[Our fearless team, Nicci Boots and Ian McNeil spent three days listening to an obscene amount of fantastic music above the stunning Columbia River Gorge in George, Washington. Check out all our coverage here, over 30 sets from a who's who list of indie music.]
My mind was blown by the Massive Attack set. I truly had no idea what to expect, because I’d never heard much of their music at all. Prior to the show, the excited murmuring spun throughout the festival grounds, winding me up to the point that I was just as eager to see the band as everyone else.
Shows tend to have a color about them, sometimes from the use of lights, and often just from the setting of a tone by the band. Massive Attack employed both to make this show straight up red and black, and it reflected the almost eerie mood they cast with their beats. Martina Topley Bird, who played her own set earlier in the day, lent her vocals to the group wearing a gorgeous ballroom gown that was the perfect shade of red. She’s a mesmerizing lady, with a voice to kill, and each time she joined the group, it added a dreamlike feel to the set.
Horace Andy, a roots reggae pioneer, also joined Massive Attack to sing a few songs, and words can’t describe what his voice added to the show. Despite knowing little about him or the headlining band, Andy gave me goose bumps with his gripping performance.
Massive Attack are a very experimental, electronica group, and the political statements they made throughout the show were intense – true, yet outrageous, economical and historical statistics flashed on the screen behind the stage during a few of the songs, and it gave the performance even more depth. All in all, it was a dynamic set I’m thankful I got to experience.