nugs.net has spent the better part of the last three decades evolving into a premier streaming service for fans of live music. Born in 1993 as a way for CEO/founder Brad Serling to share his own Grateful Dead and Phish tapes, nugs.net has become a tentpole of the extended jam band community, a place where fans can dive into the ever-changing live shows of their favorite improvisers.

Sure, nugs.net contains countless hours of live shows from jam bands big and small, from Dead & Company, Billy Strings, Umphrey’s McGee, and Widespread Panic to The String Cheese Incident, The Disco Biscuits, Goose, and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. But with hundreds of artists on tap, the site also offers much more than just jams.

In addition to all the “Dark Star” improv expeditions jam fans often seek, the site also includes thousands of live shows by artists like Bruce Springsteen, Tenacious D, Dawes, Blackberry Smoke, Tyler Childers, The Hold Steady, Wilco, and more. The service plays host to “Third Man Thursdays” every month, which sees new soundboards from one of Jack White‘s various projects, and even contains collections from the likes of Billy Joel, Bill Withers, Modest Mouse, and many, many more. Put plainly, live music lives here. Stray off the beaten path with these five eclectic shows you can find on nugs.net.

Pearl Jam – Safeco Field – Seattle, WA – 8/10/18

While Pearl Jam recently staged its first show in over three years this past September 18th at Sea.Hear.Now in Asbury Park, NJ, it’s this show from Seattle, WA that stands out as one of the best live shows on nugs.net.

On August 10th, 2018, Pearl Jam returned to Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) for its second “Home Show” in three days. The band had recently come off an extensive tour in Europe, appearing at events like Mad Cool Festival in Spain (7/12) and staging a headlining performance at London’s O2 Arena (7/17), and was gearing up for the final leg of its fall tour with stops in Missoula, MT (8/13); Chicago, IL (8/18, 8/20); and Boston, MA (9/2, 9/4).

Members Eddie Vedder (guitar/vocals), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (guitar), Mike McCready (guitar), and Matt Cameron (drums) delivered a massive, 36-song set that included two encores, each with eight offerings. The career-spanning setlist included hits like “Even Flow”, “Better Man”, “Jeremy”, and “Alive”, lesser-known cuts like “Lukin” and “Brain Of J.”, and even a cover of The Who‘s “Baba O’Reilly”.

Head here to listen to Pearl Jam’s August 10th, 2018 performance at Seattle, WA’s Safeco Field. A full-show, pro-shot video is also available to all nugs.net subscribers.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – New Belgium Brewing Company – Asheville, NC – 9/1/19

Australian psych-rock outfit King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard arrived on nugs.net in 2021, offering 11 shows dating back to 2014. This performance on September 1st, 2019 at Asheville, NC’s New Belgium Brewing Company came amid the sextet’s North American summer tour.

After jaunts through the West Coast of the United States and Canada, King Gizzard made headed east, working through the Midwest and eventually to Asheville where the six-piece delivered a lengthy 17-song set. Frontman Stu Mackenzie led the band through tracks from several albums, including just-released thrash metal LP Infest The Rats’ Nest (“Self Immolate”, “Venusian 1”) and Murder of the Universe (“Alter Me III”, “Altered Beast IV”). Other standouts from the show include the psychedelia-laden “People-Vultures”, a hard-rocking “Rattlesnake”, and a 13-minute, set-ending rendition of “The Bitter Boogie”.

Listen to this show and more from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard via nugs.net here.

Metallica – Monsters Of Rock – Castle Donington, EN – 8/17/85

With 670 Metallica shows available on nugs.net, it’s not easy to choose just one. While the nugs.net catalog contains live Metallica soundboards from five decades of worldwide touring, spanning from 1982 to 2021, this festival set from Monsters Of Rock stuck out as special.

August 17th, 1985 saw some of the world’s biggest rock acts descend on Castle Donington in England for one full day of music. Before it got the chance to headline ten years later in 1995, Metallica held down the undercard with acts like ZZ Top, Marillion, and Bon Jovi at the top.

The band didn’t seem to pay the shorter slot any mind as Metallica delivered an electrifying performance beginning with a thunderous “Creeping Death” from 1984’s Ride The Lightning. Cuts from this critically-acclaimed album kept coming, with the title track and “For Whom The Bell Tolls” falling in the two and three holes, respectively. Aside from “Fade To Black”, the rest of this 45-minute set pulled from 1983’s Kill ‘Em All, including “The Four Horsemen”, “Seek & Destroy”, “Whiplash”, and the set-ending “Motorbreath”.

Check out this performance and the other 669 Metallica soundboards via nugs.net here.

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN – 10/26/19

In October 2019, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit staged a six-show residency at Nashville, TN’s iconic Ryman Auditorium. Performances on October 18th–19th, 22nd–23rd, and 25th–26th marked the sixth such residency for Isbell, who spent his early years with Drive-By Truckers before helming a successful solo career. Isbell made his home in Nashville beginning in 2011, and thus, these performances carried a hometown vibe for him and the 400 Unit.

The residency-ending show on October 26th perfectly encapsulated this hometown-throwdown feeling. Throughout the 20-song set, the band offered up cuts from various artists’ catalogs and welcomed special guests throughout the night. Midway through the performance, Isbell welcomed his young daughter Mercy Rose Isbell to the stage where she danced along to “Something To Love” from the band’s 2017 album, The Nashville Sound.

Isbell and his band pulled songs from the Drive-By Truckers’ catalog, including “Decoration Day”, “Outfit”, and “Never Gonna Change”, but it was the encore that presented one of the most memorable components of the show. For the first of two encore songs, Isbell welcomed acclaimed jazz keyboardist Peter Levin to sit in on a cover of The Allman Brothers Band‘s “In Memory of Elizebeth Reed”, before closing the residency with a song from his own solo catalog, “Super 8”.

Head here to listen to Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit’s Ryman Auditorium residency closer and more.

Bob Marley – Uprising Live! – Westfalenhallen – Dortmund, DE – 7/13/80

In 1980, at the peak of his popularity, Bob Marley embarked on what would be his final tour. Just after the release of Uprising, Marley and The Wailers took off for the Uprising Live! tour that saw the group circle Europe throughout May, June, and July before five U.S. shows in September. One of the most memorable shows of the entire tour came on June 13th at Dortmund, DE’s Westfalenhallen.

Joined by vocal group The I-Threes, Bob Marley & The Wailers delivered a set of songs that spanned their entire career. The show focused heavily on tracks from Uprising, including cuts like “Work”, “Could You Be Loved”, “Zion Train”, and “Redemption Song”, but the 23-track performance spotlighted plenty of older works, as well.

Towards the beginning of the show came offerings of “Natural Mystic” and “Jamming” from 1977’s Exodus. Marley broke into 1978’s Kaya with tracks like “Is This Life”, and of course, sprinkled in the fan-favorites like “No Woman, No Cry”, “Get Up, Stand Up”, “Jamming”, and “Redemption Song” throughout the show.

Head here to listen to Bob Marley & The Wailers perform live from Westfalenhallen on July 13th, 1980. A full-show, pro-shot video is also available to all nugs.net subscribers.

nugs.net recently announced its second annual partnership with Sweet Relief to offer discounted subscriptions. Through January 11th, users can support music industry professionals affected by COVID-19 by purchasing a year of nugs.net for $50 instead of the usual $129.99. Visit nugs.net to take advantage of the limited-time $50 yearly subscription offer and support Sweet Relief.