Massive Attack
Beacon Theater
New York, NY*
October 22

When Massive Attack first got its start in the late 80s as a spinoff of the legendary Bristol, England party collective The Wild Bunch, they were three guys and a drum machine. Over 22 years later, the 2010 version of these architects of trip-hop have evolved into a groundbreaking nine-piece, guitar-centric electronic rock band whose latest album, Heligoland, is their best since Mezzanine and one of the most important releases of the year. Though they weren’t billed as part of the CMJ Marathon going on at the same time of their two-night stand at New York City’s Beacon Theater (their second time performing in Manhattan this year), they did manage to eclipse much of the veteran college radio trade’s annual event with a performance for the ages.

Massive Attack came on a little before 11 PM following a lengthy performance from Washington DC down-tempo duo Thievery Corporation. The openers played a great set of their addictive concoction of dub, trip-hop, lounge and world music with a full band but 90 minutes in this slot felt a bit too long.

Then Massive Attack’s founding members 3-D and Daddy G. along with their crew of longtime cohorts emerged from the darkness to deliver the kind of concert you wished that U2 would be delivering in 2010. Taking a cue from Radiohead, Massive Attack stood flanked behind a giant, eco-friendly LED screen, which displayed a staggering array of world statistics to ripped-from-the-pages headlines from various American news outlets about everything from Jackass 3D to Christine O’Donnell’s quip about robot people to famous quotes from the likes of Joseph Stalin, Thomas Jefferson and Franz Kafka to a flurry of additional words, numbers and digital bullets whizzed across the entire width of the stage. And before it, the band played a far-too-short set of their greatest tunes spanning from their 1991 full-length debut Blue Lines to Heligoland.

Martina Topley-Bird, who performs on several tracks off the new album, appeared on this night as a member of the band. Her aligning with Massive Attack is, for longtime fans of trip-hop, akin to Thom Yorke joining Battles as Tyondai Braxton’s replacement: it just makes perfect sense. Hearing Martina sing with the Massive live band behind her is a revelation, and she dazzled with a fiery rendition of “Babel” off Heligoland and delivered a fine pinch-hitting job on behalf of Liz Fraser by taking over for the Cocteau Twins chanteuse on her hit collaboration with the Bristol boys off 1998’s Mezzanine, “Teardop” , a song best known these days as the theme from the hit TV medical drama House but nevertheless an absolute slayer live.

Reggae legend Horace Andy, a long, long-time close compatriot of the group, also brought forth some soaring performances of “Girl I Love You,” “Splitting the Atom” and an epic, electrifying jam on “Angel,” showing a seamless sense of interplay with the band. Beyond this, one cannot speak of this concert without praising the vocal chops of Massive tour regular Deborah Miller, subbing for original vocalist Shara Nelson on intense renditions of Blue Lines’ “Safe From Harm” and “Unfinished Sympathy.”
It would have been nice to have heard them for a little longer, perhaps offering up “Karmacoma” or scoring an appearance from city resident Tunde Adebimpe for a run through the Heligoland song “Pray for Rain.” But regardless of how long or short the show was or the severity level of having to suffer through the conversation of two Long Island molls in the next row crowing away like they’re in the middle of Mulcahy’s during Happy Hour, Massive Attack gave such a memorable performance, one can hope they bring the same heat the next time around – maybe with a longer set though, yeah?