Massive Attack’s visit to Adelaide was not without its hiccups during the lead-up: where shall I start? Robert Del Naja’s arrest, the rumours of the tour being cancelled, the choice of the Entertainment Centre as a venue, etc etc.
Well, as is evident by the result Massive Attack came, they saw and they conquered. The Entertainment Centre was seen as a questionable venue for Massive Attack, but even if the atmosphere was little impersonal that fit right in with the semi-detached attitude Massive Attack were going for. From a practical standpoint, the crowd that came on the night really couldn’t have fitted in anywhere else.
It was interesting that the first thing Massive Attack did when they stepped up was to instigate a deafening silence in a crowd of thousands ready to go bananas. The one minute silence to commiserate the start of the war in Iraq was a most poignant moment. We know Robert Del Naja will always remember the show he played in Adelaide in 2003, but it is unfortunate that he will remember for such a reason.
The stage show Massive Attack had put together was extremely effective, the understated screenshow, the way they grooved with their backs to the audience and that oh so clinically cool and I’m so far away I’m in your face type attitude. Maybe its because I don’t go to a lot of the big name shows, as evident by the fact I couldn’t even remember what the inside of the Entertainment Centre looked like, but the Massive Attack performance smacked of over-rehearsal and ultra-nonspontaneity. The same charges were levelled by many critics at Massive Attack’s latest album, ‘100th Window’ as well, making one wonder if this is indeed the new unfortunate direction they have chosen to go in.
Standout tracks were ‘Future Proof’, ‘Small Time Shot Away’ and ‘Everywhen’. Obviously, Adelaide fans knew what they liked and they like it Mezzy as the choons which got the biggest reception where ‘Teardrop’, ‘Inertia Creeps’, ‘The Big Wheel’ and the encore performance of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, from ‘Protection’. Horace Andy was a dude and a half, a fat little man with an amazing voice who had to be dragged off stage by Daddy G as he wanted to stay and hang out. The female singers were amazing, Robert Del Naja unfortunately mumbled up his introduction of them, leading to huge arguments during the post-concert dissection as to whether the blonde’s name was Dot Alison Badderly or Melanie Freeling or something else altogether.
This was a spectacular and utterly sensational performance. Well worth any time and effort spent for it, Massive Attack’s concert was one in a million. It can only be hoped that all those present not only took home the memories of a great night out, but that some of the messages that Massive Attack were trying to get through did in fact have their intended effect.
