junodream open with strummed acoustic guitar backed by a steady rhythm section, cinematic electric guitar work and reverb drenched vocals which result in early 90s shoegaze reminiscent of early Spiritualized. 'Kitchen Sink Drama' is like 'In Rainbows' era Radiohead mixed with tonight's headliners, and features some excellent Johnny Greenwood style guitarwork. I'm not as keen on 'Death Drive' which has the feel of Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica'. The guitar is again lovely, the whistling not so much. In fact, the guitar playing is sublime throughout and is probably the highlight of each of the songs they play. A couple of tracks sound a little like shoegaze versions of Duran Duran's 'Ordinary World'. It's pretty hypnotic, as this type of music often is.
Ride open with the straight forward indie rock of 'Monaco'. It's nothing spectacular. The brooding, spellbinding 'Last Night I Went Somewhere To Dream' is much more like it. The '60s style dual vocal harmonies are really nice. 'Dreams Burn Down' is classic shoegaze. It's hypnotic and calming despite its power. 'Future Love' shows off their strengths - memorable guitar lines and those dual vocals from Andy and Mark which blend together seamlessly. Their more standard indie tracks are definitely weaker, such as the Echo & The Bunnymen meets Lightning Seeds sounding 'Last Frontier'. 'I Came To See The Wreck' has a plodding pace and not even a powerful mid-section can fully rescue it. 'Lannoy Point's undulating guitars and driving bassline, along with some fiery solos, are excellent. 'Peace Sign' unfortunately brings it back down to average. This seems to be pattern for the evening, great followed by average followed by great again. The driving 'Black Nite Crash' raises the levels again, and the swirling guitars are particularly satisfying. I still don't think the vocal lines of 'Cool Your Boots' match the rhythm but I enjoy it live more than I do on record and the instrumental climax is extremely good. The crowd makes 'Vapour Trail' by singing the guitar lines back to the band, and it's hard not to be carried away. 'Seagull', with its swirling guitars and rolling rhythms, is fantastic and this closes the regular set. The run of the last few songs of the regular set is great. Swirling psychedelia and hypnotic shoegaze is where the band is at their best, even better when they marry the two together such as on the classic 'Leave Them All Behind'. Ride are clearly a good band but the quality control isn't always what it should be. Some of the new songs just don't cut it. The most up and down gig I've been to in quite some time.
Ride ***
junodream ****
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