After making the best of April to take some rest after the British tour, Ride flew off on a world tour that was going to last almost three months and start with the United States, then Japan and Australia. The schedule was heavy and restless, towns and venues followed one another in between hours of endless travelling; this exhausting tour put the band at nerves. Melancholy, quarrels and general boredom sadly were on Ride's daily menu and they swore never to go on such a insane trip anymore. As they came back from down under, the European tour was revised with less dates and essential days-off every 4 or 5 days. So the American tour almost put an end to Ride. As Steve, the bass player, explains: The American tour was a nightmare from beginning to end. None of us wanted to be there. I had the baby due, Andy was waiting to get married, and everyone had their heads back home. It's hard to do an eight-week tour with that vibe. It was completely destructive. [1]
Apart from the general bad mood, the routine of gig also hurt. Loz: We were getting bored with the songs as well. We've seen a lot of other bands go in that direction, and we really didn't want to follow them. [1] Andy: Suddenly, instead of doing something when it feets right, you have to plan the whole year ahead and then you have to see it right through so you end up playing second-rate shows because everyone's sick and tired of the songs and sick of each other. [1] Consequently the concerts were not too good to say the least. Those played in California and the Mid-West were okay, so they say, but the last one in New York was disastrous. Andy: That show was so bad that I cried. I got in a taxi straight afterwards and went off to wait for the plane home. It was horrible. [1]
There were however some happier moments as, for Andy, when his wife Idha came to spend a few days or, for Steve, when he could leave for a while and go back to see his son James who was born as they were playing a gig in Seattle. These intimate moments help them keep their feet on the ground. Andy: I got married in February ard that was a really brilliant thing. It was probably the best thing I 've done in my life. It's given me a bit of perspective about how to order things, because there's quite a danger, wre're going to get really burnt out after this tour and not want to do anything for a long, long time. [2]
The American tour, where Slowdive supported except in New York where they left it to the Pale Saints, seems to have run unnoticed unlike the previous 199l tour. Promotion and interviews were kept to a minimum as Ride wanted to preserve their privacy as much as possible. American anecdote: you may remember that Ride was just about to support the Cure in the States. After much debate, they didn't (and left it to the Cranes who made an excellent impression according to the best "Curist" sources) but both bands met for a night. Indeed, Robert Smith and friends went to see the Oxford band in New Orleans and celebrated this English meeting during a long party...
The two weeks that separated the American and Japanese tours allowed the band to come back in England before facing the almost hysterical craze of Japanese fans. In concert, each song ends with high-pitched screams as you would imagine for the Beatles! Yet, according to Ride, the Japanese calmed down since last year. Andy: We've been here 3 times. The first time they loved us, the second time, they loved us again and now they've sort of cooled off a bit. They're probably sick of us.
As dates go by, the set list also changes. Ride adds the superb instrumental, Grasshopper. The old All I Can See seems to be a Japanese favourite as they always play it there. The Japanese also receive the premiere of Time Machine, accompanied by tapes like Leave thee all behind, and OX4 comes back after the band had given it up in Britain when they were unsatisfied with it. Is it home sickness? Finally, if you feel unsatisfied when the concert already ends after a small hour, you may feel envious knowing that in Japan, where, it's true, they only go once a year, Ride can hold their infernal noise during 90 minutes (well, in Osaka they played Nowhere for 20 minutes!). I suggest a general petition to request the same here. If Japanese got spoilt with goodies, Australians also had their share. During the first gig in Melbourne, Ride made a cover of Bowie's legendary "Heroes".
Back in their homeland, our worn-out heroes enjoyed a peaceful August, well not so peaceful as Andy Bell got married in the home country of the Swedish bride and took along his Oxford mates. Back in Oxford, Ride spent 4 days in the Apollo Theatre to rehearse for the Reading festival, which preceded the Metropolis Festival in Rotterdam by one week. These two gigs announced the European tour which started on 17 September. After their unhappy experience in America, Ride are going to change they way they see concerts. Andy: I've got a lot of respect for the Stone Roses and the way they do things. It's brilliant that they try to make every show special. We've never been in that position. From a very early stage, other people have decided what shows we do. But that's not gonna happen anymore. From now on, we're gonna try to make every show special [1]. Nice promise which we certainly will go and check this Autumn. When you'll read these lines, the tour will be well on its way, maybe over. The next issue will then tell you the whole story. Mark: We're still here. You don't get rid of us that easily. [1]
[1]: Melody Maker, 5 September 1992 (GB)
[2]: Rave, 15 July 1992 (AUS)
[3]: Time Off, 22 July 1992 (AUS)
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This was Ride's second Chicago appearance before a sold out crowd. Along with a thousand other fans I was ready to experience this thing called Ride again but kicking off this fantastic double bill were Slowdive. It was the first time I'd seen them live and their sound, which is muted and overprocessed on their recordings, was absolutely massive. Simon stole the show with his prominent and powerful drumming. "Morningrise", "She calls" and "Catch the Breeze" were crowd favourites, altough one guy apparently missed the breese as he was calling out for it three songs after they'd played it! Several shouted wedding proposals to Rachel and praise for the "Gringe who stole Christmas" t-shirt was entertaining as well but not as entertaining as what was to come...
The crowd headed forward, the lights went dim and the opening bleeps of "Leave them all behind" began. The ever familiar stripey-shirt teased the crowd with a smile and we were off. Included in the set were "Chelsea Girl", "Like A Daydream", "Mousetrap", "Nowhere", "Twisterella" and the very beautiful "Vapour Trail". The intoxicating effect of the performance left me at a loss to note the exact song set order. Some stagedive attemps were made but none of them were successful. Immediately after the show there was a "meet and greet" session with Ride at Rave, the record store adjacent to Metro. Many autographs were had and many hearts were stolen. Compared to last year's show (where they blew Lush away!) I would say that Ride's confidence level is at an all-time high. Their deliveries were perfects and hints of shakiness in the vocals just made them all the more endearing. This was one of the best shows I've seen this year. Their music is brilliant and people who say they are boring in concert need to loosen up and enjoy the music rather than knock them for lack of stage antics.
Review by
Tina Louise Sosa
To tell the truth, I hadn't expected much of this gig because it was clear that this hall, which is well air-conditioned, furnished with stable and splendid-springed seats, didn't match for Ride at all! However I think they played better than the previous night. In spite of such awful conditons (as you may easily imagine, the volume wasn't loud enough!) four guys made a strenuous effort. Before starting, pictures of old TV films, I guess, were shown on the screen; then, delayed by about 20 minutes or so, the final gig of this Japan tour started with the dramatic intro of Leave them all behind. The audience stood up... and did nothing!! It made me furious! However l think it was not because of Ride or the audience but because of the hall. In this situation, is it normal to stand and only listen to and have a spree only by oneself? I don't know. Anyway the gig itself was great! From the second album all the songs but Chrome Waves and Cool your boots were played. Among all the songs, Loz's terrific playing on Mouse trap and Twisterella were especially good. In my opinion, it would have been good to watch the pictures that were shown before the gig with this sixties-flavoured tune but if they had done that at this halt, Loz would have had to play behind the screen! Though Ride had smartly changed their style on the second album, both old and new songs were introduced mutually in good balance. Including two encores, they played 18 songs (!) in a 90-minute concert. In the encores, they first played Time of her time and the standard number Chelsea girl. Secondly after a little too much time Seagull came last. I think they made great progress in that the gig was well tightened and each song sounded characteristically by; all the old songs have been shortened and the new songs are full of variety. Now my worries are that they become too professional and... the agony of my body from head to toes!
Review by
Mikiko Ohta
Reading and Metropolis festivals were just one week away from one another and quite different. To sum it up, the worse the weather, the better the concert.
Reading was rainy, windy and muddy. Ride were playing on Saturday night, just before Public Enemy, and their "greatest hits" set was just perfect. The media agreed: Ride are ready for higher summits still.
Metropolis, one week later, was grey but dry. Ride's show was good but rather mellow. It started well with the perennial Leave them all behind and Taste followed by an excellent Cool your Boots and the surprise of the day, Sennen, from the Today Forever EP, which they hadn't played since early 91. Which was a shame: Sennen, with its intertwined guitar harmonies, is a pure and delicate pearl. The theme of the girl who runs away in a world of her own ("they'll never invade her now") always reminds me of the "The French Lieutenant's Woman" movie where Meryl Streep, wrapped up in a wide black cape, stands at the end of wave-beaten pier and stares out at the stormy sea. Here at dusk, under a threatening sky, this vision strangely superposed itself to the stage where Ride were peacefully playing and will remain the symbol of this festival, that of a band wrapped up in their music, so far from our world. Indeed Ride didn't really get into this concert of second choice: they had only 45 minutes, faced a limited audience (they were playing on the small stage in front of about 2000 people whereas the "big" stage was facing some 50.000 punters) among which many curious passers-by as the festival was free; their performance followed a rather boring fternoon spent wandering about in a park where the only entertainment was the guests' bar - let's not mention mnusic, apart from Ride, only the Young Gods who were headlining gave a second reason for being in Rotterdam on that Sunday night.
After Sennen, the concert went on with a series of well known titles correctly but not very convincingly played: Like a Daydream, Time of her Time, Twisterella, Vapour Trail... in a set logically based on the second album. Noisier songs like Seagull or Nowhere were forgotten to the benefit of poppier tracks like enticing Making Judy Smile...Only Mouse Trap and, as the encore, Chelsea Girl, brought some excitement to the gig but this was yet too shy. As Ride were to confirm later, it was definitely "hard to get excited just one week after Reading". I can't wait for the tour to start to see whether Andy keeps his promise of making each concert special!
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In "Ticket to Ride" issue 6 Andy spoke about fans sending pictures for possible Ride record sleeves. After watching,this video I fear he might be getting some new and equally unwanted items turning up in his mail - disposable razors! Andy's chin positively bristles throughout this video while Mark and Steve display a rather "shadowy" appearance in some of the shots which would indicate that life on the road is not all comfort and joy - and that Loz was the only one who could get near a washbasin that day! It seems like Ride have been promising us a "live" video for years so I was glad to finally have the opportunity to slip this into the machine and watch it burst into life. Burst with life it certainly does but I'm not sure it's fully representative of a Ride concert. I think it confirms what I already knew and that it it's impossible to capture the true essence of a Ride concert on tape or film - you just have to BE THERE. The music is a faithful reminder of what everyone heard on their British tour but if you try to achieve the same volume level by hitting the sound switch you end up with one long horrible buzzzzzzzz from your television. The sensation that Ride's music is piercing through your body and giving you a serious anatomy lesson isn't there ("Oh, so that's where my kidneys are, but what's Steve doing stomping around inside them?").
Okay, so I was expecting too much from a "live" Ride video and it's down to accepting what's there - this amounts to a superb performance and an accurate record of what they sounded like at this stage in their career. However, it is not such an accurate record of what they looked like and it makes you wonder whether Ride have been reading too much of their own press lately and believing all those reports about them being boring on stage. This video goes in for every special effect in the book as it frantically jumps from one member to another with close-ups fazing into out-of-focus blurs. The lightshow which made such a difference to this tour dissolves into insignificance and much the same happens with the audience. Instead of having the entertainment of Andy changing guitars after every song we get tigers, monkeys, snakes and crocodiles filmed in a suitably jumpy and blurred manner at London zoo. What is wrong with a few clear shots of Mark bent over his guitar and shaking like a demented rag doll? Why does it have to be presented in a layer of flashing images? It isn't boring to watch. It is never boring to watch people who are obviously enjoying making music as it's too easy to get caught up in the aura they emit. It's hard to tetl what Ride are emitting in this visual flash-field.
When the video kicks off with "Leave them all behind" the effects aren't too prominent and you get a fair proportion of shots of each band member but as the video progresses the effects increase and during the last quarter they switch into overload. I'm afraid I found myself wishing they would stop long enough for me to see who exactly I was supposed to be watching! The close-ups are balanced evenly between shots of hands on guitars and shots of faces. Mark's hair swings wildly, obscures a good part of his features for most of the time and prevents any real opportunities for drooling over those luscious lips - so it's zero point for girlie appeal in this video Mark! It's difficult to talk about best shots as everyone will have their own favourites (for me it's the close-ups of Loz in "Unfamiliar") but the smile of enjoyment which flashes fleetingly across Mark's face in "Like A Daydream" is a delight to behold. My worst shot award would go to Andy in "OX4" where an unflattering camera angle catches him looking like an extra in a zombie horror movie!
There's a brief respite from the zoo as "Drive Blind" heralds the arrival of car headlights. A bit of an obvious move but one which I like as I've always been fascinated by pictures of cities at night where cars look like lines of light. This abbreviated but sterling version is followed by everybody's favourite "Making Judy Smile". (Well I hope it's making Judy smile as she must be about the only one! I'm sorry Andy but it just isn't good enough to say that if you don't like it and you've got a CD player you can program it out. On my grading scale a great album is one which I can play on shuffle mode and it doesn't matter which track it selects.) "Judy" doesn't just follow one classic but it precedes a version of "Nowhere" which smoulders slowly like a lava flow descerding a mountainside before the volcano finally blows its top. If this was an old "Star Trek" episode Mr Spock would raise his eyebrows at this point and say "Illogical". Maybe Ride like to defy logic. Or maybe they got Loz to compile the set List after he'd been smoking too much! Either way for once you're glad that you're watching a video and not at an actual concert. Hit the fast forward button and it's quite painless.
To conclude - "Ride - Brixton" is a pleasant but dazzling experience. It will leave you with an idea of what Ride sound like in concert but it will not give you vibrations in your brain which approach total meltdown - and that is what Ride "live" are all about. So boys have you opened a sweepstake yet on the number of people who are going to tell you about the spelling mistake on the credits?
Review by
Chrissie Oakes