Ride, Mercury Rev @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 8/8/2024
Exceptional! The pairing of two of the finest alternative rock bands being Ride and Mercury Rev was an absolute masterstroke and having seen The Jesus and Marcy Chain a couple days prior it felt that all my Christmas’s had come at once. To top that the production in Hindley Street Music Hall was top shelf showcasing both bands at their very best.
After Ride returned to Australia in 2022 (same night as Guns ‘n Roses), having previously been here some thirty years prior, I had given up thinking that they would return to Adelaide at all. Fast forward two years I was ecstatic when they announced that August would be the month for this tour which starts in Adelaide. One thing that is noticeable is the cost of living pressure that everyone is under is starting to impact on the number of people who are able to go these shows and with the aforementioned earlier no doubt it would have been a tough choice to pick one or the other or none at all.
Mercury Rev were amazing and another one of these band’s I have been waiting a very long time to see. It might have only been a forty five minute set but what a forty five minute set it was. The focus of their set was very much on their classic fourth album Deserter’s Songs, a couple from All Is Dream and a Bob Dylan cover. With a release set date for forthcoming album Born Horses I thought we might of had a sneak preview but we can only assume now that leaves the door open for a return visit next year.
Like a perfectly woven tapestry Mercury Rev’s set was perfectly pieced together starting with The Funny Bird which morphed in to Tonite It Shows. Absolutely wonderful! Bob Dylan’s Love Sick was brilliantly done and the centrepiece of their set was Tides Of The Moon. It was powerful, it was theatrical and hard to not be in awe. Charismatic front man Jonathan Donahue doesn’t say much and it’s the non-verbal cues that directs the band even miming a theremin that was not there. There were still plenty of big moments of biblical proportions to come with Holes, Opus and the classic tune The Dark Is Rising. Amazing and a tough one to top!
Ride are an incredible band and tonight’s performance confirmed that beyond. With new album Interplay fresh in the minds of fans the band continues to very much keep looking forward rather than relying on a back catalogue steeped in an abundance of riches. The staging was minimalist as the band emerged in amongst the haze. Opening with Seagull and Portland Rocks were sublime as was All I Want from Weather Diaries. First taster from Interplay was the infectious Peace Sign with Mark Gardener acknowledging the crowd saying it was great to be back.
There wasn’t a moment of weakness in their ninety minute set even though Gardener described tonight’s set as being experimental wanting to mix up the set list apologising if it was confusing. Jump Jet and Twisterella were awesome and Unfamiliar off the Today Forever EP was a great addition to the set. Andy Bell is an unassuming rock star and his guitar playing is a sheer pleasure to watch. The strength of their set list is not just what they played but what they left out and what they could of played.
Last Night I Went Somewhere to Dream, Black Nite Crash, OX4, and Paralysed were stellar topped of by Vapour Trail which brought the crowd in to who found plenty of voice to sing-a-long. The band could of walked off at this point and everyone would have been well satisfied but the encore in Light in a Quiet Room and the classic Leave Them All Behind topped things off nicely.
Live Review By Rob Lyon