Rating: 
Summary: The best!
Review: (Note: I geared this review towards Irish dancing fans who want to buy a Riverdance, but are not sure which one to get.)
This is by far the best Riverdance to get, for several reasons. It is of higher quality: better stage, better costumes, etc. Also, there are great extra songs what the other does not have, such as: Trading Taps has a little "showdown" between three Irish dancers and two American black jazz dancers. It is very entertaining, humerous, and all around enjoyable. I really missed that in the first Riverdance. Oscail an Doras: One of my favorite Irish songs overall! It combines drums, singing and dancing. It also has a wonderful tune and great harmonies. Lift the Wings is a duet with a man and woman, and that really enhances the song. It is beautiful. Freedom is much better. I did not like the Baptist choir they had. I have nothing against that style of music, but it definately did not fit with this show one bit. Now they have the regular singers performing, as well as a man with a really deep bass voice. Kind of like the man who sang "Old Man River" from Showboat. Firedance is not a duet. Maria Pages definately has enough charisma and presence to do a solo, and, IMHO, it is much better that way. Also, Michael Flately cannot do any suggestive petting. Besides having differences, this movie keeps many of the same winning features of the last one, such as the beautiful and talented Jean Butler (I swear she floats when she dances); the wonderful lady lead singer whose name I do not know, but has a hauntingly, achingly gorgeous voice; and the same great songs. Now I shall tell the best asset: Colin Dunne. Michael Flatley may think he is lord of the Dance, but Colin Dunne IS the dance. All one has to do is look at his face, and see the expression of pure bliss. The best thing about him is that, to him, the audience dissapears, which obviously does not happen with Michael Flatley. Flatley is a performer, and, while there is nothing wrong with that, that interferes with the actual show. I think the best way to compare the two is to look at how they stand after some dances. After Reel Around the Sun, Flately stands straight up with his arms outstretched, obstructing the view of the dancers behind him. Dunne, after another song, stands with is head down, and hands pointing backwards towards them, drawing the viewer's gaze backwards. One more thing: I have seen it mentioned on other reviews that Dunne's chemistry with Jean Butler was not as good as Flatley's. I disagree; it is better. The only person Flatley has chemistry with is himself. Dunne and Butler have respect for eachother; that is obvious. In short, if you are getting one Riverdance, get this one. If you can get both, get both! For, as some people say, the camera is not always used to its full potential. However, it is hardly bothersome. I can assure you that you will be hard pressed to find a better-spent 2 hours than the time spent watching this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Even better
Review: even better show. I saw this at my friend's house it roked. This film is a great second edition of Riverdance the Show.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Dance vs. Bad Video
Review: About 3 years ago, I got a video tape from my sister from US, she recorded the Riverdance show in TV, Both my wife and I love the great dance and wonderful music very much. So we hope one day the show will be release as the DVD(Just becasue DVD can perform good quality video and audio). We hope to buy it. However, I bought the DVD when it first released on market. I wait about 2 weeks than get the DVD, I'm so exciting to open it and put it into my DVD player. .. My first image was ?????, why the quality so bad? anything I doing wrong? So I check my DVD configuration and the TV. My all others DVD are without problem. The DVD include 2 sections, so I thought maybe the next section will better, but I wsa wrong and felt very upset. I returned it.
Rating:
Summary: Lacks the spark of the original
Review: No doubt Dunne is an excellent technician, but he lacks the Flatley's viceral charisma with the audience and his chemistry with Butler. The spark and excitement of the original is missing. On the up side, it's still a wonderful performance (even if a bit overedited), and the DVD format with surround sound is fabulous. I only wish the version with Flatley was available in the same format.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE learn to film dance!
Review: All three major Irish dance films suffer from the inability of whoever is doing the filming to film dance properly! This is the greatest abuser of the three. There are three major problems: 1) not filming the dancers full body, 2) stage lighting (not the best for filming, though fine for viewing a live performance), and 3) excessive changes in camera angle. Of these three, the second is forgiveable, being unavoidable if one is filming before a live audience but one and three are not! As to one, there was extensive work done by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in the early days of the musical that worked out the best ways to film dance. Only one completely ignorant of filming technique would fail to film full body. As for three, I can tell you that there are nine cameras in New York's Radio City Music Hall. How do I know? BECAUSE THE FILMOGRAPHER SWITCHED CAMERAS EVERY 10-15 SECONDS OF EVERY FLIPPING DANCE! HELLO, we do not ALL watch an excessive quantities of MTV, thank you very much! This is distracting at best and at worst it totally disrupts the ability to appreciate the flow of the movement. Additionally, if you've already seen the Michael Flatley film there is very little of interest or improvement (unless you dislike his work, in which case you may like this). The only major change is a "dance down" pitting American tap against Irish step. This particular number, were it film properly, would be worth the price of adding this work to your collection, even if it already included the original "Riverdance", but, as it is, forget it! Rent it on video, see the number, and forget wasting you well-earned money on this forgetable turkey. The performers worked hard and I am sorry that those filming them didn't give their effort the presentation it deserved.
Rating: 
Summary: Example for how poor editing can spoil a fantastic show
Review: I have seen Riverdance - The Show live performance by Pat Roddy and Eileen Martin. But this DVD - featuring Colin Dunne and Jean Butler - is a very good example of how poor editing and lack of video making experience can spoil an excellent performance. Trust me, the makers of this video do not know even the basics of video making and they do not have the faintest idea - what is Irish dance. When Jean is energetically delivering her excellence, the camera is focused on her face or torso! Agreed, she is beautiful, but come on, an Irish dance lover do not see the show to ogle at the performing girls! And that magnificient orchestra playing Bill Whelan's magical scores do not get a good slot in the video either! Radio hall owes a good one to the makers of this video since most the time the hall is shown from a long angle leaving the skills of dancers in the middle of the screen as tiny dots! One side of the DVD could have been made as a non-stop delivery of the whole show, and the other side could have had the behind the scenes and dancer's biographies. Flipping over the DVD in the middle of the show is frustrating! I am looking forward for a better version of this DVD. Hopefully they make another one as Riverdance is back on live in New York now!
Rating:
Summary: Flat without Flatley
Review: Seemed a reprise of an earlier Riverdance, without the excitement that Michael Flatley provided. However, none of the releases post Riverdance the Show, met the high water mark of the original. Lord of the Dance, too much spectacle, not enough focus on dance that the original Riverdance portrayed so well. Really want a DVD of Riverdance the Show, with full quality of the recent DVD releases. In the meantime, I'll keep what I have and enjoy both DVD's, Riverdance-Live from NYC, and Lord of the Dance and the VHS tape of Riverdance the Show.
Rating:
Summary: Good Quality DVD
Review: Riverdance on DVD was very good. The only "complaint" that i might have is that the color was just alittle dark in some places. But the overall quality was 100 times better than the video. The only other thing that i thought might be a slight inconveniece was the fact that you had to turn the disc over to watch side 2. But overall a very good video. It has some behind the scenes stuff which was taken mostly from the Documentary video- Riverdance- A Journey(which i also have) anyways, this is a must for any die hard riverdance fan! more later JK
Rating:
Summary: Flatley is gone...and that makes this one so much better
Review: Riverdance: The Show was a great video for me at the time. But Live From New York beats it in almost every aspect. Colin Dunne was made to be in this show from the very beginning. In my opinion he could dance circles around Flatley. What's really impressive to me is that this one has more new dances and songs--including a couple of orchestra-only sets. The music is fabulous, and the atmosphere of Radio City Music Hall gives Live From New York something that just could not be found in Riverdance: The Show . . . and that was class. Even if you don't think you would be a fan of dancing like this, watch just the first dance. That was enough to interest me.
Rating:
Summary: fast forward saves the day
Review: The dancing is a 10 (if not higher). The tap competition is the best. The music is GREAT! However the singing is really boring, so like the title says, fast forward saves the day. DVD is better for this feature.
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