Massive Attack Celebrate Album Milestone at Radio City Music Hall
Massive Attack – Radio City Music Hall – September 27, 2019
On Friday night Massive Attack performed the second of their two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall, part of their Mezzanine XXI Tour, celebrating their much-beloved 1998 album. Massive Attack have spoken in the press about not wanting this tour to focus simply on nostalgia for the songs, but instead to reflect on the ways our world has changed in the past 20-plus years since the album was released.
A wall of sound and feedback gave way to the night’s opening number, a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “I Found a Reason” (a song sampled on Mezzanine) followed by the dub-inflected bass of “Risingson.” Projected onto the stage in large block letters was the statement: “Once upon a time data was going to set you free.” The video art by documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis accompanied the entirety of the show, punctuated by moody lights and disorienting strobes. In addition to stark text with ominous messages, Curtis’s films contained a barrage of imagery ranging from humorous to mundane to disturbing, and covering various cultural moments and political figures of the past two decade: George W. Bush, Princess Di, Trump, Britney Spears, Vladimir Putin, Michael Jackson. As the band performed “Dissolved Girl,” we watched as dozens of clichéd selfie-culture images interspersed with the word “HYPERINDIVIDUALISM” flashed by. When guest vocalist Horace Andy sang “See a Man’s Face,” propaganda-style slogans were displayed behind him, including “Country First” and “Leave Means Leave.”
A reprieve from the near-sensory overload came toward the show’s end. Guest vocalist Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins, whose vocals grace the song “Teardrop,” one of the most enduring Massive Attack songs from Mezzanine, stood center stage, surrounded by soothing pinwheels of white light and performed a pure, delicate version of the slow-burning, moody song. As if to snap us out of the calm (or complacency) generated by the moment, Massive Attack ended the show by projecting a cautionary message onstage: “We are caught in an endless loop/ It’s time to leave the ghosts behind/ And start imagining the future.” Given all the issues raised throughout the show—war, surveillance, conspiracies, fear—the future may be uncertain, although hopefully Massive Attack will be there to provide the appropriate soundtrack. —Alena Kastin | @AlenaK
Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com/music