Massive Attack 2/10/09

I had only recently started listening to Massive Attack so I wasn't quite sure what to expect and that added an element of excitement to the event.

The support act was Martina Topley-Bird who also was one of the Massive Attack vocalists. I found her support set disappointing. While she has a nice voice the music seemed too contrived and uninvolving. The best bit was after she had left the stage and the accompianist who played a number of instruments banged out an increasingly frenetic drum riff as a big finish.

Massive Attack were good right from the start. The early tracks I didn't recognise and as there was no recognition from the audience either I guess they are new tracks from the album currently in progress. The sound was good and all-enveloping. The musicians were individually good. The set up which featured two drummers and a variety of ever changing vocalists also worked well for me.

I think they included Daddy G, Horace Andy and the aforementioned Martina T-B.

The gig really took off for me when quite a way into the set they brought on Deborah Miller to sing vocals on "Safe From Harm". She came back later to sing vocals on one more track in the encore "Unfinished Symphony". She added a powerful emotional vocal which sat with the underlying multi-layered sound perfectly. "Safe from Harm" is also a damn fine song as is "Unfinished Symphony". Also good was "Teardrop" with M T-B on vocals. The gig was good from start to finish though and I was a little surprised that the audience wasn't more enthusiastic. I heard someone after complaining as he was wanting a more dance-based gig. Personally I didn't.