Ride begin tour with hometown gig – watch
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:
- Wed Apr 20 2022Ride
Bedford Esquires, Bedford, UK - Wed Apr 20 2022Ride
Bedford Esquires, Bedford, UK - 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 Ritz Manchester, Manchester, UK - Fri Apr 29 2022Ride
The Roundhouse, London, UK - Fri Jul 29 - 30 2022Pop Messe 2022
Football Stadium / Fotbalový Stadion Za Lužánkami, Brno, Czech Republic - Sat Aug 06 2022Richard Ashcroft
Crystal Palace Bowl, Bromley, UK - Thu Aug 11 - 14 2022Lakefest 2022
Eastnor Castle, Eastnor, UK - Fri Aug 26 - 28 2022Connect Festival 2022
Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh, UK
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.