Shoegaze royalty Ride’s very thorough 2024 tour, promoting latest album Interplay, has finally brought them back to Portsmouth Guildhall, almost thirty years to the day since their last visit. On that day in 1994, they were supported by then Britpop-punk startups Supergrass, still a few months before they were “caught by the fuzz”. Three decades on, Ride have a broader back-catalogue and a richer reputation to live up to, especially as so-called shoegaze and dream pop has received a renewed interest.
Tonight’s openers Junodream reflect upon this well – hypnotic space rock landing from Bristol.
Junodream @ Portsmouth Guildhall
Vocalist Ed Vyvyan certainly doesn’t shy away from the challenge, introducing themselves as “the second best band in the world”. It is a very head-on approach to showing how they have been inspired by Ride, who belonged to a scene that was in the 1990s derogatorily labelled by the music press as “the scene that celebrates itself”. It is the kind of egotistical statement that’s normally waiting to be scoffed at, but instead by the end he is giving a mid-song roll call of the band members, to rapturous applause. There is no truth in the title of their most popular song Nobody Wants You.
That said, I believe that any band who can successfully and unironically incorporate the word “anemone” into their lyrics should receive great applause, as they do during opener The Beach. Extended, icy cold synth realistically represent how it might feel to take a dip in Portsmouth’s waters, yet their otherworldly ambience makes “the shores of emerald green” sound somewhat desirable, even in the chilly autumn evening.
Junodream @ Portsmouth Guildhall
Ed introduces the as-yet unreleased (but judging from the audience reaction, now eagerly anticipated) White Whales as “like a Ride song… kind of shoegazey”. While the song might resemble Ride with whooshing layers of sliding guitars, it does not resemble it in performance, as Ed refuses to stay still, at least before falling to his knees to scream the song’s final bars.
In fact, this is pretty much the pinnacle of energy that is shown visually onstage all night, even though a lot of the audience haven’t yet arrived. By comparison, Ride will show their signature deadly stillness, against a black backdrop and simplistic lights.
Ride @ Portsmouth Guildhall
Ride put a substantial amount of faith in material released since their reunion, in particularly when choosing to perform clusters of newer songs without reliance on nostalgia. It’s perhaps the right choice, as by now, their brilliant second arc (having reunited in 2014) has lasted longer than their original 1988-1996 run.
Regardless, they seem to have chosen to open with the songs most custom-built to wake up the room, from the rapid urgency of Monaco to the gorgeous majesty of Portland Rocks. The joint vocals of Mark Gardener and Andy Bell contemplate everyone’s living crises, addressing everyone directly (“Over the edge we go / (Can you hear it?) /This pressure / (Can you feel it?)) before bathing the room in feedback and their trademark harmonised “aaah”s.
Ride @ Portsmouth Guildhall
Afterwards, Ride dig out blast from the past Dreams Burn Down, with all emphasis on the word “blast”, as the deafening bursts of squeals and hisses are a furious grab and shake by the shoulders. There are whoops of instant recognition from the unmistakable isolated drums. Despite every card being played that one would have thought would have been the ultimate wake-up call, the Portsmouth audience weren’t especially animated, besides additional heads bobbing up and down with each few songs.
Mark visibly smirked and conceded defeat somewhat after performing latest lead single Peace Sign. It is a thunderous call to prevent arms, that has a chorus that probably makes more obvious than Cha Cha Slide what the crowd should be doing – “give me a peace sign / throw your hands in the air… let me know you’re there”. Mark chuckled, having held his hand aloft before every chorus “what an amazing amount of peace signs! I counted eight”. It might even have just been four people with both arms.
Ride @ Portsmouth Guildhall
What the band saw may have been somewhat reminiscent of the iconic, tranquil and subtle expanse of the ocean that appears on their debut album cover. It was only appropriate that henceforth, they took an extensive dive into their earliest material, ending the main set with Vapour Trail and an extremely forceful, accelerated performance of Seagull, and close their encore with their first ever song Chelsea Girl.
One cannot fault a single note of how they sound, as their dense, ethereal sound could sweep anyone off of their feet. Not all concerts need a jumping and whooping crowd. It is a testament to how striking Ride still sound – there is just a slightly unusual unease when the entire room, both the stage and the floor, are so frozen when such a sound washes over it.
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Ride @ Portsmouth Guildhall (Simon Reed)
The Ride website is here. Junodream can be found here.
Review of Junodream and Ride at Portsmouth Guildhall, Portsmouth on 17th September 2024. Words by Nick Pollard. Photography by Simon Reed.
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