Massive Attack’s forthcoming twentieth anniversary tour for the group’s groundbreaking 1999 album, Mezzanine, is starting to sound uncomfortably like real life.
Band leader Robert Del Naja and filmmaker Adam Curtis are collaborating on the audiovisual performances, and have detailed what fans can expect from the tour.
Curtis said in a press release that “the show tells the story of the strange journey we have all been on over the past twenty years since Mezzanine was released: How we have moved into a strange backward-looking world, enclosed by machines that read our data and predict our every move, haunted by ghosts from the past. A pleasure dome that makes us feel safe from the endless wars outside, and plays back stories both of dreams of glory and the fear of others. But in that safe world suspicion and distrust is spreading – like a virus. The air is growing stale. Everyone sees conspiracies everywhere. But maybe suspicion is control?”
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Del Naja doubled-down on Curtis’ assessment in the same press statement, adding that “The show is a deconstruction of the entire album with the original songs and samples being performed live. This isn’t a greatest hits show, don’t expect a Hollywood ending.”
Massive Attack and Curtis have worked together in the past. In 2013, the two entities came together for Massive Attack v Adam Curtis, a multimedia show held in a “vast derelict train station,” according to The Guardian.
The tour will feature Cocteau Twins vocalist, Liz Fraser, whose voice graced Mezzanine single, “Teardrop.”
Massive Attack will kick of the North American leg of the tour on March 20 in Toronto. See the full itinerary below.
03-12 Toronto, Ontario – Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
03-14 Boston, MA – Boch Center Wang Theatre
03-15 New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
03-19 Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia
03-22 Detroit, MI – Masonic Temple
03-23 Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre
03-24 St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
03-28 San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
03-29 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
03-30 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
03-31 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
04-02 San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU
