Reuniting in November 2014 and playing their first live show as a full group for twenty years in their hometown of Oxford on Easter Sunday, early 90s shoegaze band Ride have and are bound to stage their return to music in 2015 on a impressive scale. With such a remarkable and engrossing past, it’s merely tricky not to look in reverse and examine the band’s prime.

 

Taken from their second album released in the same month, Ride expose themselves with gripping 8 minute marathon ‘Leave Them All Behind’, one of their most acclaimed and flourishing tracks. Maintaining the stereotypical shoegaze persona throughout, except for the occasional head-bop, body-sway or vocalist and guitarist Mark Gardener’s minor sum of action near the end, stimulation is generated from the rapid animated lights and large-scale graphics seen behind the band.

 

Ride chooses to revisit earlier track ‘Taste’ to go on with, a song whose effects take less priority than the one previous. Again, the shoegaze character is upheld, with the band being wholly covered with gentle orange, red and yellow lighting.

 

With a minimal gap between, Gardener speedily introduces ‘Not Fazed’ from their recent album as “about a school life.” Crammed with enormous indie guitar tones, desolate vocals and burly drumbeats, much like the majority of Ride’s creations, the band produce an unswerving and hypnotising sound.

 

Ride releases other colossal track ‘OX4’ as their set proceeds but shortens its usual duration of approximately 7 minutes to almost half at 4 minutes, missing out the album’s versions piano introduction. Even though this segment missing, the band still provides a commendable performance whilst lights akin to those produced by a disco ball scatter the wall behind themselves.

 

Entering into the latter section of the set, favoured ‘Vapour Trail’ from their debut ‘Nowhere’ surfaces, receiving vast approval from the audience. Beginning with the signature entwining guitar riffs, Ride provide an idyllic presentation of the track, substituting the normal string instrumentation the album version includes with pleasant guitar chords.

 

The band completes their set with ‘Chelsea Girl’ from their first self-titled EP. Encompassing an amalgamation of dashing then tamer guitar notes, Ride ceases their show in a vigorous conduct.  Gardener plainly thanks the audience for attending as the track settles before departing the stage with the rest of the ensemble.