few music DVDs can match.