Shoegaze pioneers Ride to play special tour warm-up gig at Esquires

Pioneering shoegaze legends Ride will headline Esquires in April as a special warm up gig ahead of the band’s UK tour.

The Oxford four piece will headline the Bedford venue on Wednesday, April 20, where they will be performing their classic album Nowhere in full.

One of the leading lights of the early 1990’s shoegaze scene, Ride reformed in 2014 to headline the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona.

They are set to play a series of gigs across the UK to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the debut LP.

Featuring tracks including Dreams Burn Down and Vapour Trail, Nowhere was originally released in 1990 and is still widely heralded as one of the best albums of the decade, with Rolling Stone magazine calling it “a masterpiece” and Pitchfork declaring it “one of shoegazing’s enduring moments”.

In 2017, they released Weather Diaries, their first album in more than 20 years.

Produced by Erol Alkan, it was greeted by a raft of critical and commercial acclaim and reached number 11 in the UK album charts.

Their sixth studio album, This Is Not A Safe Place, was released in 2019 and was the sound of a band embracing its new found creativity and rejuvenated dynamic.

As well as working with Erol Alkan for a second time on production, the record saw Ride reunite with sound engineer Alan Moulder.

The record charted in the UK at number seven, the band's highest chart position in 25 years.

Talking about how the venue secured the gig, promoter Richard Skilbeck said: “Myself and fellow promoter Milky were looking for someone to support Stereolab when they appeared here last September.

“We asked Andy Bell if he would be interested in playing and amazingly he said yes.

“Both Andy and Stereolab were brilliant and at the end of the night we cheekily asked him if there was a chance he might return with Ride.

“He loved the venue and said he would see if he could make it happen. Six months later we get a call from their management saying they wanted to play.”

With dates at venues such as the Manchester Ritz and London’s Roundhouse Theatre long since sold out, Ride’s gig at Esquires will be their first at the venue and a chance to see them in an intimate setting.

Mr Skilbeck added: “We are all huge Ride fans here at Esquires so we are absolutely ecstatic that the band have agreed to play our little venue and we can’t thank Andy enough.

“It’s also a testament to all the improvements that owner Gareth Barber has made to the place, such as the new sound system, that bands like Ride will now agree to play Bedford.”

Tickets cost £27.50 in advance and will be available from 10am on Friday, February 25, from www.seetickets.com. Support is to be confirmed.

For more information, visit bedfordesquires.co.uk