Huge Assault performed a strong headline set at London’s LIDO Pageant final evening (Friday June 6), the place they had been joined by actor and activist Khalid Abdalla and Yasiin Bey (previously Mos Def).
Topping the invoice on the opening evening of the inaugural Victoria Park competition after Air performed the traditional ‘Moon Safari’ in full and alongside units from the likes of Bey and The Alchemist, Tirzah, Richard Russell’s Every part Is Recorded and 47SOUL, the Bristol trip-hop icons had been beckoned on stage by a big swathe of followers waving Palestinian flags when Abdalla gave a prolonged and impassioned introductory speech calling for peace within the center East and an instantaneous ceasefire alongside the deployment of support to the individuals of Gaza.
“The Palestine Solidarity Motion is the civil rights motion of our time,” he concluded. “It’s the anti-apartheid motion of our time. It’s the anti-genocide motion of our time.”
Taking to social media after the present, Abdalla posted: “What a pleasure it was to talk at Huge Assault’s gig. The house they maintain as a band, the house they maintain as individuals, the house that’s held of their music, was merely an honour to attempt to reside as much as within the phrases I spoke earlier than their set.
“Thanks Huge Assault to your dedication to breaking silence, and the braveness you retain giving us all. Profound liberation and profound belonging all the time go collectively. A greater world is feasible and inside attain, and we lived that collectively at scale final evening.”
The band have been vocal supporters of Palestine for years, collaborating in a cultural boycott of Israel since 1999. Their set featured quite a few tributes, with Robert Del Naja paying tribute to harmless kids and journalists which have misplaced their lives in battle. The band additionally displaying footage of the devastation and of the imprisoned Palestinian political chief Marwan Barghouti declaring that “safety can be achieved by a technique: by peace”.
They then displayed Nelson Mandela’s 2002 quote “what is going on to Barghouti is precisely the identical as what occurred to me”, honouring the decision for peace and a two-state answer, earlier than a Palestinian flag adorned the display screen and calls of “Free Palestine” rang out.
Elsewhere within the set, the band had been joined by an array of visitor vocalists together with frequent collaborators Horace Andy, Deborah Miller, and Cocteau Twins‘ legend Elisabeth Fraser. Highlights included highly effective outings of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ and ‘Angel’, stirring nearer ‘Teardrop’, a young cowl of the Tim Buckley traditional ‘Tune to the Siren’ and Yasiin Bey becoming a member of the band in sporting a conflict correspondent press uniform for the cult traditional ‘I In opposition to I’ – taken from the Blade II soundtrack and carried out reside for the primary time since 2018.
Take a look at footage and the complete setlist beneath.
. @MassiveAttackUK pic.twitter.com/xWUdiTcXna
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) June 7, 2025
Huge Assault’s setlist was:
‘In My Thoughts’ (Gigi D’Agostino cowl)
‘Risingson’
‘Lady I Love You’ (with Horace Andy)
‘Black Milk’ (with Elizabeth Fraser)
‘Take It There’
‘Future Proof’
‘Tune to the Siren’ (Tim Buckley cowl, with Elizabeth Fraser)
‘Inertia Creeps’
‘ROckwrok’ (Ultravox cowl)
‘Angel’ (with Horace Andy)
‘Secure From Hurt’ (with Deborah Miller)
‘I In opposition to I’ (with Yasiin Bey)
‘Unfinished Sympathy’ (with Deborah Miller)
‘Ranges’ (Avicii cowl)
‘Teardrop’ (with Elizabeth Fraser)
This comes after Huge Assault performed in Manchester’s Co-Op Dwell earlier this week once they spoke out towards Barclays’ sponsorship of the venue – taking intention at their “profoundly unethical company id” because of its funding in arms firms that offer Israel “in its genocidal onslaught of Gaza and conflict crimes within the West Financial institution”, in addition to their “large-scale financing of recent fossil gasoline extraction”.
Because the battle escalates, Israel deny allegations of conflict crimes and genocide.
In addition to teasing incoming new music for 2025, Del Naja sat down with NME final 12 months to speak about placing stress on the music business in gentle on the heightening local weather disaster.
“For me it’s much less of the excellence between music, movie and TV,” he stated. “It’s extra of the journey of the creativeness. As Mark says, an industrial answer to a civic drawback isn’t going to be discovered throughout the sectors themselves as a result of they’re all utterly locked into their very own relationships and provide chains which might’t be damaged open. That’s why coverage takes so lengthy to implement from authorities to authorities.
“Typically you want one thing like this that comes from the skin and says, ‘Fuck it, maintain up, why can’t you guys work with you guys?’ There’s a scientist there, an power industrialist there – why don’t you get collectively and go to the town and ask ‘why can’t we do it this fashion’? That’s what this [Act 1.5] is. It’s about breaking free from the mindset, and having the ability to categorical creativeness. We have to flip the creativeness of this sector into motion.”
LIDO Pageant continues with exhibits from the likes of London Grammar, Charli XCX and Jamie XX, in addition to an Outbreak takeover headlined by Turnstile. Go to right here for tickets and extra info.
