28th September 2006 9:30, Washington DC, USA

False Flags/Rising Son/Black Milk/Man Next Door/Butterfly Caught/Hymn of the Big Wheel/Mezzanine/Teardrop/Angel/Future Proof/Safe From Harm/Inertia Creeps/Unfinished Sympathy/Group Four

photographs by Christine Moritz
Christine was the warm up DJ - she tooks these photographs from the DJ booth - you can see the playlist and download her set from this evening here.
http://www.varietyisthespice.com

Pop Music
It was harsh weather Thursday night -- the kind of rain that defies gravity and outwits umbrellas in a ceaseless, directionless swarm. Perfect for a Massive Attack show.
The veteran troupe is touring behind "Collected," a career retrospective disc showcasing its often gloomy, always evocative brand of trip-hop -- a genre that blustered out of the U.K. in the '90s. Grafting torrential sheets of electronic buzz to jazzy, hip-hop beats made the Bristol group pioneers of the genre.
And while founding member Grant Marshall didn't appear at Massive Attack's 9:30 club performance Thursday (he was home with his wife for the birth of their baby), co-founder Robert Del Naja did a fine job playing curator with staple collaborators Horace Andy and Elizabeth Fraser. He's a dub-reggae legend, she's a veteran of the British group Cocteau Twins -- and their vocals added a sensuous touch to the Massive Attack palette. Del Naja's growl made for a strong counterpoint on "Risingson" and "Inertia Creeps" -- but the real star of the performance was the light show. Backlit by a towering grid of bulbs, the band sometimes seemed as if it was there merely to provide a score for the pulsating patterns and constellations.
Man still outshined machine during "Angel," with Andy gliding over the song's subsonic bass line. When the rumble subsided, the 55-year-old singer left the stage with a broad smile and two thumbs up. Our sentiments exactly.
by Chris Richards
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901338.html