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Review: Massive Attack, The Steel Yard at Filton Airfield
On the 50th anniversary of Concorde first taking to the air, one of Bristol’s other world famous exports played to thousands of fans in a temporary venue built on the very runway that Concorde’s final flight landed on.
The two shows in Massive Attack’s hometown, in a venue on the former Filton Airfield called The Steel Yard, are to mark the 21st anniversary of Mezzanine. It’s a rare foray into nostalgia for the Bristol band but one in which they excelled, simultaneously looking forwards as well as back.
For any music fan of any age, there also cannot be a much better combination of songs than Angel, featuring the vocals of Horace Andy, followed by the magisterial Teardrop with Elizabeth Fraser.
is needed now More than ever
Until this tour, songs like Exchange and Dissolved Girl had not been performed live since around the time of Mezzanine’s release. At The Steel Yard in front of a somewhat biased home crowd (even with big queues), they sounded as fresh as ever.
Massive Attack are certainly not resorting to resting on their laurels at this stage in their illustrious three decade-long career.
Some bands may be content with playing their most commercially successful album in its entirety. Not Robert Del Naja or Grant Marshall, who have bottled the essence of Mezzanine, shaken it up a bit and let it burst forth into a multi-sensory experience that could only be captured in a live environment.
First Bus had laid on a fleet of vehicles from Broad Quay to Filton for the show on Friday evening (there’s one more on Saturday for which tickets are still available) and should be commended for their efficiency.
On site, there are two bar and food tents, one on either side of the main arena. It is £5 for a can of Thatchers Gold, and – among the food options – £4 for a slice of pizza (so long as you had cash as the WiFi was down on Friday, rendering card payments impossible).
This was once you had worked out which long queue to join in the tents, which were each being serenaded by DJs who became the unofficial support acts thanks to Massive Attack being the only act on the bill in the main arena.
As if to help create a nostalgic late-90s glow over the crowd, the likes of Never Ever by All Saints and Tubthumping by Chumbawamba – all released in 1997, the same year as Mezzanine – played on the speakers in the main arena before Massive Attack came on the Steel Yard stage soon before 8.45pm.
Goodness knows what these songs and others by Madonna and Cher would sound like if Massive Attack were to cover them. One song that they did cover during their set was 10:15 Saturday Night by The Cure, a spirited version featuring a host of clashing guitars and on the screens behind them everything from tap dancers to a drone’s eye view above a city.
Filmmaker Adam Curtis’ visuals were an integral part of this show and featured a Generation Game conveyor belt-worth of people, pictures and themes.
There was Tony Blair and Saddam Hussein, Donald Trump’s face superimposed onto Britney Spears’ body, flying birds, the marriage of Prince Andrew and Fergie, tanks, soldiers, dead bodies, and BBC News North American editor Jon Sopel.
It was relentless, confusing, obvious, oblique and never explained.
As well as the video footage, there were also dozens of words and sentences. Some recognisable (‘Brexit means Brexit’ was booed as loudly as Massive Attack were cheered) and others brand new. ‘They say don’t bother with the future, stay here with us.’ ‘Now it’s your world, you are the centre of everything.’
‘We are caught in an endless loop,’ the last such statement said over the closing bars of Mezzanine track Group Four. ‘It’s time to leave the ghosts behind and start building the future.’
Then the lights went up and there was a rush to get to the waiting buses that took concertgoers back into town after a bewilderingly brilliant multi-sensory experience from a band still flying high.
Read more: Exploring Massive Attack’s Bristol roots as city gets ready for two huge homecoming shows
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