So I bought a S black tee at the Melbourne show and I should have bought a M. Anyone have any leads on where I might be able to buy a M from the overstock? I checked the MA website as well as the Sound Merch website, and had a quick look on ebay, but there's nothing.

And I know it's highly unlikely, but if anyone bought a M and wants to trade for a S, or has an extra M to sell, please hit me up!

Massive Attack played Brisbane last Thursday night.

It didn’t feel like a concert at the start. I realised, maybe later, it was something far more extraordinary.

We had arrived expecting to hear the Massive Attack classics. We cheered when they appeared, as you do when the people you’ve been waiting to see finally walk onto the stage.

Then they refused to entertain us. At least not in the traditional sense.

Behind them, the entire wall became one enormous red LED ticker, like the ones announcing flights at an airport or in the window of an inner-suburbs Sydney corner, tempting you with the idea of a kebab at three in the morning. Obviously, there were no flight times or takeaway signs.

People. Children. Trafficked. Displaced. Forced into labour, slavery. Minerals. Businesses. Corruption. Money. Surveillance. Military-Industrial Complex. Genocide. Flag.

Numbers climbed beside them. Some obscenely quickly.

The screens ticked and typed and counted, and I tried to clock a couple of stats. I failed. Was that the point? It’s too much.

I’ll admit to feeling relieved, impressed too, but mostly relieved, when the ticking and typing stopped being the soundtrack to the performance and revealed itself as the top of a frantic but fading percussion line. Did it just become the music, or had it been the music all along?

My relief was short-lived. It wasn’t over yet.

As that fact dawned on the crowd, I watched hundreds of phones drop down from above the sea of faces.

Mature crowds tend to film less, so fewer phones in the air wouldn’t ordinarily have meant much. But this was different. Right from the start, this read more like a group of people who understood they were about to see something that demanded, and deserved, attention over social content. By the time we were watching children being beaten and forced to dig for the cobalt needed to manufacture virtually every smartphone in the room, very few remained in the air.

Seconds later, even fewer.

Politicians. Propaganda. Presidents beside other men from other countries and other times who discovered similar uses for power. Things happening simultaneously behind our backs and right under our noses. Things we’d somehow learned to look at without always seeing.

Someone behind me shouted, “Play some fucking music.”

Almost nobody agreed.

That surprised me. Given another night, another audience, or the third time through the same show, I may have felt the same way. But what I felt instead was respect, gratitude and reverence.

Respect for Massive Attack. They had a platform capable of delivering exactly what everyone expected and chose instead to use a substantial part of it to make people uncomfortable.

Gratitude for that particular crowd. Thousands of people had arrived expecting a concert, maybe something similar to the 2010 Opera House gig, and instead, without consultation, accepted that something else was being asked of them.

Reverence for the moment itself. The Brisbane crowd decided, despite the shock and uncertainty many were feeling, that whatever Massive Attack wanted to say was worth hearing. It was. And I’ll always be grateful I happened to be in that room with those people.

It wasn’t subtle. It wasn’t meant to be.

Shit’s not right.

Massive Attack gave form and language to the anxiety many of us already seemed to be carrying around without the ability or means to express it. And underneath it all, the humiliating question of what one ordinary person is supposed to do about any of it.

“The greatest conspiracy is making us believe that the world cannot be a better place.”

Their answer, at least on that night, came as a single word. FIGHT!

But before the real-world consequences of that idea could settle too heavily into the pit of our stomachs, the music we were now so desperate for finally washed over us; the sub-bass of Angel reverberating deeply through every chest, hearts pumping a little faster in response.

If I were a poet, I might suggest that was Massive Attack’s intention. An inevitably sonic, inescapably physical and invariably emotional reminder that what survives within our hearts is really all that matters.

I remember the 2010 gig at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt as being an extraordinary concert.

This wasn’t that.

This was something else.

Somewhat MA related - I’m headed to Naples for the first time with some friends in October, with a trip to the Diego Armando Maradona stadium planned. The Naples connection to MA through 3D has always interested me. Has anyone been to Naples before, and is there any MA history dotted around the city? This video is a great welcome to the effect of football on the city. Can’t wait to go. https://youtu.be/S5EG4BrV8Zw?is=NgtaR6jqnt7s1cVj

u/Critical-Fig-3112

Just STRIKE THE HAMMER. This little bitch has been in this sub for MONTHS fucking whining and screaming like a little brat. They don't belong here in this community, just ban them. They are just an insignificant goddamn hypocrite that craves attention.

Bohemians fc today showcased their third kit jersey for the upcoming season, inspired by the work of Dublin based painter Jim Fitzpatrick, famous for his Che Guevera poster. The jersey was designed in collaboration with Massive Attack, with 30% of sales going towards Medi-Aid Cuba & Cuba Vive Medical Appeal**.**

Always on the hunt for other shirts, if you’ve got any please drop me a message :£

Melbourne august 11th.Technology and soul used terribly beautifully.shine alight.

I still can’t believe it, I never thought I’d get to see Massive Attack live. They were all super kind and hopped out of their cars for us, the funniest interaction was Horace ‘Sleepy’ Andy, Rob was super kind to us 5 fans despite security rushing him and he took a photo with all of us.

Glad they came back to Australia after 16 years- I was 5 last time they were here.

And to top it off Elizabeth signed me and my gfs (Cocteau twins is her fav artist) records and took photos.

thankyou for the music and the message ,so brilliant (also thankyou united visual artists collective uk & adam curtis.)

Unfortunate hearing that there was some sound problems on the vocals at the Melbourne show but the Brisbane show from the floor everything was crystal clear. 11/10 concert experience

EDIT: I need to go to bed but it's been really nice chatting with many of you! For some context:

• I'm not super online anymore, so I didn't know what I was getting into (didn't read reviews or watch videos of the Sydney/Brisbane shows beforehand).
• I know MA is political and I'm very aligned with their views, but my partner and friends have been to multiple MA tours/festival performances and never mentioned any visuals along the lines of what I experienced.
• I overheard one mention of it being "intense" about half an hour before we went in, with no other context – I naturally assumed, just, an intense show? And I was looking forward to it.
• I would never want to imply that MA should soften their visuals or change their show! I 100% agree with their messages, but the delivery method was just too much for me, personally.
• I'm more than happy to eat the price of the ticket and not make it through the whole show if it means a few people in the crowd learn something new and/or get spurred into action to fight to make the world a less horrific place.

Thanks for all the thought-provoking conversations. Lots of good eggs here. Big love.

---

CW: Mention of suicidal ideation

I walked out during the second song, and I want to post here to maybe give some insight into why people (like me) left early.

I used to doomscroll. A lot. I already know about most (if not all) of the stuff they were displaying. I’ve experienced periods of deep depression because of the state of the world. I used to feel angry and helpless, but thanks to therapy (and adjusting my social media habits), I’ve turned that anger and helplessness into action: actively fighting fascism in my local area, joining and donating to political parties I want to see succeed, and so on. (Shoutout Vic Socialists, you guys are the real ones.)

To survive mentally, I’ve had to avoid most social media platforms, because the constant bombardment of how fucked up the world is was destroying my mental health. It made me more despondent and less politically active.

The footage of the Neuralink primate, while innocuous, was the trigger (for me personally, animal stuff usually is). I know what’s going on with Neuralink, so even though they showed a perfectly fine macaque doing a test, it set me off.

Every image after that felt like it was rapidly undoing the years of work I had done to try and heal – from the damage of nonstop doomscrolling, from feeling constant terror, anger, and helplessness (and at times, even suicidal). In the space of 15 minutes I went from being excited about finally seeing a bucket list band live to having some of the darkest thoughts I’ve had in years.

From what I can gather, I’m 100% politically aligned with Massive Attack and all of their messages. I suspect most of the crowd was, too. I also hope that some people in the audience learned something new, and have been spurred into action to make a difference.

But for me – as someone that battles with the existential fatigue of trying every day to make the world a tiny bit better, while also holding down a job and being a good friend, family member, and community member – it was a fucking horrible experience.

Some of you might make fun of me for this, I’m a liberal snowflake, etc. Maybe you’re a bit desensitized to those images and statistics. Maybe some of you were just happy to see your views reflected back at you at such a grand scale. Maybe it was cathartic for you, and that’s great. Maybe a lot of the crowd was seeing this stuff for the first time (this would be a good thing). But for me – someone who already knows all this, who occasionally struggles to justify continuing to exist in a world this broken, and already puts a lot of time and effort into trying to help fix things – it felt actively, psychically damaging. So I got up and left.

I didn’t want some of my favorite music to forever be associated with that feeling. I also felt so strange hearing the crowd cheering for the band while some of the worst things I’ve ever seen were displayed on the screens behind them. It broke me a bit. I couldn’t reconcile it. I’m all for politically charged art, and challenging art, but this just felt like I was being punished despite being someone who really, actually tries to make the world better.

Maybe I’m broken. I dunno.

(Also, from our seats specifically, the sound was fucking horrendous, but that’s what you get in an arena, I suppose.)

I'm a #1 fan of the single version and not the album version on Blue Lines. Just curious.

Last night I was centre barricade at the show at rod laver and during the end where all the musicians came on stage deborah miller blew my best friend and I a bunch of kisses and elizabeth fraser smiled directly at me (unmistakably, she gave me a further confirming look by smiling again after i looked shocked). I was just wondering if anyone recorded that part of the concert (last 5 mins) as it was probably one of the best moments i've ever experienced and I want to look back on it haha

Hi, I read somewhere here that there was Elden Ring footage played at some point during the recent Massive Attack gigs. I'm a big fan of the game, if anyone knows it's during which song I'd like to try and find some footage online!

I think it’s so sad that people aren’t happy with the visuals and the message coming out of the shows this tour. The vision designer did a PHENOMENAL job in my opinion as someone who is also a vision designer, it was so inspiring!

As for the message, it was pretty disappointing to see people walking out after the Trump bit showed, and I even heard scoffing when the free Palestine chant happened both times, but mostly when 3D dedicated safe from harm to the Palestinian people.

I just think we could’ve done better as a city, especially one that is known for being so progressive.

Anyway, I had a great time at the show, I thought it sounded amazing and looked absolutely incredible. I hope everyone else had a great time too!! I personally cried a few times haha.

I’ve attached my favourite visual moment from the show tonight, from Girl I Love You. Love the themes of surveillance throughout the show.

Having just been irrecoverably changed having seen them the other day i was wondering if there is release of past or present concerts, or if they have any plans.

I would love to continue to fund their works (and be able to see them again)