Massive Attack have been around for quite a while with their beginnings dating back to the late 80’s/ early 90’s and to date, I have yet to see a disappointing show! Not only do they keep on recording great new songs and albums, in a live setting they keep on reworking their best tracks to even gnarlier versions, but i am getting ahead of myself. Young Fathers took the stage around 7:45pm, and played for about 45 minutes. They had a great groove to their sound, but that many vocals are just no my cup of tea. Overall though they did a good job opening for Massive Attack.
At 9pm sharp the lights went out and Massive Attack took the stage. 2 full drum kits, guitar, bass, keyboards and vocalists, made for a perfect line up! They started off with powerful rocking versions of Battle Box and United Snakes, rocking to the point that some people might have wondered if they walked into the wrong show. But that is what I love about them, they kick ass in a live environment! The light show consisted mainly of 9 movable panels behind the band used for a variety of information and lighting effects. If you have seen Massive Attack in the past, you know that they are fairly political in their shows, and devote a large portion of their light show to hitting their fans with numbers, and references, as well trying to incite some deeper thinking, all the while delivering a stunning concert. Throughout the show they performed a great mix of new and old songs, but the old songs are never just played as you’d know them, no they rework them quite a lot often into more powerful rocking songs that I find to be more conducive to a live environment. For the encore they brought the Young Fathers on stage for 2 songs, and here these guys really excelled, within Massive Attack I like them better than on their own.. but that is just me.
My absolute favorite of the night would be Safe from Harm with which they ended the regular portion of the show, and despite being a classic they made it sound really fresh and powerful, actually more powerful than I have ever heard it. One could almost say they turned it into a full blown rock song. With the encore they played for 95 minutes, which these days, I guess, is considered a nice and long show, though for me personally they could have played a bit longer. Noteworthy is that the setlist had Splitting the atom listed as final encore but they did not play this one in Luxembourg. Honestly I am actually not surprised about this, considering that the crowd was the usual Luxembourgish stick up their asses, under no circumstance should you dance crowd. Overall I suppose even Massive Attack was bored by them.
All in all another great Massive Attack show, that with a better crowd might have turned into an even better one.. but one cannot have it all. If you have not seen Massive Attack, go see them, you’ll have great music, a wonderful light show that does also get you to reflect on a life a bit, and leaves you with a hopeful message: YES, together we can make this world a better place: Equality, Trust, Acceptance.
