Review: Massive Attack, O2 Acadamy, Newcastle

Blue Lines, Protection and Mezzanine all met with critical acclaim and commercial success, before 2003’s 100th Window saw the band falter for the first time.

Primed for the release of their fifth studio album early next year, they launch straight into new fare. Robert Del Naja, in dark blazer and white T-shirt, stands alongside Daddy G, decked out in leather jacket and jeans, who towers above him.

Horace Andy, whose vocals grace each of the band’s long-players to date, joins them to rapturous applause. Despite approaching pensionable age, the grey-haired Jamaican oozes a laidback cool in his black suit and Rasta hat.   

Of course, collaboration has long been at the heart of Massive Attack’s philosophy and Shara Nelson, Tracy Thorn, Tricky and Liz Fraser have all provided stunning cameos on the band’s recordings.

Without any of them tonight, Martina Topley Bird, who will herself appear on the group’s next album, steps into the breach to take on Fraser’s classic Teardrop. Slightly reworked, it’s a brave attempt, yet somehow doesn’t quite match the majesty of the fragile and haunting studio take.

It’s the calm before the storm though and the band – complete with guitarist, drummer and fx units – begin cranking up the intensity as the driving rhythms and synths combine to form a dark, menacing wall of sound.

Horace Andy returns as the set builds to a crescendo with the imperious Angel.

It’s followed by Safe From Harm, which Del Naja dedicates to the Palestinians suffering in the Gaza Strip, and an extended jam makes way for the eerie tones of Inertia Creeps.

With the atmosphere now at fever pitch, the band return for their encore with new single Split The Atom. It feels like a wrong move though as the slow, stripped-back arrangement allows the momentum to temporarily slip away.

It’s a situation quickly rescued by the sweeping strings of Unfinished Sympathy and then another new track, boasting a thunderous beat and relentless, hypnotic groove.

The band round things off with Karmacoma. Daddy G can’t replicate Tricky’s gruff, gravelly delivery, but it’s a fine enough end to the show as he and Del Naja  welcome their supporting cast back on to the stage for one final bow.

It may not quite have been faultless, but Massive Attack proved when they hit their stride they’re still very much a force to be reckoned with.