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 Jan 04 2024The Charlatans, Ride
The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, US - Fri Jan 05 2024The Charlatans, Ride
The Wiltern, Los Angeles (LA), CA, US - Sat Jan 06 2024The Charlatans, Ride
House of Blues San Diego, San Diego, CA, US - Mon Jan 08 2024The Charlatans, Ride
The Van Buren, Phoenix, AZ, US - Wed Jan 10 2024The Charlatans, Ride
House of Blues – Dallas, Dallas, TX, US - Thu Jan 11 2024The Charlatans, Ride
Emo's Austin, Austin, TX, US - Fri Jan 12 2024The Charlatans, Ride
House of Blues – Houston, Houston, TX, US - Sun Jan 14 2024The Charlatans, Ride
House of Blues – New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, US - Mon Jan 15 2024The Charlatans, Ride
The Eastern, Atlanta, GA, US - Wed Jan 17 2024The Charlatans, Ride
The Fillmore Silver Spring, Silver Spring, MD, US
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.