Massive Attack concert, 11 March 2003

Massive Attack played a relaxed, laid-back concert - their first in four years apparently - at the Rod Laver arena here in Melbourne. It was also the most political concert I have attended for... well, ever, maybe! Big-screen graphics included rolling real-time statistics on everything from 'hectares of desert resulting from land-mismanagement' to 'teenage pregnancies' to statistics on billion-dollar spending on defence by world governments:

Iraq 1.3 billion
USA 399 billion

The crowd vibe was excellent and I had lots of room to dance up the back. The crowd went crazy when headline snippets about Bush/war/Iraq/terror flickered across the screen interspersed with graphics of planes and bombs. Massive Attack tapped their audience's concerns well and if war does break out, their tour is going to have an even creepier vibe to it elsewhere.