does massive attack still tour

• Moscow concerts Moscow concerts Moscow concerts See all Moscow concerts ( Change location ) Today · Next 7 days · Next 30 days
• Most popular artists worldwide
• Trending artists worldwide

• Tourbox for artists

Search for events or artists

• Sign up Log in

• Get the app
• Moscow concerts
• Change location
• Popular Artists
• Live streams
• Deutsch Português
• Popular artists

Massive Attack  

• On tour: yes
• Massive Attack is not playing near you. View all concerts
• Moscow, Russian Federation Change location

925,700 fans get concert alerts for this artist.

Join Songkick to track Massive Attack and get concert alerts when they play near you.

Nearest concert to you

Rosendal Garden Party

Touring outside your city

Be the first to know when they tour near Moscow, Russian Federation

Join 925,700 fans getting concert alerts for this artist

Upcoming concerts (11) See all

Spoorpark Live

Bilbao BBK Live

Mantova Summer Festival

Electric Castle Festival

Rock En Seine Festival, France

The Clifton Downs

View all upcoming concerts 11

Similar artists with upcoming concerts

Tours most with, live reviews.

I came here with slight concern at how I was going to cope with the O2, a venue I have been to only once before and hated it. It was like going to a gig in a really horrible corporate shopping centre. Well, it was even worse than my previous memory of it. Massive Attack are a band I've loved for years and I last saw them at Eden Project in 2018 which I can safely say was one of the best gig experiences I've ever had. This gig, on the other hand, was literally one of the worst. The queue to get in the venue was around a mile long, and I imagine those at the back of it didn't get in until halfway through the gig. There was only one bar and the queues were also ridiculous, with the most awful range of drinks. The band's performance to me seemed disconnected and in it's own weird little bubble, with patronising political visuals that I thought were pretty out of touch and reminded me of something I would have made in a Year 9 art project. I don't disagree with the political messages they used but it was pretty unsophisticated and amateur visual communication considering it's 2019. We ended up stood towards the back as being short, I couldn't see a thing if I was stood in the crowd. I was dismayed when they played Teardrop and you could barely hear it from the back of the standing section. Really poor quality sound compared with many other gigs I've been to and particularly disappointing knowing that this band are usually known for their strict adherence to quality. The highlight for me was hearing Horace Andy's incredible voice on Angel and Man Next Door. He brought the soul to this soulless venue and disconnected performance. I will not be returning to the O2 again, no matter how tempting the artists are.

Report as inappropriate

Just saw them this evening at Radio City/NYC. Folks...as good as the Mezzanine CD is...do NOT waste your time on watching them live. This was the WORST EVER LIVE PERFORMANCE I HAVE EVER BEEN TO (and, trust me, I have been to a gazillion and have traveled the globe to see favorites even if they were not playing in US.) Here are four reasons why I WANT A REFUND! -

1. They were late. There's no opening band. Do NOT waste time then

2. The strobes are a bloody lawsuit in the waiting. The ticket should have a RED disclaimer on it about the incessant use of strobe as they can cause seizures for those who are prone to it. SERIOUSLY!

3. CUT THE CRAP WITH THE POLITICAL MESSAGING BULLSHIT! We already KNOW this stuff, do not need Social Media 101 class videos playing in the background and how it is impacting us - do NOT insult your audience - we ALREADY know this. The whole imagery/video/messages treat you as if you are a kid. What a put-off.

4. AND, finally, ENGAGE! Engage with the audience. Welcome them! Acknowledge us! Say a WORD to them as in "THANK YOU!" We are paying for you to be here, we made you who (you think) you are. These fucking morons didn't even have the decency to either say, "hello, thank you," or "goodbye"....Even bigger names like Depeche Mode, Tool and Metallica, at least, acknowledge their audience with a simple "thank you" if not their full-fledged stage bows. All of these (less than) massive folks came off as purely arrogant and a waste of our time. ONE AND DONE! Never will consider seeing them live again. Cheers.

Having celebrated a quarter-century together last year, Massive Attack are well and truly old hands these days - not that it’s had any negative impact on the adventurousness of their live shows. Last year saw them continue to push the boundaries of audiovisual entertainment with their experimental collaboration with filmmaker Adam Curtis at the Manchester International Festival - 1500 people in an old train station that went out of commission two years before the band even formed, utterly engrossed by films at once arresting and heartbreaking and soundtracked by an array of cover versions that saw the Bristol duo draw upon every shred of musical ingenuity they have. Away from the more esoteric side of their live incarnation, their more conventional shows remain awesome spectacles, too; with giant LED screens allowing them to apply their music to political and social backdrops, and an expanded live lineup that features a revolving selection of guest vocalists, the brooding disquiet of most recent studio effort Heligoland has been weaved in seamlessly alongside cuts from nineties classics "Mezzanine" and "Blue Lines." Having evidently mastered both the recorded and live sides of their craft, Massive Attack’s staying power has moved them beyond simply being one of Britain’s most vital musical groups - they’re edging towards institution status.

Famous in the musical world for being the go-to locale for trip-hop in the '90s, Bristol's reputation was helped along by artists such as Portishead. Arguably the biggest force in those circles was Massive Attack, who were one of the pioneering groups in the scene at the time. Famed for merging electronica, dub, post-rock and dance, the (now-)duo of D and G (Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall) are one of the biggest electronic forces around today, and have been at that zenith for almost two decades.

Boasting hits like Tyson, tracks like the darkly erotic “Angel”, psyched-out acidtronica anthem “Unfinished Sympathy” and one of the world's most covered tracks, “Teardrop” (as also seen on the House OST), Massive Attack's sets are studded with pinnacles. You may not even realise quite how much you know by the outfit – their music often creeps into film soundtracks or on TV shows. Live, they focus on creating an intense atmosphere, using darkness as an essential tool. Lights are also prominent features, and the band themselves often lurk in the shadows, preferring to use visual effects like video clips, montages, and strobes as focal points. They cultivate an aura to lose yourself in. It's dance music, but it's the most emotional, soul-touching, mind-boggling dance music ever made.

While MA still inventively play with music codes, there is some major flaws in that show. The concept based on random visual «Youtube» sampling to illustrate how badly we managed inequalities on earth is creating rather interesting and weird moments : like when the public is applauding/shouting because they like the song while what they see on the screen are images of bombing. This is disturbing...but and artistically relevant. The main problem is simple, it's the set list : MA are progressing more or less in a binary mode : one song from Mezzanine, one cover song that most of the public doesn't know. It's cool to acknowledge their influences, but the public is there to hear MA, not songs they don't know by bands they don't know. This is disruptive, which could be interesting, but in fact it's just a bummer, the show just doesn't work in that form. The concept is taking over the actual show and that's not cool. MA should realize that and adjust. When you do a show where the public is super high for the first songs and they finally sit down on their chair calmly by the middle of the show instead of getting higher and higher, well, it's kind of problematic. That said, there are some nice ideas here and there and their political message is positively refreshing in a way.

As soon as Massive Attack announced their new tour, I've managed to buy the pre-sale tickets for their first London show.

It was my first time inside the O2 Academy in Brixton and at first I was quite surprised by the venue: the stalls floor is not flat but is pending towards the stage, giving a chance to see something even to the short ones like me.

The supporting band already playing on stage was the "Young fathers", and I have to say they could be much better with a good sound engineer, as their voices are great but no good ensemble with the drums.

Finally at around 21 Massive Attack arrived on stage and it has started: two drums, one base, two synths and many turning at the microphone.

The background video screening was quite impressive, bright (too bright!) and psychedelic at the beginning, but very powerful, transforming the concert into a whole exhibition.

The sound was just amazing from my position (middle-center of the stalls).

They started with some new songs then played some old ones, together with hits like Karmacoma, Teardrop, Angel..

It was simply fantastic.

I agree with other comments here, there was no interaction with the public. I actually felt like that was the message they wanted to come across. This is what we have to say and we are not playing 20-year-old music that is out of date, we have a message to come across, deal with it. Like it or not, they kinda shoved it in everyone's faces. I don't think many people enjoyed the message and actually even cared for it, they just went there for a pint a bit of a night out. I was seated the whole time and people were walking around, getting beer and popcorn like they didn't give a shit at all. It was hard to concentrate with people going around and getting food and drink every 2 minutes. I don't understand well why this is permitted when it completely takes from the experience of the performance. just go out for a pint and listen to the album or something, ruining other people's experiences really is bad. and also, soooo many people leaving after teardrop, so many people leaving in the middle of the concert or falling asleep. Seriously, THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!

Massive Attack´s performance at Mad Cool 2018 was cancelled at the last minute, supposedly because of sound interference from one of the other stages. None of the other bands had a problem with sound interference, and as far as I understand, other bands agreed to drop their levels/delay their performances to allow Massive Attack to go on, but no agreement could be reached. Also, what band expects to play at a festival with no other bands playing on other stages, unless they´re closing the main stage? No announcement was made until after their performance was supposed to be finished, meaning the 25,000 people waiting couldn´t even go and see another band instead. Obviously I can´t know exactly what went on, but from the outside it appears like they got annoyed because they were in the dance tent instead of on one of the main stages and decided at the last minute not to play. Poor, poor show. A lot of very disappointed fans, and handled terribly.

Excellent, Exquisite and Emotional.

The music of Massive Attack is distinctly identifiable and seeing them live lived up to expectations.

With certain orchestral and no-lyric aspects to their music, any visual display show that accompanies Massive Attack becomes important. In this case it was spectacular and the lights complimented the music well. There were heavy political comments and imagery, particularly focusing on the war in Syria. Undoubtedly much of the audience were surprised by this with many not sure how to feel about it. But if you're an artist with a message why not take the stage and do something with the thousands of people at your mercy!

Overall a great night out. Word must be mentioned towards the fantastic venue that the Brixton academy is. A perfect place for this gig (and many others!)

They have been my favourite band since the 90s, their show and performance was great and as usual their political messages and feeling of unity that they create was strong, but it wasn't loud enough, it was like listening to a car radio from outside the car. Too many tickets sold, in my opinion, thousands of people queuing for over an hour to get food and drink, I could see people leaving while they were playing looking disappointed, as it was hard to see anything. We left during the last song as We didn't want to get stuck getting out, after all there were 27,000 people in a very small space, We weren't the only ones, thousands of others had the same idea. Such a shame that the organisation was so poor, I look forward to seeing Massive Attack again in better conditions.

Photos (74)

Posters (82)

Past concerts

Mitsubishi Electric Hall

Piazza Trento Trieste

Milano Summer Festival

View all past concerts

Massive Attack tour dates and tickets 2024-2025 near you

Want to see Massive Attack in concert? Find information on all of Massive Attack’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.

Massive Attack is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 11 concerts across 9 countries in 2024-2025. View all concerts.

Next 3 concerts:

• Stockholm, Sweden
• Tilburg, Netherlands
• Bilbao, Spain

Next concert:

Last concert near you:

Popularity ranking:

• Massive Attack (336)
• All Time Low (337)

Concerts played in 2024:

Touring history

Most played:

• London (34)
• New York (NYC) (19)
• Berlin (16)
• Manchester (14)

Appears most with:

• Martina Topley Bird (85)
• Young Fathers (50)
• Goldfrapp (22)
• Chemical Brothers (22)

Distance travelled:

Similar artists

• Most popular charts
• API information
• Brand guidelines
• Community guidelines
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookies settings
• Cookies policy

Get your tour dates seen everywhere.

• But we really hope you love us.

Massive Attack Verified

Concerts and tour dates, bandsintown merch.

Live Photos of Massive Attack

Fan Reviews

Fans Also Follow

About massive attack.

Massive Attack

All upcoming events.

Piazza Sordello - Mantova | Mantova, ITALY

Popular tracks.

• News & Reviews
• Tours & Tickets

Find anything you save across the site in your account

Massive Attack Reschedule North American Mezzanine Anniversary Tour

By Noah Yoo

After being forced to postpone the North American leg of their Mezzanine anniversary tour due to illness, Massive Attack have announced the rescheduled concert dates. The tour now begins on Sunday, September in San Diego, California. The tour is slated to close with two shows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Find Massive Attack’s schedule, which includes a performance at Toluca, Mexico’s Ceremonia festival , below. Tickets are available to purchase here .

According to a press release, Massive Attack will donate proceeds from their tour merchandise to Doctors Without Borders . The press release reads: “As the ‘Mezzanine XXI’ show contains some explicit material from the war in Iraq, the band felt it was important to donate to Medecins Sans Frontieres ( https://www.msf.org.uk ) who continue to be active in the region.”

The European leg of Massive Attack’s “Mezzanine XXI” tour took place earlier this year. Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser joined the group at the shows.

Read about Mezzanine in Pitchfork’s feature “ The 50 Best Albums of 1998 .”

Massive Attack:

04-06 Toluca, Mexico - Ceremonia 2019 09-01 San Diego, CA - Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheater 09-03 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium 09-04 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium 09-05 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium 09-07 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 09-10 Saint Paul, MN - Palace Theatre 09-11 Chicago, IL - The Chicago Theatre 09-12 Detroit, MI - Masonic Temple 09-14 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre 09-17 Toronto, Ontario - Sony Centre 09-20 Philadelphia, PA - Metropolitan Opera House 09-21 Boston, MA - Boch Center 09-24 Washington, DC - The Anthem 09-26 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall 09-27 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall

By signing up you agree to our User Agreement (including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions ), our Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement and to receive marketing and account-related emails from Pitchfork. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

By Nina Corcoran

By Jazz Monroe

By Matthew Strauss

By Madison Bloom

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Massive Attack: ‘I have total faith in the next generation’

Twenty-one years since the release of Mezzanine, their most successful album, Massive Attack are taking it on tour – with films. The band and their visuals director, Adam Curtis, tell us why

R obert del Naja is in no mood to talk about the past. Which is tricky, because as the force behind Massive Attack’s current live spectacle (a reconfigured outing for their 1998 album Mezzanine ), a degree of unpicking old memories might seem unavoidable. Still, sitting backstage in the clinical dressing room of an Amsterdam concert hall, each of us angled at either end of a sofa an hour before he’s due on stage, Del Naja considers his unease with historical rehashing.

“I don’t think I’ve got a problem with nostalgia, because a lot of the time things are self-referential. When you’re working in the way we do, taking things from the past and making them new, making collages…” He pauses. “I stopped feeling nostalgia for the moment because I imagine myself looking back on it from the future, which really freaks me out. I get this vertigo where I’m not thinking about the past, I’m thinking about how I’m going to feel in 10 years’ time.” Nostalgia isn’t as good as it used to be, I joke. Del Naja rubs a hand forwards through his hair.

Mezzanine was supposed to spell the end of Massive Attack . By the time it was finally released, months late, in the spring of 98, the group – Del Naja (aka 3D), Grant Marshall (Daddy G) and Andrew Vowles (Mushroom) – had been fighting for a year and were barely speaking to one another. They recorded individually, gave interviews separately. The album, their third and moodiest, was a distinct, post-punk swerve away from the hip-hop and breakbeat culture they had championed in Bristol. It came slickly packaged in a Nick Knight sleeve with an acid orange disc, and was released to mixed reviews, but, in true Massive fashion, it came to be belatedly revered as a masterpiece by critics everywhere from Pitchfork to the Paris Review .

It also became their biggest commercial success, gifting the singles charts (and countless film and TV directors) Teardrop , Angel and Inertia Creeps . Despite their ubiquity, the songs still very much stand up. Live, they’re menacing, resonant, moving. Nonetheless, after multiple furious rows about the new direction, soon after the album’s release, Mushroom left the band.

Does it still feel raw? Marshall has entered the dressing room and leans against the wall, languid and softly spoken. “Raw. Yeah, it is to a certain extent. [ Mezzanine ] was the end of our trio but… it projected us to greater things, I suppose. We’ve been through different things which have made us a bit raw, but we’ve managed to patch it up.”

What is Marshall’s abiding memory of making the album? “It’s fraught with bad memories, but it was a departure from what we were used to and so, yeah, that’s kind of where all the heartaches came in.” Del Naja’s main memory “is probably the fight really. It wasn’t as simple as it used to be, because Blue Lines [their debut] was based on our collective history. Culturally and musically it was a big jam together. And then the second album [ Protection ] we’d become something, so we had a kind of routine and procedure. I felt that [with] Mezzanine , the procedure had to be ripped up, the rulebook had to be changed.”

The fight was about Teardrop, still their biggest-selling single; Del Naja and Marshall wanted former Cocteau Twins frontwoman Liz Fraser on vocals. Mushroom secretly sent the track to Madonna, who loved it and called, keen to record it. Having already worked with her in 1995 on a cover of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You – at the time, to Mushroom’s fury – Del Naja was incandescent and turned her down. He won’t comment on it now. “It was hard,” he shrugs. “I guess that is what I remember of Mezzanine : it was a proper struggle.”

On stage earlier, tension is redirected into the technicalities. Soundchecks are, in my experience, routinely boring. A band stops, starts, stops, repeats the same riff over and over while someone is asked to check the lights and a sound engineer perfects the levels of a hi-hat. Naturally, Massive Attack do things a little differently: the venue in which they are due to play two sold-out shows is bathed in red light and, as their PR and I creep towards the stalls for a seat, they deliver a full, seemingly note-perfect run-through of Teardrop. A life-affirming, butterflies-in-stomach exclusive for an audience of two.

Films by acclaimed documentary-maker Adam Curtis, collaboratively made with Del Naja for what seems to be Massive Attack’s most ambitious show yet, are projected on giant screens. It’s a mind melt. Curtis’s signature aesthetic reels through a potted history of the past two decades – from trash pop culture to devastating scenes of war. They play out against a deconstructed Mezzanine 21st anniversary set that later often stuns the Dutch audience into reverent silence. It’s not how album shows – usually rowdy, indulgent, faithful playbacks – generally work. But then, Massive Attack’s 2016 tour was devoted to the urgency of the refugee crisis; shows in 2010 brought political consciousness via LED screens made by United Visual Artists. Now Bauhaus, Gang of Four and the Cure covers slip in alongside Avicii , while a YouTube mashup of fan videos is both wry and moving.

The whole performance is meticulous; the band never say a word. It’s a stunning statement, a live visual art experience designed to provoke rather than straightforwardly please.

The next night, backstage at the venue, both Curtis (who has flown over specially) and Del Naja cautiously wonder whether it worked. Was it heavy-handed? Did the audience get what they were trying to achieve? Did it make them curious or really think about war, data, control, feedback loops, political idealism and the rest?

The short answer, from watching the audience shush each other and vox-popping fans afterwards, is yes. Johanna is gutted that she “was not stoned to appreciate it on a bigger level”. One woman, wearing red lipstick and bovver boots, says she is overwhelmed. “It was really good, they took you along on their story.”

“I’m happy for it to be unpredictable,” says Del Naja. “That’s the point. There’s no sort of bants, no chatting because you kind of felt… Well, you wouldn’t go to a play and the actors turn around and say: ‘Are you all right?’ And there has to be some personal creative risk attached where you don’t know what’s going to happen. It should be disorienting for us and the audience otherwise…” It’s boring? He grins.

“Gigs have become very formulaic these days,” adds Curtis. “Not just gigs but all of culture – and that’s the challenge. The way you make people look again is by finding a different sort of image. And so the overall aim is to show how over the past 20 years, we’ve gone into a very static, repetitive world that surrounds us with the same images that keep us from really looking.”

The two, who first worked together on a one-off commission for Manchester international festival in 2013 , make an outwardly unlikely pairing. Del Naja retains a resolutely boyish energy and is dressed in black, off-duty streetwear; Curtis, just landed from London, is in a jacket and crisp white shirt. I ask how they considered some of the more sensitive, emotional material shown – a dead body, grieving relatives – and Curtis becomes exasperated.

“We were very careful about which images we used. They had to be powerful.

“Everything is not only cliched, it’s knowing these days. It’s about time idealism came back. Really, I’m being serious about that.” He explains how he tried to make an idealistic film to go with Massive’s cover of anti-war folk song Where Have All the Flowers Gone? “Because that’s the way you connect with people, pull them out of their bubble and make them realise what’s happening in their name. Which I don’t think we have quite realised yet. We’re still fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, you know.”

“I’m not accusing you. I just get quite shocked by how insulated we have become in the face of these big wars which we’re really involved in. Rant over. Sorry.”

Del Naja starts giggling, Curtis gives him a sideways Laurel and Hardy-esque sigh. The show is very much a product of their particular push and pull. It’s a long way from the romantic spirit of Massive Attack’s early days, when as part of the Wild Bunch, the collective operated a collaborative process.

“We’ve found our own sort of niches now, in a creative sense, which is a lot more comfortable, working together, because we can express ourselves the way we want to,” explains Marshall, the evening before. “Back then, we were trying to pretend that we were in this big pot, all drinking soup out of the same pot when that wasn’t really the case. We really all had our own little bowls and–” he mimics stirring a tiny bowl – “and were trying to take it away and do something.” He stops, deadpan. “You like that analogy?”

“I think you can forget the soup analogy,” says Del Naja, meaning it. I laugh. I like the soup analogy. I ask what their worst row has been over, then apologise for asking such a horrible question. Del Naja jumps in.

“We don’t. We have the kind of insidious things that just get under your skin over time, as opposed to big flare-ups. You know what I mean?”

“I think we’ve remedied that,” adds Marshall, “by the fact that we don’t really work together as such any more. We’ve known each other like brothers this whole time. So you know, you get this brotherly thing when you go: ‘Right, slightly sick of you now.’”

“What I find scary,” chips in Del Naja, “is that everyone remembers everything differently, everyone has selective memory, and when you realise that [when] the brain has to remember something, it has to recreate the whole thought to remember it, and does that multiple times in its life, it’s so unreliable.”

This is a very Del Naja sentence: he is a master of the sort of 3am chat – the post-party and pre-dawn mezzanine – where at least one brilliant point gets made. Thoughts bounce together at speed; he uses algorithms to explain the studio dynamic of making music, and politics to make sense of art.

“That’s why this gig is as much ‘an album moment’ as an album was,” he says. “Because everything has changed – the way we present ourselves, the way we share everything we do, the social experiment, the social experience. All that stuff is very different from when we put Mezzanine out. [Now,] you put a record out to justify a tour and that’s what a lot of people do. So the album just seems irrelevant as a foremost product.”

“I still do like the concept of an album,” says Marshall. “You know, in a communal fashion...”

“They’re two different things now for artists and consumers,” says Del Naja. What was the last one he bought? “I mean, I love buying albums, I’m obsessed, but now you just click ‘add’, don’t you? And when do you actually listen to anything? You know, unless you’re in the car or you’ve got time to do that, it’s just not the same world any more in terms of concentration. Attention span’s the biggest commodity of all now. Data is the new oil. It’s inside your head. That’s where the value is and so is the tension. I mean, trying to get anyone to concentrate on anything when people get excited if the audience swipes down a page. If you actually stop and click, fuck me, that’s gold.”

“It’s true,” agrees Marshall. “I haven’t listened to a record, a whole album, in five years.” He makes a move to leave. “I only like about three tracks on this album, anyway,” he says, by way of goodbye.

I’m not sure if he was ribbing Del Naja, or whether he really would like to make an album together in the old fashioned-way. I ask if he’s off for a pre-show ritual. “Yeah, get pissed. That’s what I’m going to do now.”

Freed from rose-tinting the band’s history, Del Naja chats warmly and intensely – about physics, artificial intelligence, the robot in his studio that he’s training to paint. “I have total faith in the next generation. Looking at their response to climate change is really interesting and, again, that’s the power of social media at its best, to mobilise people. I think that’s a real positive. I think the negative is our generation and the generation above us that are still the problem because they don’t want to change.

“We haven’t evolved that much as human beings,” he adds. “We still fall into the same patterns and traps and it’s easy to turn ourselves against each other tribally. It seems too easy and it’s scary.”

We chat some more, about pilates vs Bikram yoga , Brexit – “predictable and sad” – and his tongue-in-cheek preparation for the apocalypse. “I got a breadmaker, because everyone’s going to ramp up the hysteria before Leave. Everyone will be going, “Oh right, everything’s fucked, medicine and food, and you’re not going to get bread anywhere, right? Or water or petrol. That’s the first things.”

Del Naja doesn’t think he’s changed much in the last 20 years. “You never do think you’re going to grow up, because your brain stays the same and your personality hasn’t really changed. It’s your physical self that tells you.” For what it’s worth, Del Naja and Marshall still look, dress and sound as they ever did. It’s an utter shock to learn later, looking it up on my phone, that they are 54 and 59. “You cannot actually physically manage to be that hedonistic any more,” says Del Naja. “There’s been a major slow down. If I have a big night out, that’s my week gone. It’s like, you know what? Forget it, I’m done.”

At the aftershow, in a small room of a dozen people backstage, Dave, the band’s weary tour manager of 20 years, mixes up rounds of dark and stormys. A huddle of friends linger by the table football. Curtis describes his friend as “a very smart boy” and admits that the only “battle” they had in creating the show was that “Robert, being an artist, always wants to be slightly enigmatic, whereas I’m a journalist and believe in clarity.”

Buoyed by the show, both are amped and giddy. Del Naja talks me through some of the more bonkers Massive Attack trivia. Like the time they said no to signing Air . Or to working with Amy Winehouse. He remembers that they also turned down Sam Mendes when he asked to use Teardrop for the title song of American Beauty – “We would have been No 1 in America, haha” – and a plea from Radiohead to remix OK Computer . “We were just too busy for it at the time.”

A superfan, Richard Coffey from Ireland, graciously referred to as the band’s unofficial historian, joins the party and spends some time analysing the current arrangements of Teardrop, which he explains to Del Naja “are probably at their best at the moment”. Coffey’s obsession translates to an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the interviews Massive Attack have ever given. How did he discover them? “I heard them on The Matrix ,” he says, earnestly. “Dissolved Girl [from Mezzanine ] was on the soundtrack.” Del Naja starts giggling again.

Given how long they’ve been at it and how embedded they have become in the fabric of British culture, it’s easy to forget just how good and visionary Massive Attack are. How influential they’ve been. How they pioneered a sound that managed to glide between teenage bedrooms, parties and fuzzy Sunday evenings. One which, even now, despite the more low-key impact of 100th Window (2003) and Heligoland (2010), you could draw a contemporary line through the evolution of British pop, through dubstep, to The Weeknd, Lana Del Ray and beyond.

“Most people just look at me like I’m fucking mad,” laughs Del Naja. To be fair, he’s spent 10 minutes talking to me about the complexities of internet-alternative the mesh , a conversation about tech that will no doubt soon become mainstream. “What are you talking about, they’ll say. You’re off your head!” He grins again. “I’ve become a prophet of doom, but I’m an optimist, really.”

• Massive Attack
• The Observer
• Pop and rock
• Adam Curtis

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

UK Edition Change

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• UK Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Betting Sites
• Online Casinos
• Wine Offers

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

Massive Attack pull out of all tour dates until August due to band member’s ‘serious illness’

Trip hop collective said band member is ‘now in recovery’, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music

Get our now hear this email for free, thanks for signing up to the roisin o’connor’s email.

Massive Attack have cancelled all of their tour dates until August because one of their band members has been suffering from a “serious illness”.

In a post on Instagram on Thursday (24 March), the trip hop collective wrote: “For the past few months, a member of Massive Attack has been contending with a serious illness. We are pleased to say they are now in recovery.

“This process is positive but also challenging and ongoing, which unfortunately means that Massive Attack are not presently in a position to fulfil our live shows scheduled for May, June, and July 2022.”

They said they “deeply regret any inconvenience or disappointment caused – particularly to the fans with whom it’s always an honour to engage, and to our production crew who, owing to other global events, have already had to wait too long to do what they do so well”.

The band had been due to perform in Belgium, France, Spain, Norway, Italy, Czech Republic and Germany.

Massive Attack are seemingly still set to headline Edinburgh’s Connect Music Festival on 26 August and play in Dublin on 28 August.

The band’s Robert Del Naja recently offered fans a chance to purchase limited-edition prints to help raise funds for victims of the Ukraine conflict.

He also called out the UK government’s response to the growing number of refugees seeking help as they flee their war-torn home.

“DON’T WAVE FLAGS / WAVE VISAS,” he wrote in multiple messages to the Home Office earlier this month.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here . To sign the petition click here . If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Want an ad-free experience?

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

• Latest News

The Best Terri Clark Songs: Powerful, Witty Country Essentials

‘extras’: how the music of the jam spread into the 1990s, ‘his ’n’ hers’: the birth of modern-day pulp, ‘steppenwolf live’: rock heroes take one more top ten album trip, pillar stone: clyde stubblefield, james brown’s ‘funky drummer’, ‘the prisoner’: how herbie hancock found musical freedom, sinatra at budokan: a performance of consummate artistry, kate hudson announces new album, ‘glorious,’ shares ‘gonna find out’, ‘bob marley: one love’ to return to theaters for 4/20, library of congress selects records from abba, blondie, and more for national recording registry, the commodores and the pointer sisters announce co-headlining tour, craft latino celebrates 60th anniversary of fania records with year-long celebration, seminal jimmy buffett albums to be reissued on vinyl, the beatles’ ‘let it be’ film to launch on disney+, massive attack.

The British duo comprised of 3D and Daddy G and pioneered Bristol’s trip-hop sound with classic albums like Mezzanine and Blue Lines.

Published on

West Country trip hoppers Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja and Grant ‘Daddy G’ Marshall burst into our consciousness in 1988 when they formed in Bristol. Socially active and musically groundbreaking by turns, Massive Attack stunned critics with their debut album  Blue Lines  and the sky-bursting single ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ – both are all-time classics. Two more of their albums have debuted at number one and they’ve won deserved recognition for their craft in the shape of a Brit Award for Best British Dance act and various MTV Europe Music Awards. Genuine pioneers in their field their five studio albums have sold well over ten million copies worldwide. In addition to their studio career, the two Massive men are respected DJs. Naja is also an innovative artist who has exhibited in London and Bristol while their live shows are spectacles of multimedia involving classy guests and surprises at every turn. They have collaborated with David Bowie , Elizabeth Fraser, Sinead O’Connor and Madonna and probably turned down dozens of others. Their most recent album is  Heligoland , but watch their space. There is plenty more to come.

Graffiti artist and rapper Del Naja met Grantley Marshall and Andrew Vowles when they became part of the local collective The Wild Bunch. Picking up in places where the legendary Bristolian The Pop Group left off The Wild Bunch and their sound system concentrated on reggae, dubplates, skank and soul. After stabs at production they signed to Circa Records on Neneh Cherry ’ s  recommendation (she was an early supporter and bankroller) and spent months perfecting  Blue Lines  with co-producers Jonny Dollar and Cameron McVey, while Geoff Barrow, later of Portishead, worked the tapes.

‘Chariots Of Fire’: Vangelis’ Chart-Topping Film Score

‘no geography’: why the chemical brothers still lead the way, the chemical brothers take on britpop and the 60s with ‘dig your own hole’.

Blue Lines  is available in original and  Remix versions and is highly recommended as a starting point for its fusion of electronic, hip hop, dub, soul and reggae sounds. From the outset, the writing was powerful with early tracks ‘Safe from Harm’ and ‘Lately’ setting a high standard. While they don’t pay lip service to the terminology surrounding trip-hop the album did establish their style. Innovative, with catchy earworm hooks and what-the-hell-is-that twists, Massive Attack slowed down the hip hop groove to their own pace – mellow and meditative. Easy facility with breakbeats and sampling became their calling card and their influence stems from this moment. Guests on the album include Tricky (aka Tricky Kid) Shara Nelson and Horace Andy and the cuts are fresh and funky. The title track samples Tom Scott’s ‘Sneakin’ in the Back’ while ‘Daydreaming’ quotes Wally Badarou’s lush Mambo. Given that every song has vast merit it may be invidious to choose one highlight but ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ has become a signature piece. Percussive excellence and the string arrangements of veteran Wil Malone lend themselves to outside remixing and the track has been carefully dismantled and reshaped by the likes of Paul Oakenfold and Nellee Hooper.

In its stark form, the single was voted number one cut of the year by mainstream and style lead publications. It signals their arrival as a major force. Tina Turner would have a Top Ten hit with it in 1996 but Massive Attack’s own chilled take with its Mahavishnu Orchestra vocal sample is the blueprint. Even the video, shot by  Blue Velvet  cinematographer Baillie Walsh, is breathtaking and groundbreaking in its use of a Los Angeles street scene and a slow perambulation around West Pico Boulevard by Nelson. The Verve would pay homage to the video/film’s elan in their own Bitter Sweet Symphony. It is truly an important moment in British music.

Having spent around eight months on the first album, the second disc,  Protection  (again available with full  Remixes ) arrived in 1994. Now recording in London and Bristol the cast list still includes Tricky – just about to complete his own Maxinquaye debut – Hooper and Andy while adding vocalists Nicolette, Tracey Thorn from Everything but the Girl, Craig Armstrong ‘s piano and Chester Kamen on guitar. Again the reviews were glowing and the album sounds as crisp and cool and sexy today as it did – incredible to recall – nearly twenty years ago! The timeless grace of Massive Attack’s approach is a definite virtue. Listen to their version of The Doors ‘ ‘Light My Fire’, as different in its way as Jose Feliciano’s in 1968. In stripping the song down and then layering it up Del Naja and company reveal the unexpected. Same goes for ‘Protection’ and ‘Karmacoma’. ‘Protection’ uses James Brown’s rhythm motif from ‘The Payback’ but swaps his ferocious hi-hat and bass snap with a much more sultry loop. It’s worth mentioning a few of the mixes on this too as they include 7 and 12-inch versions helmed by Eno , ‘Radiation Ruling the Nation’, ‘Angel Dust’ and ‘J. Swift’. Perhaps most impressive is Tracey Thorn’s vocal – a performance of great beauty. ‘Karmacoma’ is a dance floor beast with raps by 3D and Tricky and samples of Borodin’s Prince Igor and Serge Gainsbourg ‘s ‘Melody’. Again the video for the track is mind-blowing – think Quentin Tarantino rather than a bunch of pretty boys strumming guitars on a desert island. That ain’t the Massive method.

The next single ‘Risingson’ would usher in third album  Mezzanine  (1998). With Vowles back at the mixing desk, this new venture signals ever more adventurous use of sampling, programming and state of the art sonics. Massive Attack were also influential in the download world since this album was made available months before any physical release. Not that it did sales any harm. This is their most successful seller to date. Ironically it was also, they said, the most stressful to complete. All that perfectionism can drive a fellow mad it seems. Out they came relatively unscathed with an artefact that went Double Platinum in 2012.

Textured, dark and ambient  Mezzanine buries the trip-hop pigeonhole for good. An eerie, unsettling at the time, mood pervades tracks like ‘Inertia Creeps’ and the title song (which features a cute sample from  The Velvet Underground’s  ‘I Found a Reason’) although the most intriguing cut could well be a reworking of John Holt and the Paragons slinky ‘Man Next Door’ where the in-house groove is funked up and frazzled by snatches of Led Zeppelin ‘s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ and  The Cure’s  ‘10.15 Saturday Night’. Tensions may have been high in the studio but the sense of dangerous adventure is all over this baby. And it does have many seriously grooved up gears. The title track shouldn’t be overlooked. Perfect late-night soundtrack stuff with a rare groove drum link from Bernard Purdie’s ‘Heavy Soul Slinger’. They couldn’t resist that title. Nor could they put down the classic idea of sampling Isaac Hayes and  Quincy Jones  on ‘(Exchange)’. One of the five-star summer albums of ’98.

For  100 th Window, Del Naja found himself in sole charge of the Massive moniker as Vowles and Marshall quit for some fresh air. The solution was to use a wider spectrum of vocalists so Damon Albarn and Sinead O’Connor came to Clifton. A radical departure all-around, sessions began with a lot of experimental cut-ups involving Spiritualized offshoot Lupine Howl. Eventually, these were discarded as was the sampling technique and the jazz dub fusion of previous discs. The single ‘Special Cases’ (featuring O’Connor) gave fans their first sighting of the new direction while follow-up ‘Butterfly Caught’ indicated this was going to be something completely different. Well into their second-decade Massive Attack were now able to fly and the Official Soundtrack album Danny The Dog  scored for the martial arts action-thriller  Unleashed  (the  OST  has also been made available under that title) found Del Naja and cohort producer Neil Davidge adapting their sound to suit the atmospherics demanded by working to showreels.

Collected (2006) is a must-have compilation. As well as the key cuts from previous discs there are exclusive edits, the single ‘Live with Me’ featuring underground soul-jazz legend Terry Callier and a bonus dual-layered CD containing rare material with collaborators like Madonna, Mos Def and Debbie Clare. Team this with the handy extended play of Bite-Size  for the latest digital Attack.

And so to  Heligoland . Perhaps their most immediately accessible album, this warm bunch of beats and blues boasts guests Albarn coming on more Gorillaz than Blur, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, Elbow ‘s Guy Garvey, Martina Topley-Bird updating the Bristol connection and Portishead ‘s guitarist Adrian Utley. Fans were delighted to find Marshall back on board and co-writing every track but saddened to hear the passing of original Wild Buncher Jonny Dollar to whom the album is dedicated.

Del Naja and co. originally sent out feelers to dozens of possible collaborators but opted for a more organic mood. ‘Paradise Circus’, co-produced with Burial, highlights Sandoval’s gorgeous throat, albeit tinged with an air of menace that made it ideal theme title music for the acclaimed BBC crime series  Luther . The flip ‘Four Walls’ was unreleased. ‘Splitting the Atom’ is another significant cut as it welcomes back Horace Andy and sees Albarn providing keyboard synths. Lovers of  FIFA 11  will also be familiar with the blood-rushing groove here while the epic closer ‘Atlas Air’ is simply classically Massive Attack.

In short, this is all modern music for the mind, body and soul.

Dave Kinsey

August 13, 2022 at 9:24 pm

Sorry how could I forget safe from harm number4 but I would put all four in my top ten tunes of all time everyone of them is a banger and I don’t know a single person that would disagree and if they did then they shouldn’t be listening to music, go read a book or something.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Join us on Social

Massive Attack

Photo: Lionel Flusin/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Massive Attack Postpone Mezzanine XXI North American Tour Dates

The Mezzanine XXI Tour has hit an illness-related delay, but Massive Attack plan to honor all tickets in the fall

Monday, March 11 in Montreal was expected to be the first date on Massive Attack's hotly anticipated Mezzanine XXI Tour of North America, but unfortunately "due to illness," the fans will have to wait. More details will be provided on March 14 regarding the postponement.

<iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZWmrfgj0MZI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The tour was originally expected to close on April 2 in San Diego, but now all venues will be rescheduled in the fall. "All current tickets will be valid for the new dates," Massive Attack said on Facebook . "The band are deeply sorry for any inconvenience and are looking forward to bringing the show to the USA and Canada soon."

Released in 1998, the album Mezzanine represented a return to the spotlight for Massive Attack. Their trip-hop blend of grooves was and is contagious, and in the '90s the hip-hop and sound-collage potential of dance DJ-ing revealed a potential that has since become mainstream. However frustrating the delay, fans are sending best wishes for a return to health and are planning to catch Massive Attack's trip-hop grooves this fall.

Prince 2004–2007 Albums To Be Re-Released—And That's Just The Beginning

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly . Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly .

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube . This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg , Doggystyle . This is for Illmatic , this is for Nas . We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal , Anna Wise and Thundercat ). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift 's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN ., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers .

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

10 Essential Facts To Know About GRAMMY-Winning Rapper J. Cole

Photo:  Rachel Kupfer  

A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown . The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton , who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic , psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic . Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis , Silk Sonic , and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar , Flying Lotus , and Thundercat , respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels , while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa , Doja Cat , and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic . There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin ’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music , Amazon Music and Pandora .

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism . Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and " Norma " is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers , from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea 's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’ s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight ’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat .

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo , is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody 's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether .

The Rise Of Underground House: How Artists Like Fisher & Acraze Have Taken Tech House, Other Electronic Genres From Indie To EDC

Photo: Steven Sebring

Living Legends: Billy Idol On Survival, Revival & Breaking Out Of The Cage

"One foot in the past and one foot into the future," Billy Idol says, describing his decade-spanning career in rock. "We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol."

Living Legends is a series that spotlights icons in music still going strong today. This week, GRAMMY.com spoke with Billy Idol about his latest EP,   Cage , and continuing to rock through decades of changing tastes.

Billy Idol is a true rock 'n' roll survivor who has persevered through cultural shifts and personal struggles. While some may think of Idol solely for "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding," the singer's musical influences span genres and many of his tunes are less turbo-charged than his '80s hits would belie.  

Idol first made a splash in the latter half of the '70s with the British punk band Generation X. In the '80s, he went on to a solo career combining rock, pop, and punk into a distinct sound that transformed him and his musical partner, guitarist Steve Stevens, into icons. They have racked up multiple GRAMMY nominations, in addition to one gold, one double platinum, and four platinum albums thanks to hits like "Cradle Of Love," "Flesh For Fantasy," and "Eyes Without A Face." 

But, unlike many legacy artists, Idol is anything but a relic. Billy continues to produce vital Idol music by collaborating with producers and songwriters — including Miley Cyrus — who share his forward-thinking vision. He will play a five-show Vegas residency in November, and filmmaker Jonas Akerlund is working on a documentary about Idol’s life. 

His latest release is Cage , the second in a trilogy of annual four-song EPs. The title track is a classic Billy Idol banger expressing the desire to free himself from personal constraints and live a better life. Other tracks on Cage incorporate metallic riffing and funky R&B grooves. 

Idol continues to reckon with his demons — they both grappled with addiction during the '80s — and the singer is open about those struggles on the record and the page. (Idol's 2014 memoir Dancing With Myself , details a 1990 motorcycle accident that nearly claimed a leg, and how becoming a father steered him to reject hard drugs. "Bitter Taste," from his last EP, The Roadside , reflects on surviving the accident.)

Although Idol and Stevens split in the late '80s — the skilled guitarist fronted Steve Stevens & The Atomic Playboys, and collaborated with Michael Jackson, Rick Ocasek, Vince Neil, and Harold Faltermeyer (on the GRAMMY-winning "Top Gun Anthem") —  their common history and shared musical bond has been undeniable. The duo reunited in 2001 for an episode of " VH1 Storytellers " and have been back in the saddle for two decades. Their union remains one of the strongest collaborations in rock 'n roll history.

While there is recognizable personnel and a distinguishable sound throughout a lot of his work, Billy Idol has always pushed himself to try different things. Idol discusses his musical journey, his desire to constantly move forward, and the strong connection that he shares with Stevens. 

Steve has said that you like to mix up a variety of styles, yet everyone assumes you're the "Rebel Yell"/"White Wedding" guy. But if they really listen to your catalog, it's vastly different.

Yeah, that's right. With someone like Steve Stevens, and then back in the day Keith Forsey producing... [Before that] Generation X actually did move around inside punk rock. We didn't stay doing just the Ramones two-minute music. We actually did a seven-minute song. [ Laughs ]. We did always mix things up. 

Then when I got into my solo career, that was the fun of it. With someone like Steve, I knew what he could do. I could see whatever we needed to do, we could nail it. The world was my oyster musically. 

"Cage" is a classic-sounding Billy Idol rocker, then "Running From The Ghost" is almost metal, like what the Devil's Playground album was like back in the mid-2000s. "Miss Nobody" comes out of nowhere with this pop/R&B flavor. What inspired that?

We really hadn't done anything like that since something like "Flesh For Fantasy" [which] had a bit of an R&B thing about it. Back in the early days of Billy Idol, "Hot In The City" and "Mony Mony" had girls [singing] on the backgrounds. 

We always had a bit of R&B really, so it was actually fun to revisit that. We just hadn't done anything really quite like that for a long time. That was one of the reasons to work with someone like Sam Hollander [for the song "Rita Hayworth"] on The Roadside . We knew we could go [with him] into an R&B world, and he's a great songwriter and producer. That's the fun of music really, trying out these things and seeing if you can make them stick. 

I listen to new music by veteran artists and debate that with some people. I'm sure you have those fans that want their nostalgia, and then there are some people who will embrace the newer stuff. Do you find it’s a challenge to reach people with new songs?

Obviously, what we're looking for is, how do we somehow have one foot in the past and one foot into the future? We’ve got the best of all possible worlds because that has been the modus operandi of Billy Idol. 

You want to do things that are true to you, and you don't just want to try and do things that you're seeing there in the charts today. I think that we're achieving it with things like "Running From The Ghost" and "Cage" on this new EP. I think we’re managing to do both in a way. 

** Obviously, "Running From The Ghost" is about addiction, all the stuff that you went through, and in "Cage" you’re talking about  freeing yourself from a lot of personal shackles. Was there any one moment in your life that made you really thought I have to not let this weigh me down anymore ? **

I mean, things like the motorcycle accident I had, that was a bit of a wake up call way back. It was 32 years ago. But there were things like that, years ago, that gradually made me think about what I was doing with my life. I didn't want to ruin it, really. I didn't want to throw it away, and it made [me] be less cavalier. 

I had to say to myself, about the drugs and stuff, that I've been there and I've done it. There’s no point in carrying on doing it. You couldn't get any higher. You didn't want to throw your life away casually, and I was close to doing that. It took me a bit of time, but then gradually I was able to get control of myself to a certain extent [with] drugs and everything. And I think Steve's done the same thing. We're on a similar path really, which has been great because we're in the same boat in terms of lyrics and stuff. 

So a lot of things like that were wake up calls. Even having grandchildren and just watching my daughter enlarging her family and everything; it just makes you really positive about things and want to show a positive side to how you're feeling, about where you're going. We've lived with the demons so long, we've found a way to live with them. We found a way to be at peace with our demons, in a way. Maybe not completely, but certainly to where we’re enjoying what we do and excited about it.

[When writing] "Running From The Ghost" it was easy to go, what was the ghost for us? At one point, we were very drug addicted in the '80s. And Steve in particular is super sober [now]. I mean, I still vape pot and stuff. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but it’s incredible. All I want to be able to do is have a couple of glasses of wine at a restaurant or something. I can do that now.

I think working with people that are super talented, you just feel confident. That is a big reason why you open up and express yourself more because you feel comfortable with what's around you.

Did you watch Danny Boyle's recent Sex Pistols mini-series?

I did, yes.

You had a couple of cameos; well, an actor who portrayed you did. How did you react to it? How accurate do you think it was in portraying that particular time period?

I love Jonesy’s book, I thought his book was incredible. It's probably one of the best bio books really. It was incredible and so open. I was looking forward to that a lot.

It was as if [the show] kind of stayed with Steve [Jones’ memoir] about halfway through, and then departed from it. [John] Lydon, for instance, was never someone I ever saw acting out; he's more like that today. I never saw him do something like jump up in the room and run around going crazy. The only time I saw him ever do that was when they signed the recording deal with Virgin in front of Buckingham Palace. Whereas Sid Vicious was always acting out; he was always doing something in a horrible way or shouting at someone. I don't remember John being like that. I remember him being much more introverted.

But then I watched interviews with some of the actors about coming to grips with the parts they were playing. And they were saying, we knew punk rock happened but just didn't know any of the details. So I thought well, there you go . If ["Pistol" is]  informing a lot of people who wouldn't know anything about punk rock, maybe that's what's good about it.

Maybe down the road John Lydon will get the chance to do John's version of the Pistols story. Maybe someone will go a lot deeper into it and it won't be so surface. But maybe you needed this just to get people back in the flow.

We had punk and metal over here in the States, but it feels like England it was legitimately more dangerous. British society was much more rigid.

It never went [as] mega in America. It went big in England. It exploded when the Pistols did that interview with [TV host Bill] Grundy, that lorry truck driver put his boot through his own TV, and all the national papers had "the filth and the fury" [headlines].

We went from being unknown to being known overnight. We waited a year, Generation X. We even told them [record labels] no for nine months to a year. Every record company wanted their own punk rock group. So it went really mega in England, and it affected the whole country – the style, the fashions, everything. I mean, the Ramones were massive in England. Devo had a No. 1 song [in England] with "Satisfaction" in '77. Actually, Devo was as big as or bigger than the Pistols.

You were ahead of the pop-punk thing that happened in the late '90s, and a lot of it became tongue-in-cheek by then. It didn't have the same sense of rebelliousness as the original movement. It was more pop.

It had become a style. There was a famous book in England called Revolt Into Style — and that's what had happened, a revolt that turned into style which then they were able to duplicate in their own way. Even recently, Billie Joe [Armstrong] did his own version of "Gimme Some Truth," the Lennon song we covered way back in 1977.

When we initially were making [punk] music, it hadn't become accepted yet. It was still dangerous and turned into a style that people were used to. We were still breaking barriers.

You have a band called Generation Sex with Steve Jones and Paul Cook. I assume you all have an easier time playing Pistols and Gen X songs together now and not worrying about getting spit on like back in the '70s?

Yeah, definitely. When I got to America I told the group I was putting it together, "No one spits at the audience."

We had five years of being spat on [in the UK], and it was revolting. And they spat at you if they liked you. If they didn't like it they smashed your gear up. One night, I remember I saw blood on my T-shirt, and I think Joe Strummer got meningitis when spit went in his mouth.

You had to go through a lot to become successful, it wasn't like you just kind of got up there and did a couple of gigs. I don't think some young rock bands really get that today.

With punk going so mega in England, we definitely got a leg up. We still had a lot of work to get where we got to, and rightly so because you find out that you need to do that. A lot of groups in the old days would be together three to five years before they ever made a record, and that time is really important. In a way, what was great about punk rock for me was it was very much a learning period. I really learned a lot [about] recording music and being in a group and even writing songs.

Then when I came to America, it was a flow, really. I also really started to know what I wanted Billy Idol to be. It took me a little bit, but I kind of knew what I wanted Billy Idol to be. And even that took a while to let it marinate.

You and Miley Cyrus have developed a good working relationship in the last several years. How do you think her fans have responded to you, and your fans have responded to her?

I think they're into it. It's more the record company that she had didn't really get "Night Crawling"— it was one of the best songs on Plastic Hearts , and I don't think they understood that. They wanted to go with Dua Lipa, they wanted to go with the modern, young acts, and I don't think they realized that that song was resonating with her fans. Which is a shame really because, with Andrew Watt producing, it's a hit song.

But at the same time, I enjoyed doing it. It came out really good and it's very Billy Idol. In fact, I think it’s more Billy Idol than Miley Cyrus. I think it shows you where Andrew Watt was. He was excited about doing a Billy Idol track. She's fun to work with. She’s a really great person and she works at her singing — I watched her rehearsing for the Super Bowl performance she gave. She rehearsed all Saturday morning, all Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning and it was that afternoon. I have to admire her fortitude. She really cares.

I remember when you went on " Viva La Bam "  back in 2005 and decided to give Bam Margera’s Lamborghini a new sunroof by taking a power saw to it. Did he own that car? Was that a rental?

I think it was his car.

Did he get over it later on?

He loved it. [ Laughs ] He’s got a wacky sense of humor. He’s fantastic, actually. I’m really sorry to see what he's been going through just lately. He's going through a lot, and I wish him the best. He's a fantastic person, and it's a shame that he's struggling so much with his addictions. I know what it's like. It's not easy.

Musically, what is the synergy like with you guys during the past 10 years, doing Kings and Queens of the Underground and this new stuff? What is your working relationship like now in this more sober, older, mature version of you two as opposed to what it was like back in the '80s?

In lots of ways it’s not so different because we always wrote the songs together, we always talked about what we're going to do together. It was just that we were getting high at the same time.We're just not getting [that way now] but we're doing all the same things.

We're still talking about things, still [planning] things:What are we going to do next? How are we going to find new people to work with? We want to find new producers. Let's be a little bit more timely about putting stuff out.That part of our relationship is the same, you know what I mean? That never got affected. We just happened to be overloading in the '80s.

The relationship’s… matured and it's carrying on being fruitful, and I think that's pretty amazing. Really, most people don't get to this place. Usually, they hate each other by now. [ Laughs ] We also give each other space. We're not stopping each other doing things outside of what we’re working on together. All of that enables us to carry on working together. I love and admire him. I respect him. He's been fantastic. I mean, just standing there on stage with him is always a treat. And he’s got an immensely great sense of humor. I think that's another reason why we can hang together after all this time because we've got the sense of humor to enable us to go forward.

There's a lot of fan reaction videos online, and I noticed a lot of younger women like "Rebel Yell" because, unlike a lot of other '80s alpha male rock tunes, you're talking about satisfying your lover.

It was about my girlfriend at the time, Perri Lister. It was about how great I thought she was, how much I was in love with her, and how great women are, how powerful they are.

It was a bit of a feminist anthem in a weird way. It was all about how relationships can free you and add a lot to your life. It was a cry of love, nothing to do with the Civil War or anything like that. Perri was a big part of my life, a big part of being Billy Idol. I wanted to write about it. I'm glad that's the effect.

Is there something you hope people get out of the songs you've been doing over the last 10 years? Do you find yourself putting out a message that keeps repeating?

Well, I suppose, if anything, is that you can come to terms with your life, you can keep a hold of it. You can work your dreams into reality in a way and, look, a million years later, still be enjoying it.

The only reason I'm singing about getting out of the cage is because I kicked out of the cage years ago. I joined Generation X when I said to my parents, "I'm leaving university, and I'm joining a punk rock group." And they didn't even know what a punk rock group was. Years ago, I’d write things for myself that put me on this path, so that maybe in 2022 I could sing something like "Cage" and be owning this territory and really having a good time. This is the life I wanted.

The original UK punk movement challenged societal norms. Despite all the craziness going on throughout the world, it seems like a lot of modern rock bands are afraid to do what you guys were doing. Do you think we'll see a shift in that?

Yeah.  Art usually reacts to things, so I would think eventually there will be a massive reaction to the pop music that’s taken over — the middle of the road music, and then this kind of right wing politics. There will be a massive reaction if there's not already one. I don’t know where it will come from exactly. You never know who's gonna do [it].

Living Legends: Nancy Sinatra Reflects On Creating "Power And Magic" In Studio, Developing A Legacy Beyond "Boots" & The Pop Stars She Wants To Work With

Graphic: The Recording Academy

Hear All Of The Best Country Solo Performance Nominees For The 2023 GRAMMY Awards

The 2023 GRAMMY Award nominees for Best Country Solo Performance highlight country music's newcomers and veterans, featuring hits from Kelsea Ballerini, Zach Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Willie Nelson.

Country music's evolution is well represented in the 2023 GRAMMY nominees for Best Country Solo Performance. From crossover pop hooks to red-dirt outlaw roots, the genre's most celebrated elements are on full display — thanks to rising stars, leading ladies and country icons.

Longtime hitmaker Miranda Lambert delivered a soulful performance on the rootsy ballad "In His Arms," an arrangement as sparing as the windswept west Texas highlands where she co-wrote the song. Viral newcomer Zach Bryan dug into similar organic territory on the Oklahoma side of the Red River for "Something in the Orange," his voice accompanied with little more than an acoustic guitar.

Two of country's 2010s breakout stars are clearly still shining, too, as Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini both received Best Country Solo Performance GRAMMY nods. Morris channeled the determination that drove her leap-of-faith move from Texas to Nashville for the playful clap-along "Circles Around This Town," while Ballerini brought poppy hooks with a country edge on the infectiously upbeat "HEARTFIRST."

Rounding out the category is the one and only Willie Nelson, who paid tribute to his late friend Billy Joe Shaver with a cover of "Live Forever" — a fitting sentiment for the 89-year-old legend, who is approaching his eighth decade in the business. 

As the excitement builds for the 2023 GRAMMYs on Feb. 5, 2023, let's take a closer look at this year's nominees for Best Country Solo Performance.

Kelsea Ballerini — "HEARTFIRST"

In the tradition of Shania Twain , Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood , Kelsea Ballerini represents Nashville's sunnier side — and her single "HEARTFIRST" is a slice of bright, uptempo, confectionary country-pop for the ages.

Ballerini sings about leaning into a carefree crush with her heart on her sleeve, pushing aside her reservations and taking a risk on love at first sight. The scene plays out in a bar room and a back seat, as she sweeps nimbly through the verses and into a shimmering chorus, when the narrator decides she's ready to "wake up in your T-shirt." 

There are enough steel guitar licks to let you know you're listening to a country song, but the story and melody are universal. "HEARTFIRST" is Ballerini's third GRAMMY nod, but first in the Best Country Solo Performance category.

Zach Bryan — "Something In The Orange"

Zach Bryan blew into Music City seemingly from nowhere in 2017, when his original song "Heading South" — recorded on an iPhone — went viral. Then an active officer in the U.S. Navy, the Oklahoma native chased his muse through music during his downtime, striking a chord with country music fans on stark songs led by his acoustic guitar and affecting vocals.

After his honorable discharge in 2021, Bryan began his music career in earnest, and in 2022 released "Something in the Orange," a haunting ballad that stakes a convincing claim to the territory between Tyler Childers and Jason Isbell in both sonics and songwriting. Slashing slide guitar drives home the song's heartbreak, as Bryan pines for a lover whose tail lights have long since vanished over the horizon. 

"Something In The Orange" marks Bryan's first-ever GRAMMY nomination.

Miranda Lambert — "In His Arms"

Miranda Lambert is the rare, chart-topping contemporary country artist who does more than pay lip service to the genre's rural American roots. "In His Arms" originally surfaced on 2021's The Marfa Tapes , a casual recording Lambert made with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall in Marfa, Texas — a tiny arts enclave in the middle of the west Texas high desert.

In this proper studio version — recorded for her 2022 album, Palomino — Lambert retains the structure and organic feel of the mostly acoustic song; light percussion and soothing atmospherics keep her emotive vocals front and center. A native Texan herself, Lambert sounds fully at home on "In His Arms."

Lambert is the only Best Country Solo Performance nominee who is nominated in all four Country Field categories in 2023. To date, Miranda Lambert has won 3 GRAMMYs and received 27 nominations overall. 

Maren Morris — "Circles Around This Town"

When Maren Morris found herself uninspired and dealing with writer's block, she went back to what inspired her to move to Nashville nearly a decade ago — and out came "Circles Around This Town," the lead single from her 2022 album Humble Quest .

Written in one of her first in-person songwriting sessions since the pandemic, Morris has called "Circles Around This Town" her "most autobiographical song" to date; she even recreated her own teenage bedroom for the song's video. As she looks back to her Texas beginnings and the life she left for Nashville, Morris' voice soars over anthemic, yet easygoing production. 

Morris last won a GRAMMY for Best Country Solo Performance in 2017, when her song "My Church" earned the singer her first GRAMMY. To date, Maren Morris has won one GRAMMY and received 17 nominations overall.

Willie Nelson — "Live Forever"

Country music icon Willie Nelson is no stranger to the GRAMMYs, and this year he aims to add to his collection of 10 gramophones. He earned another three nominations for 2023 — bringing his career total to 56 — including a Best Country Solo Performance nod for "Live Forever."

Nelson's performance of "Live Forever," the lead track of the 2022 tribute album Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver , is a faithful rendition of Shaver's signature song. Still, Nelson puts his own twist on the tune, recruiting Lucinda Williams for backing vocals and echoing the melody with the inimitable tone of his nylon-string Martin guitar. 

Shaver, an outlaw country pioneer who passed in 2020 at 81 years old, never had any hits of his own during his lifetime. But plenty of his songs were still heard, thanks to stars like Elvis Presley , Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings . Nelson was a longtime friend and frequent collaborator of Shaver's — and now has a GRAMMY nom to show for it.

2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List

• 1 Massive Attack Postpone Mezzanine XXI North American Tour Dates
• 2 GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
• 3 A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea
• 4 Living Legends: Billy Idol On Survival, Revival & Breaking Out Of The Cage
• 5 Hear All Of The Best Country Solo Performance Nominees For The 2023 GRAMMY Awards

• UK Festivals

You are here: Home / Events

Massive Attack

with very special guests

Event Dates

Sunday, 25 Aug

Clifton Downs, Bristol

Act 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator presents

Massive Attack have announced Act 1.5, a large-scale climate action accelerator event that sees Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall play what will be their first concert on UK soil in 5 years. Taking place on 25th August 2024 at Clifton Downs in their hometown of Bristol, it promises to be the lowest carbon show of its size ever staged.

The event will mark the culmination of 25 years of climate activism on the part of the band, and a first physical fruition of their collaboration with climate scientists and analysts from the renowned Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research , including Massive Attack’s commissioning of the only Paris 1.5 compatible roadmap for decarbonisation of the Live Music Sector.

The band had previously planned a prototype show of this nature in Liverpool; ambitions that were thwarted by global pandemic and their boycotting of an Arms Fair being held in the city. As part of the ACT 1.5 initiative, Liverpool has now become the first City worldwide to commit to a global gold standard of Paris 1.5 compatible carbon reductions as a condition for licensing major live music events.

Massive Attack were the first band globally to become members of the UN Race to Zero programme – committing all of their touring & production activities to Paris 1.5 compatible decarbonisation measures, in all scopes 1, 2 and 3 – and the band have now worked together with partners UN Race To Zero , Zenobe , Ecotricity , Train Hugger and Act 1.5 to construct a unique event.

Sign Up For Updates And Pre-sales

Similar events.

A Night On The Porch

NIA ARCHIVES

FATBOY SLIM

EDEN SESSIONS PRESENTED BY VOLVO

Killer Mike

Massive Attack

Along with Portishead and Tricky, Massive Attack remain one of the most respected acts from the famed "Triphop" scene. Robert Del Naja and Grant more...

Fans who like Massive Attack also like

Groove Armada

Iran launches retaliatory attack on Israel with hundreds of drones, missiles

• Medium Text
• For a Reuters live page of coverage of the Iranian attack, click

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, Timur Azhari in Baghdad, Jeff Mason, Eric Beech and Doina Chiacu in Washington and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Lidia Kelly in Lisbon; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Daniel Wallis, Chizu Nomiyama, Howard Goller and William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

World Chevron

Kremlin says any new 'colonial' U.S. aid to Ukraine won't change frontline situation

The Kremlin said on Thursday that any new U.S. military aid for Ukraine would not change the situation at the front where Kyiv's forces were in a poor position and cast such aid as part of a "colonial" policy which enriched the United States.

A Ukrainian attack on a military airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea on Wednesday seriously damaged four missile launchers, three radar stations and other equipment, Ukraine's military spy agency said on Thursday.

• International

6 killed in Sydney mall stabbing attack

By Sophie Tanno and Tori B. Powell , CNN

Our live coverage has ended. Read up on the latest on the Sydney mall attack or scroll through the posts below.

6 dead in Sydney shopping mall stabbing attack. Here's the latest

Six people are dead  and several others injured after a man went on a stabbing rampage in a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday afternoon local time, one of the country’s worst mass killings in recent years. The suspect was  shot dead .

Eyewitnesses described  “pandemonium”  as they fled from the attack, with many  forced to hide in shops . Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attack was “beyond words and understanding,” but amid the “shocking violence,” there were glimmers of heroism.

Here’s the latest if you are just joining us:

Six dead: New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb said  four women and a man died  at the shopping mall, while a fifth woman later died at the hospital. Webb added that  eight additional people  are being treated for injuries at hospitals in Sydney.

Baby among those injured: A  nine-month-old baby is confirmed  to be among the injured and has been in surgery, Webb said. Australian media outlets have reported that the baby’s mother had died, but Webb could not confirm the reports.

Suspect shot: A police inspector shot the attacker dead on the scene. Police believe the suspect was a 40-year-old man who acted alone, but could not provide further identification details. Early indications suggest the attack was  not terror-related .

"Hero" police officer: The police officer who shot the suspect is being hailed as a “hero,” with  Albanese saying , “There is no doubt that she saved lives through her action.” The officer was nearby when the violence unfolded and shot the attacker when he raised his knife at her, police said.

Witnesses describe scene: Eyewitnesses described panic and “pandemonium” as fleeing shoppers fell over each other and hid in shops. One woman, Crystal Wang,  told CNN  she hid in a clothing store for over an hour with other shoppers. Another man told Australia’s state broadcaster ABC that the attacker was stabbing people “indiscriminately.”

Rare attack: The attack has shocked Australia, a country where  mass casualty events are rare . The deadliest in its history was an April 1996 mass shooting in the town of Port Arthur, Tasmania, that killed 35 people and became known as the Port Arthur massacre. More recently, at least four people were killed and one injured in a mass shooting in the northern city of Darwin in 2019.

Pope Francis offer prayers for Sydney mall attack victims and first responders

Pope Francis is "deeply saddened" by the mass stabbing that occurred at a busy shopping center in Sydney, Australia, according to a statement from the Vatican.

"He sends the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all affected by this senseless tragedy, especially those who are now mourning the loss of a loved one," the statement read. "He likewise offers his prayers for the dead, injured, as well as the first responders, and invokes upon the nation the divine blessings of consolation and strength."

King Charles III "shocked and horrified" by the Sydney stabbing

Britain's King Charles III, who is head of state in Australia, said he and his wife Queen Camilla are "utterly shocked and horrified" by the shopping mall stabbing in Sydney that left six dead.

"Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who have been so brutally killed during such a senseless attack," a statement from Buckingham Palace said.

"While details of these shocking circumstances are still emerging, our thoughts are also with those who were involved in the response, and we give thanks for the bravery of the first responders and emergency services."

9-month-old baby among victims receiving treatment in hospital

From CNN's Chris Liakos and Sophie Tanno

A nine-month-old baby is confirmed to be among eight victims who have been admitted to hospital following the mass stabbing attack at Sydney's Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall.

New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb on Saturday confirmed that eight people are currently being treated for different injuries in hospitals around Sydney, including the infant, who has been in surgery.

Webb said "the last update I had was that it (the baby) had been in surgery and it's too early to say really. But it's awful."

She could not confirm Australian media reports that the baby's mother had died.

"I've heard that same rumour but I can't confirm that," she said.

Early indications say attack was not terror related, police say

From CNN's Chris Liakos 

New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb said on Saturday that early indications suggest the Sydney mall stabbing attack is not terror related but cautioned that the investigation remains ongoing.

Webb told reporters that current elements do not point to a terror motive, adding however that the investigation will be ongoing "for many many days" and that it is "too early to say" what was behind the attack.

According to Webb, police believe that the suspect is a 40-year-old man but as background checks remain ongoing, she could not provide further identification details.

Webb said she was "confident" that there is no ongoing risk and that "we are dealing with one person who is now deceased."

The suspect was shot dead at the scene by a lone officer, police earlier said.

In pictures: Stabbing at Sydney shopping mall

From CNN Digital’s Photo Team

Sydney has been left stunned after a mass stabbing at a shopping mall left at least six people dead. Here are some of the latest pictures from the scene.

"Do not go down there": Witnesses describe scenes of pandemonium in Sydney shopping mall

From CNN"s Sophie Tanno

Witnesses inside the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall when the attack took place have described scenes of chaos.

CNN’s Australian affiliate, 9 News Sydney, spoke to an eyewitness who said people were running through the shopping center and falling over each other, describing the situation as “pandemonium.”

Two brothers who were there told 9 News they saw a baby and mother stabbed and tried to help.

“The baby got stabbed and the mum got stabbed," one of the brothers said. “We were holding the baby and trying to compress the baby. Same with the mother, trying to compress the blood from stopping.”

One man described seeing a man in a green shirt stabbing others "indiscriminately."

"[We just heard] screaming, screaming and it didn't seem that long before we heard 'boom boom boom' of the gunshot and we thought, 'We hope it's the police,'" the witness told Australia's state broadcaster ABC. "[A person] is dying 10 metres away … I grabbed towels and there were three people dying around me. "It was just carnage."

Another man who did not give his name told ABC that the attacker would have continued his deadly rampage if the police officer had not intervened.

"If she did not shoot him, he would have kept going, he was on the rampage," he said.

Woman hid at back of clothes shop for over an hour during attack

From CNN's Sophie Tanno

One eyewitness who was inside Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall when the attack unfolded described hiding in the back of a shop.

Crystal Wang explained how, after arriving at Westfield at around 3.20pm – just as the attack began – she walked into a clothes store where "the girls at the shop shut the door behind me and turned off lights."

She continued: "I was really confused, and they told me someone is stabbing people with a knife in the mall. I was hiding at the back of the shop, saw some people fleeing, and then heard [a] few gun shots.”

At first, Crystal thought there had been a power cut, before she realized the severity of the situation she had found herself in.

"A siren went on and not long after, I heard gun shots and started to panic, I was worried the attacker also had a gun," she said. "That's when the shop assistants asked everyone to hide in their storage room."

She added that management announcements probably made the situation worse.

“They were saying 'all the customers please evacuate immediately.' "We were obviously locked inside, just really confused if we should get out of the shop or stay in. "The lady who's making the announcement is obviously panicking as well, which just made us more anxious. She was even swearing at the end of her announcements."

Crystal and other shoppers stayed in hiding for an hour and half, until they were able to leave.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

Iran launches more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel; Biden condemns attack

• Biden condemns Iran’s attack on Israel, will convene G-7 leaders
• Map: Iranian escalation reverberates across region
• U.S. forces intercepting Iranian drones in extended attack on Israel

Here's what to know:

Here's what to know, live coverage contributors 27.

2:55 a.m. EDT 2:55 a.m. EDT

2:37 a.m. EDT 2:37 a.m. EDT

1:44 a.m. EDT 1:44 a.m. EDT

12:43 a.m. EDT 12:43 a.m. EDT

12:24 a.m. EDT 12:24 a.m. EDT

• Israel’s military chief warns Iran will ‘face consequences’ for attack Earlier today Israel’s military chief warns Iran will ‘face consequences’ for attack Earlier today
• What to know about Shahed-136 drones, which Iran used to attack Israel April 16, 2024 What to know about Shahed-136 drones, which Iran used to attack Israel April 16, 2024
• Why did Iran attack Israel? What to know about the strikes, U.S. response. April 15, 2024 Why did Iran attack Israel? What to know about the strikes, U.S. response. April 15, 2024

11:31 p.m. EDT 11:31 p.m. EDT

11:20 p.m. EDT Bullet Key update 11:20 p.m. EDT

10:59 p.m. EDT 10:59 p.m. EDT

10:43 p.m. EDT 10:43 p.m. EDT

9:43 p.m. EDT 9:43 p.m. EDT

8:59 p.m. EDT 8:59 p.m. EDT

8:54 p.m. EDT 8:54 p.m. EDT

8:43 p.m. EDT 8:43 p.m. EDT

8:11 p.m. EDT 8:11 p.m. EDT

7:55 p.m. EDT 7:55 p.m. EDT

7:40 p.m. EDT 7:40 p.m. EDT

7:39 p.m. EDT 7:39 p.m. EDT

7:30 p.m. EDT 7:30 p.m. EDT

7:29 p.m. EDT Bullet Key update 7:29 p.m. EDT

7:26 p.m. EDT 7:26 p.m. EDT

7:12 p.m. EDT Bullet Key update 7:12 p.m. EDT

7:10 p.m. EDT 7:10 p.m. EDT

7:09 p.m. EDT 7:09 p.m. EDT

6:45 p.m. EDT 6:45 p.m. EDT

6:37 p.m. EDT 6:37 p.m. EDT

6:14 p.m. EDT 6:14 p.m. EDT

6:11 p.m. EDT 6:11 p.m. EDT

5:58 p.m. EDT 5:58 p.m. EDT

5:45 p.m. EDT 5:45 p.m. EDT

5:38 p.m. EDT 5:38 p.m. EDT

5:33 p.m. EDT Reporting from Tel Aviv 5:33 p.m. EDT

5:29 p.m. EDT 5:29 p.m. EDT

5:28 p.m. EDT 5:28 p.m. EDT

5:14 p.m. EDT 5:14 p.m. EDT

5:03 p.m. EDT 5:03 p.m. EDT

5:01 p.m. EDT 5:01 p.m. EDT

4:53 p.m. EDT 4:53 p.m. EDT

Israel-Gaza war

The Israel-Gaza war has gone on for six months, and tensions have spilled into the surrounding region .

The war: On Oct. 7, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel that included the taking of civilian hostages at a music festival . (See photos and videos of how the deadly assault unfolded ). Israel declared war on Hamas in response, launching a ground invasion that fueled the biggest displacement in the region since Israel’s creation in 1948 .

Gaza crisis: In the Gaza Strip, Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars , killing tens of thousands and plunging at least half of the population into “ famine-like conditions. ” For months, Israel has resisted pressure from Western allies to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave .

U.S. involvement: Despite tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some U.S. politicians , including President Biden, the United States supports Israel with weapons , funds aid packages , and has vetoed or abstained from the United Nations’ cease-fire resolutions.

History: The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mistrust are deep and complex, predating the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 . Read more on the history of the Gaza Strip .