Last week, Olivia Rodrigo made a surprise announcement about her follow-up to Guts . But instead of another record of new material, Live at Glastonbury (A BBC Recording) , to be released in December, will document her entire set at that festival this summer, complete with a cameo by the Robert Smith on covers of two Cure songs.

But here’s the even more startling thing about the announcement: She’s releasing … a live album? In 2025? Who does that anymore? In terms of big-league pop and rock artists, hardly anyone. But maybe it’s time for a comeback for records that lent a you-are-there listening experience and brought out aspects of a band or musician’s work you hadn’t heard in a recording studio.

You do remember live albums, right? If you’re on a certain generation, you may not,

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