Massive Attack @ Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 6th October 2009

As a rule, I dislike attending a gig by a band with a record ready to be released. I recall seeing Flaming Lips play Vicar Street some years back, just prior to the release of 'Yoshimi'. That night Wayne Coyne reminisced about his excitement at seeing Husker Du and his ultimate disappointment at the show's conclusion as the band chose to concentrate on the then unreleased 'New Day Rising'. I shared his trepidation last night entering the Olympia.
That Massive Attack choose to play a set laden with tracks from their forthcoming fifth studio album attests to either their sheer bloody mindedness or absolute confidence in the material. It is most definitely the latter. From the outset the band utterly blitzkrieg any lingering disquiet there may be in the crowd about the band unveiling their new material. Troubled times these may be for one and all, yet it seems to have breathed new life into Massive Attack, as if they've rewritten their own manifesto. Last night, with scarcely a misstep, the band were relentlessly astonishing.
Their entire set is an assault on the senses, indeed to these ears the new album shares, at the very least, a spirit with Primal Scream's 'XTRMNTR'. There's a hypnotic lightshow with screens which dispense a barrage of dystopian news feeds. On one new track, the LED display flickers with text which read like a distillation of the carnage in Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine'. It's powerful stuff but at no stage is the music lost amidst the message.
Though 3D and Daddy G remain the focal points of the band, Massive Attack is very much a collective. The ubiquitous Horace Andy shuffles on and off stage, crooning wonderfully on 'Angel' whilst Martina Topley-Bird adds some light to the seemingly insistent menace. There's also a star turn from singer Deborah Miller who utterly lays claim to 'Unfinished Sympathy'. 'Shara who?' indeed.
That the new material shines brighter than perennial favourites such as 'Risingson', 'Inertia Creeps' and 'Safe From Harm' (all of which are rendered immaculately tonight), says much for their forthcoming album. A night to celebrate. Faith utterly restored.