I honestly think District 97 is one of the most innovative and unique sounding modern progressive rock bands out there. I like them a lot and think everything they do is great. This new live album fits well into the description. If you like their hard-edged, innovative flavor of prog, you will certainly enjoy this.

After a short introduction, they launch out into killer hard rocking prog. This is along the lines of Dream Theater type stuff, but it has its own distinct identity. It’s packed full of drama, awesome prog and some great changes.

Mellower guitar gets us going here. Keyboards join after a time, and the track seems to be growing gradually. Then it’s reborn as a rhythm section based thing. From there it shifts toward fusion with a movement that has some intriguing timing. This thing evolves into some smoking hot progressive rock as it continues.

More of a soulful rock sound is on the menu on this mellower opening section. It’s basically just keyboards and vocals. Some fusion vibes come in with the other instruments after a time, and the cut works forward well from there.

This is such a cool track. It has a lot of variety and a real sense of quirky drama. There is a lot of jazz in the mix. There is also some seriously hard rocking guitar at points. It’s all merged into something that’s cohesive, unpredictable and tasty.

There is some seriously metallic guitar built into this beast. The track has some great prog changes and a lot of energy, too.

This is basically a piano solo. It’s dramatic and quite pretty. It carries us into the next track.

Starting with the piano from the previous piece, this builds upward gradually from there. The vocals come in over a mellow musical arrangement. This whole thing continues to grow and evolve in intriguing ways. There is a healthy helping of jazz in the mix at times.

This is a unique instrumental break that leads into the next track.

Conitinuing the vibes from the last one, this works out to a harder rocking, nearly metallic at times, jam that is a powerhouse tune. It has some really potent sections.

I really love the groove on this. The track is another that’s very metallic. It’s also another prog stomper. The riffing is so cool. There are some more purely prog moments later. This also includes a drum solo.

I absolutely love this thing. It has so much drama and style. It also has some great twists and turns. It’s dark and makes me think of Pentwater to some degree for some reason. There are some modern King Crimson like vibes at times.

I’ve reviewed renditions of this song on three different CDs, by three different acts for this issue. This King Crimson track gets a great live telling here. It’s both similar to the original and also fresh and decidedly District 97 like.

This comes in with a rather bluesy guitar sound. It works out to a pretty standard District 97 arrangement. After a time it shifts toward more metallic sounds. Then they turn that into frantic prog jamming. This is a powerhouse stomper.