Massive Attack played a powerful headline set at London’s LIDO Festival last night (Friday June 6), where they were joined by actor and activist Khalid Abdalla and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def).
Topping the bill on the opening night of the inaugural Victoria Park festival after Air played the classic ‘Moon Safari’ in full and alongside sets from the likes of Bey and The Alchemist, Tirzah, Richard Russell’s Everything Is Recorded and 47SOUL, the Bristol trip-hop icons were beckoned on stage by a large swathe of fans waving Palestinian flags when Abdalla gave a lengthy and impassioned introductory speech calling for peace in the middle East and an immediate ceasefire alongside the deployment of aid to the people of Gaza.
“The Palestine Solidarity Movement is the civil rights movement of our time,” he concluded. “It is the anti-apartheid movement of our time. It is the anti-genocide movement of our time.”
Taking to social media after the show, Abdalla posted: “What a joy it was to speak at Massive Attack’s gig. The space they hold as a band, the space they hold as people, the space that is held in their music, was simply an honour to try and live up to in the words I spoke before their set.
“Thank you Massive Attack for your commitment to breaking silence, and the courage you keep giving us all. Profound liberation and profound belonging always go together. A better world is possible and within reach, and we lived that together at scale last night.”
The band have been vocal supporters of Palestine for years, participating in a cultural boycott of Israel since 1999. Their set featured numerous tributes, with Robert Del Naja paying tribute to innocent children and journalists that have lost their lives in conflict. The band also showing footage of the devastation and of the imprisoned Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti declaring that “security will be achieved by one way: by peace”.
They then displayed Nelson Mandela’s 2002 quote “what is happening to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me”, honouring the call for peace and a two-state solution, before a Palestinian flag adorned the screen and calls of “Free Palestine” rang out.
Elsewhere in the set, the band were joined by an array of guest vocalists including frequent collaborators Horace Andy, Deborah Miller, and Cocteau Twins‘ legend Elisabeth Fraser. Highlights included powerful outings of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ and ‘Angel’, stirring closer ‘Teardrop’, a tender cover of the Tim Buckley classic ‘Song to the Siren’ and Yasiin Bey joining the band in wearing a war correspondent press uniform for the cult classic ‘I Against I’ – taken from the Blade II soundtrack and performed live for the first time since 2018.
Check out footage and the full setlist below.
. @MassiveAttackUK pic.twitter.com/xWUdiTcXna
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) June 7, 2025
Massive Attack’s setlist was:
‘In My Mind’ (Gigi D’Agostino cover)
‘Risingson’
‘Girl I Love You’ (with Horace Andy)
‘Black Milk’ (with Elizabeth Fraser)
‘Take It There’
‘Future Proof’
‘Song to the Siren’ (Tim Buckley cover, with Elizabeth Fraser)
‘Inertia Creeps’
‘ROckwrok’ (Ultravox cover)
‘Angel’ (with Horace Andy)
‘Safe From Harm’ (with Deborah Miller)
‘I Against I’ (with Yasiin Bey)
‘Unfinished Sympathy’ (with Deborah Miller)
‘Levels’ (Avicii cover)
‘Teardrop’ (with Elizabeth Fraser)
This comes after Massive Attack played in Manchester’s Co-Op Live earlier this week when they spoke out against Barclays’ sponsorship of the venue – taking aim at their “profoundly unethical corporate identity” due to its investment in arms companies that supply Israel “in its genocidal onslaught of Gaza and war crimes in the West Bank”, as well as their “large-scale financing of new fossil fuel extraction”.
As the conflict escalates, Israel deny allegations of war crimes and genocide.
As well as teasing incoming new music for 2025, Del Naja sat down with NME last year to talk about putting pressure on the music industry in light on the heightening climate crisis.
“For me it’s less of the distinction between music, film and TV,” he said. “It’s more of the adventure of the imagination. As Mark says, an industrial solution to a civic problem isn’t going to be found within the sectors themselves because they’re all completely locked into their own relationships and supply chains which can’t be broken open. That’s why policy takes so long to implement from government to government.
“Sometimes you need something like this that comes from the outside and says, ‘Fuck it, hold up, why can’t you guys work with you guys?’ There’s a scientist there, an energy industrialist there – why don’t you get together and go to the city and ask ‘why can’t we do it this way’? That’s what this [Act 1.5] is. It’s about breaking free from the mindset, and being able to express imagination. We need to turn the imagination of this sector into action.”
LIDO Festival continues with shows from the likes of London Grammar, Charli XCX and Jamie XX, as well as an Outbreak takeover headlined by Turnstile. Visit here for tickets and more information.