Do you have happy memories of the student disco circa 1990, lurching about in an Inspiral Carpets T-shirt and sitting down when Sit Down by James came on? If so, you may have been at the Brixton Academy to hear the Oxford four-piece Ride celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album Nowhere by performing it from beginning to end.
Ride were the ultimate student band; introspective and psychedelic but with a certain swagger. They gave birth to shoegazing, a combination of melody and noise so called because, either through diffidence or trying to work out what the effects pedals on their guitars were doing, band members tended to gaze at their shoes.
Like the rest of us, Ride grew up and grew apart. They split in 1996 after a series of albums of diminishing quality before the temptation to relive the glory days proved overwhelming and they reunited, as almost all bands do these days, this year.
This concert was an opportunity for Ride and their fans to return to the precious, fleeting moment of youthful abandon associated with that first album, before the complications of life took hold. It was an exercise in nostalgia — how could it be anything else? — but the quality of the songs on Nowhere shone out. Ride might have been as distorted and as noisy as the next bunch of shoegazers, but they put classic, 1960s-style songwriting at the heart of it, making songs such as Vapour Trail and Seagull nuggets of indie perfection.
The problem with reunion concerts is that band and audience alike are self-conscious of re-creating something that was once visceral and in the moment, which means that small details stop the dream from taking hold. Bass notes from Steve Queralt kept booming. Singer Mark Gardener’s stage patter was of the “hey, thanks for coming” variety.
Advertisement
The quality of Ride’s playing is better than ever, and Nowhere is a superb album that was a joy to hear live, but a nostalgic exercise like this is tinged with sadness. It’s a reminder that you can never go back.
Oct 17, Anson Rooms, Bristol; Oct 18, O2 Academy, Newcastle; Oct 19, Edinburgh Corn Exchange; Oct 21, Rock City, Nottingham; Oct 22, Institute, Birmingham