Following their recent London shows at Roundhouse and Field Day, October 14th saw Ride return to the site of their iconic 1992 gig, London Brixton.
Those ‘curious’ of their reformation seem to have been satisfied by performances earlier in the year, making this gig one for the veterans. The majority of attendees were of the same age, wore the same weathered Ride t-shirts and shared the same ecstatic enthusiasm for once again seeing the band that clearly meant so much to them. Committed to say the least.
Possibly drawn in by Ride’s decision to perform Nowhere in full, the set list could not have gone down better with the crowd. Beginning the show with ‘Leave Them All Behind’ the audience were succumbed to the atmosphere build up which Ride are so good at. The guys worked their way through a fair few hits throwing in some earlier tracks as well, including ‘Like a Daydream’.
During a brief interval left before playing Nowhere fans got more riled up, deciding they were going to make the most of the performance. Once the band returned to play ‘Seagull’ – one of the album’s more rowdy tracks anyway – the audience atmosphere changed from one of shoegazing to fanatic drunken convulsions.
There were still pauses to appreciate the more downbeat tracks such as ‘Polar Bear’. Likewise, there was a mood of respectful appreciation for ‘Vapour Trail’. Though, as is often the case at gigs aimed at the hard-core fans, there was little emphasis on it relative to how successful a hit it was for them.
After working their way through Nowhere a few bonus tracks were thrown in, having made the earlier reassuring comment ‘we’re here ‘til 11’. As was the case with the warm up, the encore was well picked. Coming back on with a heavy guitar break down lasting for a good minute or two, the band went into play early track ‘Drive Blind’. To end the night was ‘Chelsea Girl’, which probably was a lot more important to the fans than any of the late, big hits could be.
