Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Robert Christgau | |
| Entertainment Weekly | (C) |
| Rolling Stone | |
| USA Today | |
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic criticized Usher's "tired and weary" live sound, although he praised the remixed songs toward the end of the album. Entertainment Weekly's J. D. Considine gave Live a C grade and wrote that, despite Usher's performing ability, the audio album is boring without video footage of the concerts. Neva Chonin of Rolling Stone was unimpressed with Usher's "tinny"-sounding voice on Live.
Live debuted at number 76 on the US Billboard 200 on the chart dated April 10, 2011, with first-week sales of 21,000 copies. The album peaked at number 73, and lasted nine weeks on the chart. On April 27, 1999 Live was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting the shipment of 500,000 units, and by the end of 2001 Live had sold over 200,000 copies in the US. It debuted and peaked at number 30 on the Top R&B Albums; it remained on the R&B chart for nine weeks. The video longform version of Live entered the US Top Music Videos chart at number four on the chart of April 10, 1999. It remained at number four for three weeks, before ascending to number three on May 1, 1999, where it peaked for one week. The RIAA certified the Live video gold, after it shipped 50,000 copies, on December 22, 1999. The video of the performance of "Bedtime" was made available at MTV.com, and the live version of "Bedtime" reached number 66 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
Read more about this topic: Live (Usher album)
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