Live Review: Ride, Shiva & The Hazards

Proving their enduring influence, a pan-generational mix of long-haired guys, women with mermaid hair, and chrome-dome blokes congregated for Ride, with plenty arriving early to enjoy Shive & The Hazards. It was an unintrusive performance, but one that generated a warm atmosphere, with well-manicured guitar and occasional, somewhat underutilised close harmony vocals. Occasionally a little derivative, they sounded like a band still trying to find their voice. It might be interesting to see them explore some prolonged jams in the future – over the course of their set they built up steam and seemingly a closer rapport. 

When a band visits your hometown and doesn’t come back for 27 years, you’d be forgiven for asking, "How have we offended you?" But there were no signs of animosity when Ride took to the stage. Indeed, for the first couple of numbers they seemed to be in cruisey holiday mode, opening with a breezy take on Jump Jet that was maybe a bit too safe, a bit too comfy slippers. 

A lively Seagull perked things up immeasurably, and from then on it was a first-album-heavy cavalcade of crowd pleasers. The first notes of Dreams Burn Down inspired an unexpected but thoroughly welcome wave of hugging through sections of the crowd. It was that boozy arms-around-shoulders hugging that you sometimes do to prop someone up, which given the amount of swaying going on, made sense. As the song progressed, it became abundantly clear that Andy Bell as a guitarist doesn’t get the full kudos he deserves. With a beautiful, almost aquamarine tone, he peeled off lovely, lilting lines. At the other end of the sonic spectrum, Drive Blind featured the obligatory mid-song, nuclear-wasteland-of-static breakdown, but it was arguably the tough grooves either side that impressed more, with the fuzz bass of Steve Queralt shuddering so hard it felt like someone had slashed one of the house woofers. 

Although some of Ride’s songs seem deeply rooted in the past (hi there Twisterella), there were moments when their music transcended into something almost timeless, not least on the quixotic 0x4 and a truly gorgeous Vapour Trail. And you can’t get much higher praise than that.