Riverside – Live ID (Blu-Ray and cd) (2025)

Two years ago Riverside's latest studio album was released with the title ID.Entity and the review of it can be found at the according page. I was moderately enthusiastic about the album and to this day I prefer the first three albums but I have to admit that my appreciation for ID.Entity has increased considerably since then. I also indicated that I had some trouble with the new guitarist, Maciej Meller, who has the thankless task of replacing the deceased Piotr Grudzinski.

Well, a Blu-Ray (with also a double CD) has been released of the last concert of their extensive tour, they visited many countries and several continents. A home game in Poland this time. Let me get straight to the point, what a very cool release this is! Both visually, technically and sound-wise, this is one of the very best Blu-rays I've ever seen. The men led by Mariusz Duda show that they belong to the top of the somewhat heavier prog bands. The pleasure of playing as  shown by keyboardist Michal Lapaj is very infectious and Duda himself is also in top form and shows again that he is not only a great bass player but also an excellent singer. Drummer Kozieradzski is steady as ever and provides the music with the necessary rhythmic backbone without getting bogged down in all kinds of technical feats. Then the question remains, how does Meller fare when he has to play the older songs and try to approach the magical touch of Grudzinski? Answer; He does that more than creditably. In terms of movement and stage presence, he is very similar because he also hardly moves from his place and only occasionally seeks contact with Duda, but if you play like that, that's not a problem.

The setlist is of course filled with the songs of ID.Entity but certainly contains a number of older songs too. The choice of this could have been a bit different as far as I'm concerned because I especially miss my, and not just mine, favourite Riverside track, Second life Syndrome. I don't necessarily have featured Panic Room on my favourites list but with Left Out (Anno Domini High Definition) they make up for a lot. The long Egoist Hedonist (again from Anno Domini High Definition) also fits seamlessly between the new tracks. Most of those new tracks are played in a more extensive version and that makes them even better than on the album. Tracks like Landmine Blast or Big Tech Brother gain on impact in the live versions and the start of Friend or Foe? also adds to the credibility of the song.

The audience is very regularly invited to participate by Duda and that is also the reason why they have chosen not to show any visuals in the background. All meant to increase the intensity of the contact with the audience. However, you won't miss this at all because the light show is very beautiful. I did have to get used to the fact that most of Duda's talks are in Polish, but the excellent subtitles offer a solution. It is clear that the thousands of spectators are having a great time and that is regularly portrayed as they do their best to complement the recordings with massive sounds of apreciation. Overall, the professionalism radiates from it all. Fortunately, the long The Place where I belong is also played because that remains my favourite song from the latest album. Across the board, the music has become a bit heavier, but those elements have always been present in the music of these Poles and it is precisely the enormous dynamics that make it all so exciting. For me it's not prog metal but more solid prog with sometimes bombastic excesses. The elaborated version of classic Conceiving You is also excellent and here Meller proves to be a more than worthy succesor. Just a memorable concert.

I already mentioned that it is excellent in terms of image and sound and it should be clear that you simply can not miss this release, as a Riverside lover but also for the sceptics I would say, take the time to watch and listen. I am therefore very happy that they chose for a release on Blu-ray because it offers so much more than the outdated DVD format.

Now I have to stop writing because I want to watch it again. And if you just want to listen to the cd, no problem it is just as good in terms of sound quality.

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