Ride - Live at The Marble Factory, Bristol - 24th April

It bears repeating that Ride’s reformation must have been one of the most successful of the 1990s bands.

In all aspects they are going from strength to strength, likely to benefit from Andy Bells’ impressed prolificity (at last count he’s released approximately 50 new collections of music in the last two years) and in the live arena, which tonight’s gig emphatically proves.

Cut as they are from similarly-noise-epic cloth, bdrmm provide excellent support and warm things up nicely, from the uneasy ‘Push/Pull’ to the two-piece ‘Happy/(Un) Happy’, two songs on their debut album but here amalgamated into one.

The first half is snappy shoegaze where the second is all wrought vocals and brooding atmospherics before they close on the uplifting ‘A Reason To Celebrate’.

Their debut album Bedroom was one of the highlights of 2020 and with recent single, the bristling ‘Port’, having been subject to a whole remix EP (with the likes of Daniel Avery and Working Men’s Club offering their interpretations), the next phase of their career promises to be fascinating.

But while bdrmm have a bright future, their spiritual forebears Ride are tonight focusing on the past, both distant and recent. Playing their debut album Nowhere in full (plus associated tracks from their Fall EP), the ferocious hurdy-gurdy clatter of Seagull instantly transports the crowd to a better place (even though this tour was originally due to take place in 2020, etc etc) with both Mark Gardener and Andy Bell’s proffering soothing balms on lead vocals and guitars.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/04/review-ride-marble-factory-bristol/