Riverside Documents World Tour with "Live ID"
The Polish progressive rockers capture their stage energy from their ID.Entity Tour
Thank you for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. I know a lot of people aren’t that into live albums, and others love them. I don’t think any rock record album is complete without one. There are numerous examples of live versions of songs being better than the studio versions, as sometimes a producer fails to capture the energy of a band’s performance. While some of those albums may have had some follow-up studio and production help along the way (Alive! by KISS, for example) others are pretty straightforward documents of a concert or songs from multiple shows that highlight the artist’s power in a live setting.
Some of the indispensible live albums in my collection include the aforementioned KISS record, At Budokan by Cheap Trick, The Dance by Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen’s Live in New York City, Seconds Out by Genesis, Billy Joel’s Songs in the Attic, and Dream Theater’s Live Scenes from New York — just to name a few.
I recently spoke with Michal Lapaj, the keyboard player from the outstanding Polish heavy progressive rock band Riverside about his band’s latest live record, Live ID. It’s the band’s fourth official live release, capturing Riverside on the tour supporting the 2023 album ID.Entity.
Let’s get to that story.
I’ve been following Polish progressive rockers Riverside since the band released debut album Out of Myself in 2003. Their interesting blend of hard rock/heavy metal and progressive twists and turns appealed to me, and they became one of the newer bands that prompted me to spend countless hours listening to prog rock “radio” stations streaming on the internet. That, in turn, led me to start my own weekly show, which I ran for 10 years, playing a lot of Riverside songs during that period in an attempt to give the band the wider exposure I felt the group deserved.
Although I stopped doing Epic Prog in 2014, I haven’t stopped listening to Riverside. I still eagerly await each new release. I was finally able to go see them play live in 2023 when the band toured the United States. They stopped at a small local venue called The Abbey on Feb. 18, 2023, just a few weeks after the release of their latest (to date) studio album, ID.Entity. I’d only heard it a few times on a streaming service and planned to pick up a copy in person at the show. (Of course, being me, I had to pick up the deluxe, three-disc version with the surround sound disc and expanded artwork.)
I was excited to see Riverside perform the new songs live and hear some old favorites. I was surprised when the band leaned so heavily on the new album, and many of my old favorites weren’t in the setlist — although, as with any band that has released several great albums, some favorites were bound to be left out.
Regardless of which songs I didn’t get to see, I was quite pleased with the setlist and the performance. It was bold of Riverside to play most of the new album on a tour of the U.S. Not only had the album only just come out, but many of us had never had the chance to see the band before. I would have loved the inclusion of early favorites like “The Same River,” “Loose Heart,” “I Turned You Down,” or “Hyperactive,” but I respected their belief in the new record and desire to unleash new material on an audience that doesn’t get many opportunities to see them.
That night, the band played with energy and flair, stretching out some of the songs, embellishing them rather than simply trying to recreate what was on the record. This allowed vocalist/bassist Mariusz Duda to interact with the crowd, keeping the festivities lively. It was a concert to remember and if Riverside visits again, they are a must-see for me.
Because I enjoyed the show so much, I was happy to learn Riverside was releasing a live album from their extensive tour, allowing me to pick up a document of what was a highlight in my many years of experiencing live music. Riverside released Live ID on Inside Out Music on Jan. 24, with a 12-song setlist that was quite similar to the one I’d witnessed in February of 2023.
According to Riverside keyboardist Michal Lapaj, the band records all of its shows, but the recording used for Live ID took place June 1, 2024 at COS Torwar in Warsaw, Poland. The 12 songs on the record include 11 of the 13 songs I had witnessed live, omitting a pair of songs from the band’s Shrine of New Generation Slaves album — “The Depth of Self Delusion” and “We Got Used to Us.” A song not performed the night I saw them (although I wish it had been) but was played for the live album recording was “Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened by a Hat?)” from the band’s excellent Love, Fear and the Time Machine album, which is one of my favorite releases of the 2010s decade.
The band consists of Lapaj (keyboards and backing vocals), Duda (bass, vocals, guitars), Maciej Meller (guitars) — formerly of Quidam — and Piotr Kozieradzki (drums).
It’s rather fortunate for fans that Riverside is still around touring and releasing new studio and live albums. The band suffered a massive blow in 2016 when guitarist Piotr Grudziński suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism. Riverside was between Love, Fear and the Time Machine and 2018’s Wasteland — a more somber album reflecting the emotions of the band.
“There was a huge question of what will happen,” Lapaj said about the band’s uncertainty after Grudziński’s death. “We finished the album Eye of the Soundscape, this kind of compilation of our atmospheric, ambient songs. And we were really happy to do this, actually, the three of us, because we were fans of the ambient sound, electronic music, and stuff like this. And that’s why we were focused on this album very, very much. So we just recorded some few songs and there was one situation in the last song called “Eye of the Soundscape.” In the end, there was a part for a guitar solo. And it was almost the last day in the studio and he said something like, ‘You know what, I will take this song and try to prepare something.’ And he never did. And in this moment (on the album) it’s just empty space for the guitar. It’s very deep, and it’s hard for us sometimes when hearing the song. But this is part of our lives. I’m very happy that we’ve moved on.”
“Wasteland is the album actually for (Grudziński). So, it’s a kind of monument for Piotr, and yeah, that was a very sad situation for us. But we have to move on, you know, and that’s why ID.Entity was something like, you know, a fresh thing for us, something like to open the window and take more breath. So we have just kind of fresh air for our souls, let’s say.”
Lapaj said ID.Entity was a reaction to Wasteland, with the soundscapes less somber and more hopeful and positive. In essence, it is the band literally forging a new identity. Dropping Wasteland songs from the ID.Entity tour was therefore necessary to keep a consistent vibe to the setlist rather than switching back and forth from depressing to lighter songs.
“The album (ID.Entity) is really more energetic than our previous one,” Lapaj said. “Wasteland was the night and ID.Entity was the day.”
The setlist for the tour underwent some changes along the way as the band honed in on the songs that worked best together and got good responses from the crowd.
“We had to put the other songs (together with ID.Entity tracks) to have this similar feeling, you know, to not lose the atmosphere,” Lapaj explained. “The setlist was changed during the tour a bit, but it was really cool for us, because we didn’t feel that we played a two-hour show. It was, ‘Oh, really? It’s the end?’ So, we had really a lot of nice fun on stage.”
The Live ID tracks are longer than their studio counterparts, giving more room for solos, textures, interaction with the audience, and a little bit of (but not much) applause. A few brief riffs or sections of songs appear that are not in the setlist and will be recognizable Easter eggs for Riverside fans. I don’t want to spoil those surprises here, but if you’re interested, they are listed in the Setlist.FM page for that show.
The extended versions are sometimes only by a minute or two, but in the case of show finale “Conceiving You,” the song grew from under four minutes to more than 12. That song stretches out, adding improvisational sections to keep things fresh, and the result is a big finale to the show and the live record. The latter stages of the “Conceiving You” performance includes a humorous call-and-response session with Duda and the Warsaw audience, with the Riverside frontman asking the crowd to produce an unorthdox silent scream. It was a bit that caught Duda’s bandmates by surprise.
“Sometimes we look like a serious band, but actually behind the scenes we are not,” Lapaj said. “We said after the show, ‘What the hell was that? That was pretty cool.’ I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw these people (doing the whisper scream).”
While some live albums include lots of overdubs and fly in parts from recordings of other shows, Live ID avoids that. Lapaj said there were no songs from the concert that didn’t make the live album (a check of Setlist.FM confirms his recollection). The recorded tracks from that 2024 Warsaw show basically went to the engineers for final production. He also tried to avoid using computers, opting to play everything live with his two hands, using his feet for volume and to change keyboard sounds, although there are some sequencers and the odd sample.
“We are trying to be live,” Lapaj said.
The songs on Live ID are outstanding documents of their studio counterparts. The band sounds excellent with all players on top of their game. Duda is in fine voice, urging the crowd to higher levels to build the continuous feedback of energy flowing between the audience and the stage. Guitar solos from Meller soar or crunch, depending on the song’s needs. Lapaj uses a variety of synth sounds — from the thunderous Hammond organ sound he fell in love with growing up while listening to Deep Purple’s Made in Japan — to the melodic riffs that build and sustain the trademark Riverside soundscapes. Kozieradzki’s drumming and Duda’s bass combine to support and embellish every song.
Live ID is likely a must-buy for most Riverside fans, but especially those who fell in love with ID.Entity.
The album is available in several formats: digitally; as a two-CD + Blu-ray digipak with a 24-page booklet; and as a gatefold three-LP release on 180-gram vinyl with an eight-page booklet. The vinyl version is available in black, lilac, splatter, yellow, or blue, depending on where you purchase. Please keep in mind that not all retailers will have all versions, and that, as of this writing, Amazon in the U.S. was showing a Feb. 28 release date for the two-CD/Blu-ray version (which was sold out on the Inside Out Music U.S. store) with limited stock remaining for the black vinyl version.
Learn more about Riverside at the band’s website, riversideband.pl.
Tracklist:
(CD 1)
1. #Addicted (7:51)
2. Panic Room (4:40)
3. Landmine Blast (7:28)
4. Big Tech Brother (8:11)
5. Lost (6:56)
6. Left Out (12:53)
(CD 2)
7. Post-Truth (6:40)
8. The Place Where I Belong (15:45)
9. Egoist Hedonist (11:12)
10. Friend or Foe? (8:46)
11. Self-Aware (9:45)
12. Conceiving You (12:07)
For my complete interview with Michal Lapaj, check out the video below or download/stream Episode 142 of the Michael’s Record Collection podcast. In addition to discussing the live album, Michal talks about his musical beginnings, how he joined Riverside after the release of the band’s first album, writing songs within the band, and more.
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