Just months before IQ will start thinking of their 25th anniversary, The Twentieth Anniversary Show sees the light of day. The DVD features two discs, the first containing the anniversary show the band played at The Mean Fiddler, London in 2001. The second disc contains the encores and a lot of special features (not bonus material!). I’ve been an IQ fan for several years now, starting with the excellent Subterranea album in 1998. I’ve seen the band playing excellent shows several times, but I still find it hard to explain just why I like the band. Watching the DVD didn’t make this easier. It’s hard to explain why you like the sharp and harshening vocals of Peter Nicholls, the nerdy performance of guitarist Michael Holmes and the strange appearance of Martin Orford.

The sound on the DVD stands beyond doubt, but as usual the pictures could have been better. Fans of the band will love this release. Not only because it a nice document of 20 years IQ, but most of all because it features a three song appearance of The Lens, the band Mike Holmes and Martin Orford origin from. For me, I will probably be playing the DVD more than I’ll be watching it. As the special features are concerned, except for the encores and the tracks by the Lens, they are of the watch-only-once category. Personally I’d preferred a single DVD containing just the Mean Fiddler Show, saving five to ten Euros on the DVD. If I had to rate this DVD pure for the music I’d probably get 9 out of 10 points.