Ride @ Field Day, 7 June

Just before shoegaze veterans Ride launch into the galvanizing opening notes of Seagull, frontman Mark Gardener prefaces the opening track from their 1990 debut album with the humble observation, “It’s been a great bill today – I can’t believe Patti Smith was on before us.” 

While Smith’s earlier evening slot was indeed impeccable, Ride are no vintage slouch themselves. It’s been a long and full day in the London sun, yet a hefty crowd has still assembled to watch the original lineup revisit their slender but nonetheless sturdy back catalogue.

Leave Them All Behind is a slightly torpid opener, marred by a flag-bearing twit who clambers onto the stage and is promptly bundled off by security, but the group soon find their feet with Like A Daydream and from that point onwards, deliver a blow-by-blow show of elastic, expansive white noise.

At this darkening hour any slight sense of obligation to see out the headline act is eviscerated by the graceful harmonies and momentous drumbeat of Polar Bear, the quivering guitar notes reverberating sublimely into the summer air. The aforementioned Seagull then follows, sending the widely salt-and-pepper haired crowd into bouncing, fist pumping ecstasies.

With his short sleeved t-shirt, dark fedora hat and sparkly blue Fender guitar, fashion ain’t Gardener’s strong point, but the frontman is cheerful and effusive, thoughtfully acknowledging the crowd, their influences (My Bloody Valentine, during the crashing Drive Blind) and even dedicating a track to their tired crew, who flew the group in from Portugal the night prior.

For many of the festival-goers in attendance this will be their first introduction to Ride, and it may be slightly unfair to the group to be taken at face value now, out of context from the very specific sound of their glory days. Yet the band are proficient and slick, sculpting a polished set that pivots around Laurence Colbert’s labyrinthine drumming, neat vocal harmonies, and glossy lighting effects.

It’s safe, but satisfying – crowd pleasers Vapour Trail and Chrome Waves go down a predictable treat, but the group also give a nod to die-hard fans, touching on 1995’s ‘break up album’ with the aggressive Black Nite Crash. 20 years on, Ride are still solidifying their Gen X fanbase, and proving themselves to be every bit worthy of the main stage.