I'll start

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All of Whitney's award show performances of the 80s and 90s.

Perfection.

It depends on what criteria to use ...

A stunning live vocals and incredible charisma - Queen at Live Aid
Challenging and exciting dance performances - Billie Jean or Dangerous

I'll go with Freddie here.

I can`t do a lot of impressive gifs, because there were not great poses or moves ... all the performance was great.

and yes, not being the biggest fan of Britney, I love that her performance.

really iconic for pop music

Here are a select few that combine between the vocalist's presence at the time, the crowd and the music that backed up the performance.

(A visibly pissed off Queenie, but never the less an exceptional perfromance)

(And this gentleman right here)

@ the interaction between the orchestra and the audience.

@ the guy who got on the stage at mark 5:00.

@ this man's voice altogether.

I forgot to mention this one.

Will always be my single fave moment by Nippy. She started as a gentle whisper, and closed the show with a bang. I remember when Ebony and Jet were talking about how "soulless" she was in the late 80s/early 90s, I'm sure they missed this moment otherwise no such claim would've been made.

The only reason they called her soulless was because of the type of music she sang.

Whitney had a ton of sould, way more than her peers (Mariah, Celine, etc).

2004 Rock Hall of Fame Induction

Terrib3Towel said:

The only reason they called her soulless was because of the type of music she sang.

Whitney had a ton of sould, way more than her peers (Mariah, Celine, etc).

Lets not go into the comparision territory, its ugly as fuck and no good comes out of it, each of those women contributed PLENTY in their own way.

MJ-Motown 25

[Edited 1/1/13 19:17pm]

Outkast on the VH1's "Big In '03" awards in 2003... that was the last greatest/most favorite live performance I've seen, particularly Andre 3000 doing Hey Ya. Man, I was screaming with joy at the TV that night, and so was the audience.

[Edited 1/2/13 11:25am]