Ride played the first gig as a full band in 20 years tonight (5th April) at the O2 Academy (formerly The Zodiac) to an ecstatic crowd in Oxford.

They sold tickets via their mailing list just a few days ago and tonight just over 400 fans who have travelled from as far as America packed the venue.

The triumphant set spanned across their whole career with the exception of Carnival of Light. If I’m not mistaken it was the first time Cool Your Boots and Black Nite Crash have been played live. In attendance were Jon Leckie, Sam Williams and Gem Archer.

You can watch a video of opening track Polar Bear below.

The full set list consisted of:

Polar bear
Seagull
Twisterella
Unfamiliar
Cool your boots
Black nite crash
OX4
Dreams burn down
Time of her time
Chrome waves
Paralysed
Taste
Vapour trail
Drive blind
Leave them all behind
Like a daydream
Chelsea girl

A Spotify playlist of the set (including intro track by This Mortal Coil) is below:

The band now fly off to the states tomorrow where they follow up tonight’s gig with the following dates:

• Sat Jul 22 2017Ride
  Theater of the Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA, US
• Sun Jul 23 2017Ride
  Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington, DC, US
• Fri Jul 28 2017Ride, Erol Alkan
  XOYO, London, UK
• Thu Aug 10 - 13 2017Ypsigrock Festival 2017
  Castelbuono, Italy
• Thu Aug 17 - 20 2017Green Man Festival 2017
  Brecon Beacons National Park, Brecon Beacons, UK
• Sat Aug 19 2017Hostess Club All Nighter 2017
  Tokyo, Japan
• Wed Sep 20 2017Ride
  Summit Music Hall, Denver, CO, US
• Thu Sep 21 2017Ride
  Metro Music Hall, Salt Lake City, UT, US
• Sat Sep 23 2017Ride
  McMenamin's Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR, US
• Sun Sep 24 2017Ride
  Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA, US
• Tue Sep 26 2017Ride
  The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, US
• Fri Sep 29 2017Ride
  Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, Los Angeles, CA, US
• Sat Sep 30 - 01 2017Music Tastes Good Festival! 2017
  Marina Green, Long Beach, CA, US
• Mon Oct 02 2017Ride
  El Plaza Condesa, Mexico City, Mexico
• Tue Oct 03 2017Ride
  TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
• Tue Oct 31 2017Ride
  Transbordeur, Villeurbanne, France
• Thu Nov 02 - 04 2017Pitchfork Music Festival Paris 2017
  Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France
• Fri Nov 03 2017Ride
  TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
• Sun Nov 05 2017Ride
  Astra Kulturhaus, Berlin, Germany
• Tue Nov 07 2017Ride
  O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, UK
• Wed Nov 08 2017Ride
  O2 Institute Birmingham, Digbeth, UK
• Thu Nov 09 2017Ride
  SWX, Bristol, UK
• Fri Nov 10 2017Ride
  Leeds Beckett University Students Union, Leeds, UK
• Sun Nov 12 2017Ride, Ulrika Spacek
  O2 Academy Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
• Mon Nov 13 2017Ride
  Boiler Shop, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
• Tue Nov 14 2017Ride
  The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, UK
• Sat Dec 16 2017Mogwai
  The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, UK

See all concerts

In other Ride related news, the 6th April marks 25 years since their breakthrough sell-out gig at London’s ULU. The same weekend the band had their first top 40 hit with the Play EP. You can see a clip of them at the ULU gig below.