When Riverside released their eighth studio album ID.Entity in 2023, it served not just to demonstrate their ongoing ability to make their songs stride and soar, but as proof that they were survivors.
The death of guitarist Piotr Grudzinski in 2016 had naturally unsettled them. But the river has kept on flowing, with two albums released since, and Maciej Meller now a full member.
Meanwhile, vocalist/bassist Mariusz Duda has simultaneously worked through some feelings, notably concerning lockdown-compounded claustrophobia, on his electronica-based solo records and Lunatic Soul project.
Live ID makes sense as a kind of catharsis: a celebration – however dark the music’s themes – that the Polish band are hungrily active again. Recorded in Warsaw in June 2024, it’s presented as the culmination of the ID.Entity cycle, and unapologetically focuses on that latest studio offering.
Duda claims this is where those songs “gain their full potential.” It’s a live album which relishes being one, complete with deafening applause breaks and the singer exuberantly tossing in the kind of whoops and exclamations their moody records don’t accommodate.
The good people of Warsaw exhibit undivided joy to hear staples of the band’s charismatic catalogue
It’s not his usual style to get carried away, but here he’s all but hectoring the crowd to look lively – an element that will please some and irritate others. The substance of ID.Entity nonetheless remains, with its worries about technology and a post-truth world.
Apart from I’m Done With You, it’s all played here, the band leaning into its currents and hitting the heavier sections with vigour. At 110 minutes, however, there’s still plenty of scope for Riverside to step away from that album and revive fan favourites.
Lost and #Addicted, from perhaps their best work, 2015’s Love, Fear And The Time Machine, gets an airing, as do the rumbling, Rush-like suite Egoist Hedonist and Left Out. Even earlier material like 2005’s Conceiving You pops up, and if the crowd noise is loud throughout, the good people of Warsaw exhibit undivided joy to hear staples of the band’s charismatic catalogue.
Duda has spoken of the “nuances and quirks” which emerge in live interpretations; and while casual followers may not perceive radical differences, full-on fans will spot charged energy levels and dramatic emphases.
Riverside are always dramatic – it’s their charm – but on this recording they’ve let go of a degree of preciousness, allowing themselves to headbang when appropriate, and to react to, and even emulate, the audience’s gusto. That elusive simpatico between band and crowd is often what makes a great gig. It makes for a very good live album here.
Live ID is on sale now via InsideOut.
