One animation from the current tour depicts a clunky, digital-flight-simulator view of a plane cruising ominously towards skyscrapers. There, I argued that, while that record was in many ways the group’s funkiest and most ground-breaking, Mezzanine, in all of its cinematic glory, was a definite work of art that was a harbinger of the darker human tragedy of 9/11 that was lurking around the corner. I wrote a book recently, for Bloomsbury’s ‘33 1/ 3’ series, about Massive Attack’s 1991 debut, Blue Lines. Massive Attack, Mezzanine, 1998, record cover. Unlike earlier records, which relied heavily on samples and synthesizers, Mezzanine marked a foray into subtle instrumentation and lyrics evoking a claustrophobic urban miasma. The album opener, ‘Angel’, was used to harrowing effect in the film Snatch (2000) as itinerant boxer Mickey O’Neil’s (Brad Pitt) mother’s caravan was burned to the ground. It remains a shadowy noir built on meandering sitars, buzzsaw guitars, throbbing sub-bass and ethereal lyrics meant to create tension that builds like a fever.
In the context of such sentimental fare, we are reminded, Mezzanine hit listeners like a ton of bricks. Simpler times, quainter times: these are all referenced in early frames of Massive Attack’s precision lighting and video programme – which Robert Del Naja made in close collaboration with British artist Adam Curtis – and in cheeky pre-show music that included anodyne gems such as Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ (1998) and Chumbawamba’s ‘Tubthumping’ (1997). 1998 was the high-water mark of a frothy neoliberal fantasy that seemed within reach. Also: the president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, still caroused in the palaces of Baghdad US president Bill Clinton weathered impeachment and a young artist named Britney Spears released a song called ‘Baby One More Time’. New Labour and the guitar-strumming UK prime minister, Tony Blair, were riding high the Eurozone grew increasingly interlinked and millions logged on to a new-fangled service called AOL. Mezzanine was released in April of 1998, itself a year emblematic of an ebullient ’90s-era zeitgeist. Mezzanine XXI, as the tightly choreographed show was titled, marked the 21st anniversary of the eponymous record, which Massive Attack played in its entirety – albeit re-sequenced. PRODUCTION TALKSīe “in the know!” Receive information on ticket sales and Armory Events by joining our Mailing List.Massive Attack, the Bristol-based collective whose dubbed-out hip-hop permeated the culture of the 1990s, launched a European and US tour this year, which culminated last week at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Please note that there will not be After Hours following the October 4 performance. Join us after performances when the bars will be open in our historic period rooms for libations with fellow attendees. (212) 933-5812 (10:00am–6:00pm M–F) AFTER PARTYĬelebrate closing night at the Armory After Party on Friday, October 4! Tickets include admission to the sold-out final performance and the official after party in our historic rooms with an open bar, local eats, and live DJ. Or call the Park Avenue Armory Ticket Hotline WARNING: Strobe lights are used during this performance There is no traditional seating available for this performance. Performances are sold out, but a limited number of tickets are still available for our Armory After Party fundraiser.
This groundbreaking production includes performances by Massive Attack and places the audience at the center of arresting stories of politics and power over the past 30 years.Ĭreated by Adam Curtis and Robert Del Najaĭesigned and staged by Robert Del Naja and United Visual Artists in collaboration with Es Devlin “Music and celluloid have been used together countless times but never quite like this.”Īn extraordinary collaboration connecting the dark, intense music and visual work of Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack with the thought-provoking vision of documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis, this site-specific event is a new kind of imaginative experience that integrates music, film, politics, and breathtaking moments of illusion in a hallucinatory ride through the dreams and hidden realities of our strange, anxious age.Ĭollaborating with Del Naja and Curtis are a visionary team of artists and designers that also includes the innovative art and design practice United Visual Artists (whose commissions for venues such as Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum intersect sculpture, architecture, live performance, and digital installation).
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