With the recent reunion success of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, fellow legendary British shoegazers Ride have decided to reunite and join in all the gazing fun. The band initially announced 9 tour dates that begins in Glasgow (please inform Glasgow) next May 22, and includes an appearance at the Barcelona Primavera Festival on May 29. The only U.S. date thus far is a visit to the Big Apple on June 4
While the news may come to some as the most significant music to one’s ears since the announcement that The Stone Roses were getting back together, others may react with simply “that’s nice, now I can get on with the rest of my day.” I could say the news comes as a surprise, but when it comes to Heritage Acts, I wouldn’t be anymore surprised if I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet.
About two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of watching Slowdive perform at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, while watching the band I thought to myself, man, the only thing better than this would be a Ride reunion, and there you go. This isn’t the first time I’ve had Ride on the brain over the last month. I was out with a friend back in October to see The Horrors, the band’s between set music included the Ride tune “Leave Them All Behind.” I have since promptly dusted off the albums Nowhere and Going Black Again, as well as turned my friend on to Ride.
When I reflect back on the last few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to see many of my favorite bands from early nineties. Lets reflect, shall we, in no particular order of course: The Charlatans UK, Happy Monday (albeit a Shaun Ryder karaoke performance), My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, The Stone Roses, Pulp, James, Blur, and Slowdive. Apologies if I missed anyone. The Ride reunion will be epic, and I will be there, come hell or high water.
What made this reunion come together was Ride guitarist Andy Bell’s former band Beady Eye recently called it quits. Don’t get overly concerned that the band has only announced 9 dates, there will be more, tour dates galore for that matter. When Goldenvoice feels the time is right to reveal the 2015 Coachella Line up (I believe it will come much sooner than later this year), you can bet your bottom dollar that R-I-D-E will be on line 2, possibly right under Pink Floyd. Talk about fun, Ride hitting the main stage right before Pink Floyd on Sunday night to close out the festival, that would be fun, right? Not to mention, Mr. Bell owes us one, his former band Beady Eye canceled their appearance at the festival earlier this year. Add Ride to my 2015 Coachella Perfect Poster Wish List.
Here’s what Andy Bell had to say about the reunion:
“It’s going to be really cool. As we were all still friends, we always thought when the time was right we’d do it. And now the time is right.”
Ride singer/guitarist Mark Gardener who always has been adamant that Ride would never reform, added this:
“People bought our records first time round…but our music has grown in significance since we’ve been away… We want to give the people what they want. We’d be idiots to go out and play a new album, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t make new music.”
Not only was the time right, but I can only imagine the money is much better than it was back in 1990. To find out more about Ride, check out the piece I wrote on the band for Flashback Friday last year right here.
Now that we’ve gotten the Ride reunion out of the way, we start demanding a Catherine Wheel reunion.
Get reacquainted with Ride below:
“Leave Them All Behind”
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