16th September 1998 - Warehouse, Toronto, Canada

Angel
Risingson
Man Next Door
Day Dreaming
Teardrop
Karmacoma
Hymn Of The Big Wheel
Euro Zero Zero
Spying Glass
Mezzanine
One Love
Safe From Harm
Heat Miser
Inertia Creeps
Unfinished Sympathy
Group Four

Support from Lewis Parker

Mellow Attack. Wednesday, September 16 1998, The Warehouse, Toronto.

The sold-out Warehouse was packed spliff tight, it had a similar odour too. The place smelled like the set of Cheech and Chong film. It was hard to tell if the pungent wafts were coming from the crowd or backstage where the group were baking to a golden crisp. Having the Bristol-based band blunted is probably best, but it certainly didn't help the audience. Maybe it was the mellowing effects of 'erb that moved the masses into an unusual malaise/or maybe it was just the typical Toronto audience that waits to see what it's all about before they get in to it. If they get into it at all. The crowd only started to respond after 3D announced that metro was a "fucking cool city".

Massive Attack certainly can't be blamed for the audience's apathy. Anyone who owns Blue Lines, Protection, or Mezzanine, knows the band isn't exactly a wild bunch, so their live show should only exceed expectations. 3D, Mushroom, and Daddy G brought the unspoken side of the group, the live players, to shake off the sampled loops and push button performances that are the standard of so many electronic music shows. Reggae legend Horace Andy, a singer who wasn't Liz Fraser, live drums, bass, and guitar made songs like Unfinished Sympathy sound, well, finished. This band was built to perform music from the most recent release, and it was obvious that the audience appreciated that "just like the record" sound. But beats from the group's back catalogue also benefited form the live line-up. Songs like Safe from Harm have been practised, perfected and were delivered with an energy that can only be described as live. Their Protection tour was criticised as monotone.

Their Protection tour was criticised as monotone art-rock, but this time out the music was multi-levelled. There was a full spectrum of sound between Horace Andy's soul-filled wails and 3D's subtle spoken rhyme. They served up all types of flavours as they went from hip-hop rim-shot rhythm to dope, dub based beats. And the players changed with the music. The band rotated on and off stage as needed. They made some songs sparse and built up others. Epileptic lighting accented the harder, guitar tainted tunes while bright light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel style spots illuminated Andy while he rolled out Hymn of the Big Wheel. Still, the mood amongst audience members remained mellow throughout the show. The only real movement was at the back of the venue where people seemed to be wandering around scoping who was there. The Massives didn't seem to mind.

The finale/curtain call looked like an audition for the THC poster boy. Clouds of smoke built-up like a backdraft as the band self consciously swayed from side to side to sounds that started off soft and ascended into a wall of noise, a modern version of the rock 'n' roll wind-up you'd expect to hear at the end of a Who concert. When the smoke finally cleared there were nine smiling Massives on stage, waving to the room. The crowd applauded politely as if the ballet had just ended and the lights went on like reality. Many of us left satisfied and squinting.

Joseph Nanni