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:

• Thu Apr 21 2022Ride
  Foundry, Sheffield, UK
• Fri Apr 22 2022Ride
  Waterfront, Norwich, UK
• Sat Apr 23 2022Ride
  O2 Academy Oxford, Oxford, UK
• Sun Apr 24 2022Ride
  The Marble Factory, Bristol, UK
• Tue Apr 26 2022Ride
  SWG3, Glasgow, UK
• Wed Apr 27 2022Ride
  Boiler Shop, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
• Thu Apr 28 2022Ride
  O2 Manchester Ritz, Manchester, UK
• Fri Apr 29 2022Ride
  The Roundhouse, London, 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.