Ride are on their third North American tour of 2024 and that hit Brooklyn on Friday night at Warsaw. Unlike their January trip, which was a redo of their 2023 trek with The Charlatans (playing Nowhere / Between 11th and 12th in full), this time they were promoting their excellent new album, Interplay. They’re clearly proud of this one — it’s their best since Going Blank Again — and opened the show with two of its best songs, the electronic-leaning “Monaco” and “Portland Rocks” which is their Ride-iest song since the ’90s. They played half the album on Friday night, and most in the crowd seemed to know the songs, with “Portland Rocks” and Andy Bell’s poppy “Peace Sign” getting the biggest response of the new ones.
The crowd really went wild for the ’90s songs, though, of which there were plenty. After two straight tours of Nowhere I was glad to get a more varied setlist, which included “Twisterella,” “Cool Your Boots” and “Leave Them All Behind” from Going Blank Again, and one song each from comeback-era albums Weather Diaries (“Lannoy Point”) and This is Not a Safe Place (“Kill Switch”), plus four from Nowhere (“Taste,” “Seagull,” “Dreams Burn Down,” and of course “Vapour Trail”).
It was a full house, and bandleaders Bell (sporting a 9:30 Club tee) and Mark Gardener, and rhythm section Loz Colbert and Steve Queralt, all seemed in high spirits. That could’ve also been because it was Mark’s 55th birthday, and right before “Vapour Trail” they brought out a cake and the whole place sang “Happy Birthday” before he blew out the candles.
Ride really have never sounded better and the new songs fit seamlessly alongside their shoegaze classics. From the “ahhhh”-filled harmonies the roar of the guitars and Colbert’s wallop behind the kit, they were in top form, though if I had to ding the show for something it was that it wasn’t loud enough. Even if you’re an avid earplug wearer (and you should be), bands like Ride, you need to feel it in your chest. The volume didn’t really blast until around “Vapour Trail” and “Seagull” which closed out the main set. They roared back for a three-song encore, opening with “Light in a Quiet Room” from Interplay, then the one-two punch of “Leave Them All Behind” and “Chelsea Girl” from their debut EP. Great show.
LA band Rocket, who are descendants of Ride’s hazy pop sound, made for a nice warm-up for Ride. Check out photos from the whole show by Lauren Krohn, plus the Warsaw setlist and video, below.
Ride’s US tour runs through December 20. All dates are below.
SETLIST: Ride @ Warsaw, Brooklyn 12/6/2024
Monaco
Portland Rocks
Dreams Burn Down
Kill Switch
Last Frontier
I Came to See the Wreck
Twisterella
Lannoy Point
Peace Sign
Taste
Cool Your Boots
Vapour Trail
Seagull
Encore:
Light in a Quiet Room
Leave Them All Behind
Chelsea Girl
RIDE – 2024/2025 TOUR DATES
DEC 9 MON Carrboro, NC, US – Cat’s Cradle
DEC 10 TUE Atlanta, GA, US – Variety Playhouse
DEC 12 THU Houston, TX, US – White Oak Music Hall
DEC 13 FRI Dallas, TX, US – The Factory Studio
DEC 14 SAT Austin, TX, US – Emo’s Austin
DEC 16 MON Phoenix, AZ, US – The Lounge at Crescent Ballroom
DEC 17 TUE Tucson, AZ, US – 191 Toole
DEC 18 WED San Diego, CA, US – House of Blues San Diego
DEC 19 THU Los Angeles, CA, US – The Fonda
DEC 20 FRI San Francisco, CA, US – The Fillmore
JAN 3 – 5 Bognor Regis, UK – Rockaway Beach 2025 (with Spiritualized, Leftfield, Georgia, and more)
APR 22 TUE Paris, France – Le Trianon
APR 24 THU Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg
APR 26 SAT Stockholm, Sweden – Berns Salonger
APR 29 TUE Oslo, Norway – Rockefeller
MAY 2 FRI Warsaw, Poland – Klub Proxima (with Galge, Winiary Bookings, and Neckbreakker)
MAY 4 SUN Berlin, Germany – Metropol
MAY 8 THU Munich, Germany – Muffathalle
MAY 9 FRI Cologne, Germany – Die Kantine
MAY 10 SAT Hamburg, Germany – Fabrik