Few bands have gotten as far inside my brain as Ride did in their heyday. The early nineties, the height of shoegaze (whatever that was), and Ride stood out from all the rest because they weren’t just about a sound. They were about the songs. Those early EPs, the b-sides that were better than the album tracks (which were already amazing on their own), the mind-opening live shows with the best of touring partners (I saw Ride play three different times… one with the Pale Saints, one with Lush, and one with Slowdive. I mean, sheesh, can you beat that?). I was enough of a Ride freak that I still have a framed poster all four members signed before they hit the stage out in Seattle… I even snagged one of Loz’s drumsticks, which sits on my bookshelf to this day.

So, yeah, enough with the nostalgia… you get the point. I love Ride. So let’s talk about last night. 10 years after playing the Paradise with his bandmates, former Ride-man Mark Gardener graces the stage of the Middle East Downstairs with a 12-string acoustic in his hands and a bunch of enthusiastic fans in front of him. He booked this tour under the original premise of promoting last year’s Ride Box Set, and he’s also using it to test the waters for some of his solo material. The setlist leaned towards the Ride-side, but the solo stuff certainly fit in well… to the point where my brain was filling in parts that Andy, Loz, and Steve might have added on their own (ahh, in my dreams).

As far as Ride songs went, he played From Time to Time (“who here bought Carnival of Light? Oh yeah, that’s right, no one did.”), In a Different Place (amazing), Dreams Burn Down (wow), Vapour Trail (dedicated to Andy, who sang the original, and was ‘somewhere in Germany’), Leave them All Behind (worked surprisingly well), Drive Blind (he even did the ‘noisy’ breakdown), Twisterella (perfect pop), and Chrome Waves (gave me chills, it did.). Solo songs included Turn, Magdalen Sky (released a few years ago on a Shifty Disco single), See What You Get (from Flirt), Beautiful Ghost, Snow in Mexico, and To Get Me Through.

Mark has been genuinely humbled and surprised by the crowds and praise he’s received on this tour so far, and Boston did not disappoint. “Well, Boston still rocks.” he said, after a considerable pre-encore round of applause. He was in very good spirits (helped a bit by the red wine spirits on the stage to his left, perhaps), and was quite chatty… as far as I could tell, he never gazed at his shoes even once. He mentioned he hopes to have a solo record out early next year, and wants to return with a ‘backing band’ called Gold Rush to ‘rock out a little more’ next time. Hopefully by referring to them as a ‘backing band’ and not as ‘his new band’, that means he might use ’em to rock out some Ride songs, although it’s a risky proposition trying to recreate the sound that once was.

I’ve posted a few pictures from the show, and even managed to record some mp3s from his radio appearance on WZBC last night. Hey, what can I say, I’m good for the whole multimedia experience.