Coachella 2015: Ride, like a daydream

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Who: Ride in the Gobi Tent
In 3 or Fewer Words: Heaven at dusk.
Memorable Because: The Oxford quartet’s set suffered the same fate as Suede’s reunion show in 2011 — a virtuoso turn, under-attended. The shoegazers’ dreamy-cum-grandiose music has influenced dozens of indie-rockers since their four-album run in the 1990s, and Mark Gardener, Andy Bell, Steve Queralt and Loz Colbert — as they were last Wednesday at the Roxy — were in epic form despite a slightly bass-heavy mix that all swallowed some of the twinkling guitar parts. “Are you seeing us for the first time today?” Bell asked the crowd, getting a modest show of hands. “This one’s for you.” And Ride went crashing into “Dreams Burn Down” — which maybe carried some subtext in this moment? “Leave Them All Behind,” “Black Nite Crash,” “Like a Daydream,” “Chelsea Girl,” “Drive Blind” … there were some middle-agers in the one-third-full tent, bodies buckling as the sonic waves hit them, wiping away tears when the strings took over in “Vapour Trail.” There’s next week. Or Tuesday at the Fox Theater in Pomona.
What I’d Tell My Friends Who Were at Dinner: Nothing, since we are no longer on speaking terms.
— K.B. (Photos by Bronson)

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