The first show of the 1999 tour, a continuation of the tour from last year to further promote Mezzanine, gets under way on this date at The Phaze in Colonge, Germany. It is noticeable for not having Mushroom present at it at all, making it the first ever Massive Attack live show to not have his presense. He would not return either for the entire 1999 tour nor ultimately on any other tour again.

Jun 28th

Reports surface from MTV Europe on this day speculating the belief that Mushroom has left Massive Attack to focus on a solo career. Further fuel is added to the fire, by Mushroom’s absense at the recent shows on the 1999 tour starting in Germany starting in the last week. No official statement from Massive Attack or their management rebuts this accusation.

Aug 07th

Mushroom plays a DJ set accompanyied by his own comrade from The Wild Bunch, DJ Milo, at a the Lizard Festival in Cornwall, UK on this date. This is not a Wild Bunch reunion as some sources were claiming at the time. It could be seen as further evidence that Mushroom is fed up with touring with Massive Attack and his wish toreturn to his hip-hop DJ roots like as it was with his days with The Wild Bunch.

Sep 27th

The Uranus Experiment, a relatively high budget porn movie, is released on this date on DVD and VHS (it did not recieve a mainstream theatrical release). It features on the in-film soundtrack a new Massive Attack song composed mainly by 3D called Infight Data. Liam Howlett of The Prodigy also contributed a seperate song called Titan to the same soundtrack project. Infight Data would not appear on any record until the release of 3D’s Nocturne Sessions CD in early 2002.

Sep 30th

Mushroom has now officially left Massive Attack according to represenatatives of the band on this unfortunate day in Massive Attack’s history. His departure (a decision he actually took in secret at the start of the year) ended months of speculation as to his position within the acclaimed Bristol trio. Rumours of a musical rift began circulating last year after Mushroom revealed that he was unhappy with the musical direction the band were taking leading up to the release of Mezzanine. Mushroom, who had been with the group since their early days as The Wild Bunch, was earlier reported to have been disappointed that Massive Attack appeared to be moving away from their hip-hop roots with each album, eventually deciding that he could no longer contribute to them. Mushroom’s last live appearance was at the bands series of shows at Bristol University in the Anson Rooms last Christmas. Since then he has been working with former Wild Bunch collaborator Miles Johnson. Quote – 3D revealed to the press about Mushroom’s departure – The split was not acrimonious and that the three of us will remain friends… as long as we don’t talk about music. As soon as we do, we argue”. 3D also confirmed that he and Daddy G will be continuing as Massive Attack.

Oct 10th

Horace Andy’s new album, his second as well on Massive Attack’s Melankolic label, Living In The Flood, is released on this date. It contains a song that had been written (not produced however) by 3D by the name of Doldrums.

Nov 28th

The entire tour to promote Mezzanine starting in April 1998 to the end of 1999 finally comes to an end at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This show was also televised and a video bootleg exists of it in the Bootography section. You can download it by clicking here. There would also be a long gap between this last show of the 1999 tour and the next tour. the next Massive Attack live date would not be until the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on 11th March 2003.

The Ordinary Decent Criminal soundtrack album is released. The first song on it is a collaboration between Damon Albarn and 3D called One Day At A Time. This would not be Damon Albarn’s last collaboration with Massive Attack as he would later contribute to Small Time Shot Away on 100th Window a few years later.

Mar 20th

Primal Scream released a new single called Kill All Hippies, that contains a remix by Massive Attack. The remix is of one of the album tracks called Exterminator off Primal Scream’s new album. Undoubtfully this is Massive Attack repaying the favour to Primal Scream, after the psychedelic rock band had previously remixed Teardrop for Massive Attack back in 1998.

Apr 20th

Massive Attack agreeded to license Angel to an Emporio Armani fragrance commercial for HE/SHE only after agreeing that the band’s fee be donated to the Red Cross. The band who normally do not allow their music to be used in this way, made a special arrangement because the amount of money being offered was significant and would be of real immediate value to two charities. The British Red Cross were the main recipient of the donation but a portion was also given to the Bristol-based Beira Fund. Bristol is twinned with a town Beira in Mozambique and the money went immediately to rebuild the various schools in Beira devastated by the recent floods. Quote – 3D on the use of Angel for Emporio Armani – “The music that’s used in ads is becoming increasingly homogenised and the agencies are resorting to cheap rip-offs of other peoples’ styles. This is not something we want to be part of, but if we can re-direct money to people that need it then it’s worth it. Massive Attack have openly invited Armani to match their contribution. “If Armani does the right thing, the track will raise over $500,000 which will justify allowing ‘Angel’ to be used”.

May 17th

Massive Attack were presented by team of young footballers with a new set of shirts and tracksuits. They made the generous offer after Backwell Under-12’s clinched promotion to the Woodspring and District League’s top division. Grant used to play for the team as a youngster and showed off his silky skills by popping in to goals for the dads against the lads in an end of season friendly. Quote – “Club spokesman Ash Barrington said: “Grant was quite an accomplished footballer when he played for the side and this is a marvelous gesture for the band to buy the kit. The team will look really smart when they run out to play in the top division for the first time next season”.

Jun 20th

The official Massive Attack website was updated in a major way on this date. News about Massive attack recording sessions went Lupine Howl is divulged as well as a streaming audio clip of the rare Inflight Data song, can also be heard as the main musical theme to the new site. While this website has long since been removed, it is still assessable using the Internet Archive at this address.

Aug 04th

Massive Attack on this day, pledged £30,000 to help rebuild schools in a flood-hit town in Mozambique. They donated money made from licensing their track Angel to the fashion designer Giorgio Armani. The money was donated to the Bristol Twinnings Association. It was to help schools in Bristol’s twin town of Beira in Mozambique which was ravaged by floods earlier this year. Quote – Daddy G on this event – “I was very moved to see the flood images of Mozambique on TV earlier this year and I DJ’d at a benefit gig at The Maze club in February to raise money for Oxfam.” Quote – 3D on the event – “We wanted to help the Beria Fund and this method is the quickest and most direct way for Massive Attack to do so. We could have done things like release a special record or do a one-off gig but all those things take time and as we are so busy this is the easiest way for us to give money. “We already do loads for charity and were very glad to help. At some point I would like to go out to Beira and see the developments that our cash has generated. Maybe a visit could be on the cards next year. “We are also looking at staging a massive DJ and music event in Bristol in the autumn as a benefit for Beira and would be bringing in a lot of well known acts from outside of Bristol to perform. “It’s up to people like us who are high profile to make a point of doing things like this. We have the contacts and we know so many people that we can really make things work” .

Sep 16th

News reached the tadloids , that The Conservative Party were facing legal action from Massive Attack, after their music was used to accompany William Hague’s entrance at a conference. Hague strolled up to a podium in Birmingham the week before to launch the Tories ‘Believing In Britain’ document with Man Next Door blaring from the speakers. However, just how misconceived the party were in their choice of music became clear, when the band released a statement berating the Tories. Quote – A statement from Massive Attack stated, “Massive Attack have not and will never support the Conservative party or their policies. If our music has been used by the Tories it is without our knowledge or our permission. The misappropriation of our music by any organisation or broadcaster will be dealt with in the strongest way we can.” A spokesman for the band also added, “The Tories couldn’t have picked a worse band politically. Massive’s political leanings are far more to the left than Hague, although I’m not sure they would give permission to any political party use their music.” A Conservative spokesman attempted to play down the incident, suggesting “it’s a massive attack over nothing. The music was for background and was not intended for broadcast”.

Nov 07th

3D’s first ever art book called Fittng In is released on this date. It features images and paintingsfrom 3D, from the past 10 years as well as piece’s never before seen, and is a very limited edition print of only 150 copies. Only 50 of these books were made available to the public at the very hefty price tag of £380 + VAT + Shipping! They were sold exclusively through the Eyestorm wesbite. As of the present, the site is apparently sold out of them. The other 100 copies were given away free to close friends of 3D. For more information about this book, click here.

Nov 08th

A new song called Nature Of Threat is released on the official Massive Attack website as a download only single. It is the only out-take from the soon to be abandoned Lupine Howl recording sessions in Ridge Farm to ever be released. It is also being used to promote the upcoming Massive Attack live webchat, which would happen the week after. This webcast interview is available in the Videography section to watch in its hour long entirety here.

Nov 17th

A brand new remix of the song Protection, is released on this date, more than six years after the original song was first released. It was an exclusive remix done by Flood, the famous electronic producer behind bands such as Depeche Mode and is only made available on a compilation CD called Manchester United: Beyond The Promised Land.

Dec 27th

A documentary on the artist/sculptor Marc Quinn is broadcast on British TV. It contains a previously unheard and untitled remix of the Massive Attack song Nature Of Threat, which had just been released in the previous month. This documentary was never rebroadcast and hence, this remix of Nature Of Threat remains unheard of by the vast majority of Massive Attack fans to this day.

A 45 second preview audio clip of Teardrop, the soon to be released single to promote the upcoming third Massive Attack album, Mezzanine is uploaded onto the official Massive Attack website. It is the first step in a revolutionary (for 1998) new way of using the internet to promote new music. Massive Attack were the first major label band in history to unveil their new album before it was released in shops using their website for people to listen to streaming audio samples of the album. Three days after this particular date in time, the full-length audio version of Teardrop would appear onsite, along with a 30-second excerpt from the track’s video, plus 45-second excerpts from each of the eleven tracks on the album. On March 30, the full-length album would be on the site, accompanied by the full version of the Teardrop video. The countdown ends on 20th April with the album’s release and the website will be “open to the public”. The official website used Real Video and Real Audio streaming to achieve this gradually unveiling over the period of nearly a month.

Mar 25th

The promo video for Teardrop, directed by Walter Stern, who had previously directed the promo video for Risingson, is filmed at Towerbride Studios in London, UK. Filming also continues on into the next day on the video.

To watch this video and any other videos related to Teardrop click on the above image to visit the Videography section

Mar 03th

Official playback previews of Mezzanine begin in selected UK music stores on this date The in store previews would last until the offical release date of the album on 20th April.

Apr 15th

The 1998/1999 tour to promote the immenient release of Mezzanine, gets under way at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland

Apr 20th

Mezzanine is released in the UK and throughout most other European terrioties.

Apr 21th

Teardrop is released as a single in North America.

Apr 27th

Teardrop is released as a single in the UK

May 12th

Mezzanine is released in North America.

Jun 08th

The promo video for Angel, directed omce again by Walter Stern, who had previously directed the promo videos for Risingson and Teardrop, is filmed at the Metropolitan Car Park & Old Goods Yard at Paddington in London, UK. Filming also continues on into the next two days on the video. Unfortunately, the promo video for Angel was never used to promote the single after Massive Attack decided it did’nt capture the mood of the song. The promo video for Angel would remain unseen until the release of the Eleven Promos DVD in 2001.

To watch this video and any other videos related to Angel click on the above image to visit the Videography section

Jul 09th

News that Massive Attack would be pulling out of supporting The Verve on their North American tour was announced on this date. Thankfully, Massive Attack also would reassure their American fans that a North American tour would still take place in August and September with Massive Attack getting the main billing at those future shows.

Jul 12th

Massive Attack attended the World Cup final held in Paris on this date. 3D and Daddy G are great football fanatics and were at the final personally, with Mushroom apparently stuck back a their hotel, having no real interest in football himself. Massive Attack actually had free tickets to each one of the World Cup 1998 games, as a result of them licensing their song Angel to Adidas for use in advertising. Despite this, they were unable to attend most of the games as they were busy touring across the Far East and Austrailia at the time, but did of course make it back in time to Europe to attend the World Cup final. Quote – 3D on the World Cup 1998 final “We stayed in a hotel on the Champs Elysses. The celebrations that night were just unreal. It was such an incredible experience just to be there.” This was not the first time Massive Attack have attended a World Cup final. At the last one in 1994 in Los Angeles, USA, they were personally flown in on Madonna’s private helicopter to attend, after befriending her sometime before.

Jul 13th

Angel is released as a single in the UK. It recieves no other releases in foriegn markets and the promo video which was filmed for it was never used to promote it after Massive Attack decided it did’nt capture the mood of the song. The promo video for Angel would remain unseen until the release of the Eleven Promos DVD in 2001.

Aug 24th

Working class Welsh rockers, Manic Street Preachers released a new single in the UK on this date called “If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next”, which contains a remix of the title song by Massive Attack. The remix was done solely by 3D and Neil Davidge without any input from Daddy G and Mushroom. The “If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next” single would end up going to number one in the UK singles chart. Manic Street Preachers would repay Massive Attack the favour, two months later with the release of Inertia Creeps, the Manic Street Preachers first ever remix for another band.

Aug 26th

The promo video for Inertia Creeps, directed by The Wiz. It is filmed at Bow Studios in London, UK. Filming also continues on into the next day on the video. This would be the first and only time The Wiz would direct a promo video for Massive Attack.

Oct 12th

3D would help his friend James Lavelle out by helping to remix the new U.N.K.L.E single, Rabbit In Your Headlights featuring the vocals of Radiohead frontman, Thom Yorke. The remix was done solely by 3D and Neil Davidge without any input from Daddy G and Mushroom. The Reverse Light mix as the remix is called, was a favour to James Lavelle, for when he along DJ Shadow had remixed Karmacoma back in 1995.

Oct 19th

Inertia Creeps is released as a single in the UK. It recieves no other releases in foriegn markets.

Nov 03th

As a result of increased speculation in the media and among fans of the band, Massive Attack released an official statement today reiterating and stressing the fact that they were not splitting up. Quote – The statement reads as follows “Further to recent remarks in the media. Masssive Attack would like to state that they are not splitting up. The comments made to Radio 1 were intended to be flipppant and not be taken literally. Massive’s remarks were made in response to the journalist’s cliched and tired questioning about the so-called “depressing” nature of Mezzanine.”

Nov 12th

Massive Attack won the award for Best Video at the MTV Europe Awards held in Milan, Italy on this date. However, their award was overshadowed considerably by the controvesy they caused when they went up on stage to accept the award on live television, by snubbing the Duchess Of York, Sarah Freguson. She apparently made an incompetent speech where she fluffed her lines and acted as though she had never heard of them when she presented the award. 3D reacted “Someone’s having a fucking laugh,” after Fergie got the band’s name wrong. The band then refused to shake her hand, taking the piss out of the embarrassed former-Royal turned chat show hostess. “Fuck you very much”, one of the band said as they left the stage. Quote – Later 3D argued, “What the fuck has she got to do with music for a start? If someone had told us that was happening we would not be here.” However, 3D’s parents have since spoken out against his behaviour with his shocked mother Ann arguing, “He was very well mannered and never got into trouble. He has never been to prison or anything ghastly like that”. According to his father Franco, who at the time owned the Behive Pub in Wellington Hill West, Bristol, “It could be a publicity stunt to sell more tickets for their English tour.” According to her spokesman, Sarah Ferguson was taken aback by the incident.

Nov 30th

Massive Attack won the prestigious Q Magazine Best Album on this date. The awards cermony was broadcast live on BBC Radio 1 and the award was presented to the band by James Lavelle, the main man behind U.N.K.L.E and a personnel friend of 3D’s. Quote – Mushroom said of the award – “Actually, we’re chuffed as buttons”.

Dec 07th

The Singles 90/98 boxset compiling all of Massive Attack’s eleven singles up to this date is released in the UK and throughout most other European terrioties. It would not released in North America until sometime in the following year.

Dec 19th

The final date of Massive Attack’s 1998 tour takes place. It is held on home ground in the Anson Rooms at Bristol University in Bristol, UK. Massive Attack’s 1998 tour was by far their most extensive and exhaustive tour, seeing them play in such places as North and South America, Europe, South Africa and the Far East and Australia. Playing at home in Bristol for their final date was a triumphant end to a very busy year. This show is also important for another reason. It would be the last live show that Mushroom would ever be apart of. When the band, continued their tour the following year at The Phaze in Cologne, Germany on 25th June 1999, Mushroom would not be present and neither would he ever be again, as he had left the band in the early part of 1999.

Dec 23th

It became public on this date, on the intention of Manfred Mann to sue Massive Attack. The writ served, claimed that Massive Attack had illegally sampled without permission, 120 out of 128 bars on their song Black Milk from Mann’s song Tribute. He was demanding that an injunction be put on sales of Mezzanine and that Massive Attack be fined £100,000 for the use of the sample. Quote – Massive Attack’s manager Marc Picken on the lawsuit – We are hoping to resolve the matter amicably in the future.”

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band who sued Massive Attack for the illegal sampling of their song Tribute on Black Milk

A new single called 3 Libras is released on this date from the rock supergroup A Perfect Circle, which would contains a brand new Massive Attack remix of the title song. This remix goes by the peculiar name of the “All Main Courses” Remix and spins the original song out to more than double its three and a half minutes, drowning it in a deep, dark collage of looped vocals, haunting keys and otherworldly echoes. According to an interview with 3D which was made public around the same time, in the process of remixing 3 Libras, they also concurrently came up with a entirely new song of their own also called “All Main Courses”, which was what they named the remix after. This “All Main Courses” song to this day has never been released or actually heard, even though it probably uses some elements present in the “All Main Courses” remix of 3 Libras.

Feb 21th

Massive Attack bought a nightclub in their hometown of Bristol, UK, known as The Silent Peach, which was formerly a basement club situated upon Unity Street in the city centre. The club’s former owner Jez Avern-Kramer said he decided to sell up so that he could spend more time concentrating on making a film. At the time of the purchase, it was unknown exactly what the intention of Massive Attack’s was in buying this club. It would take until the end of the year, after alot of renovation and pumping much money into the redesigned interior of the club, that it would reopened under the name of Nocturne.

May 08th

The Moulin Rouge soundtrack is released today and it contained a brand new Massive Attack collaboration with famed singer David Bowie called Nature Boy.

Jul 07th

Today saw the release of a new single from American rockers, The Dandy Warhols called Godless. The single contained three seperate remixes of the title song mixed by Massive Attack. This remix work occured after news from late last year, stated that Massive Attack had collaborated on a new song with The Dandy Warhols called preliminary House Of Yes Quote – Corey Taylor (lead singer of The Dandy Warhols) described House Of Yes as – “We did one song so far that’s kind of inspired by this crazy dream I had about the film House Of Yes, which is also the song’s working title and the only think I can say about it is that it’s everything you would think the Dandy Warhols with Massive Attack would sound like. It’s low and gooey, with a fat, tight, slow beat, a tight groove, lots of space, acoustic guitar, vocal harmonies. It’s like, Wow!” So far this song has never been heard of, or released.

Sep 02th

Massive Attack’s new nightclub/swanky bar is opened to the public on this date. It is a members only bar located on Unity Street in Bristol, UK. A description of the inside: “you enter via narrow tunnels painted dark red. This opens up onto an incense-scented lounge, where beautiful babes and boys recline on rich leather banquettes. Sushi platters are served by the dashing staff and music is an eclectic mix of ambient sounds that have probably been pre-approved by the owners. Art pieces decorate much of the interior and you’re sure to bump into a celebrity YBA or musician by the bar”.

The intention of Massive Attack with Nocturne was to create an intimate bar environment that gets away from the usual pretences of a members club. The theme of the concept is to keep quality high and attitude low. The design reflects this with the use of high end materials; leather cladding on the walls, smouldering chic of intimate arches, Chinese dark wood tables and smoking Buddhas. Quote – Jasper Eyears (the manager of Nocturne) on Massive Attack’s partcipation in the club – “Massive Attack have been paramount in the design element and music content whilst Alchemist[caterer] have come in from a caterering background and taken on the operational side of the business, to run the product.”

As of 2006, Nocturne name was changed to The Tube and rebranded as such.

Nov 10th

The only Massive Attack release of the year occured on this day with the release in UK shops of the Eleven Promos DVD, which comprises all of Massive Attack’s promo videos for their singles. It is missing the videos however for Just A Matter Of Time and I Want You. It does thankfully contain the previously unseen video for Angel that due to Massive Attack’s initial dislike of how the video turned out, was never actually used for the song’s promotion. The Eleven Promos DVD would not be released in North america until later on the following year.

Nov 11th

The official Massive Attack is majorly updated on this date and is used to promote the just released Eleven Promos DVD. It allows you to download a multitude of 3D’s artwork as PDF images to print out and use as your own individual artwork for the otherwise very minimal packaging of the Eleven Promos DVD. This would be last major update to the official website until the release of January 2003, just before the release of 100th Window.

A new single released today from Bristol-based band Lupine Howl called Vaporizer contains a new Massive Attack remix known as the 3D mix. Lupine Howl were the band that Massive Attack had jammed with at the Ridge Farm recording sessions back in 2000 that were ultimately abandoned.

Mar 11th

I Against I the electro hip-hop collaboration between Massive Attack and Mos Def, recorded last year is released first as a free digital download from the official Massive Attack website. This is the second digital download single released from Massive Attack after Nature Of Threat in 2000.

Mar 12th

3D’s compilation mix CD simpy entitled “Nocturne Sessions Disk 3: Mixed By Robert(3D) Del Naja” is given a very limited release on this date. It was given only to the first 200 patrons of Massive Attack’s recently opened nightclub, Nocturne and was thusly named after said nightclub. The mix CD would contain three new Massive Attack songs, two of which were never released on any other record. These songs are I Against I (which would go on commericial release as part of the Blade 2 soundtrack in the next few weeks time), Inflight Data (previously only heard on the porn film’s The Uranus Experiment soundtrack) and an new untitled remix of Risingson probably remixed by the Mad Professor.

Mar 19th

The Blade 2 soundtrack is released on this date. It contains the new Massive Attack collaboration with Mos Def called I Against I, for which the song was concieved specfically for.

May 31th

A former founding member of The Wild Bunch was jailed in connection with an attack on a friend according to a news report from the BBC released on this date. The BBC reported that Claude Williams A.K.A Willy Wee, who was 41 at the time, used a fork and his fists to beat up a former friend, John Hamer, over a debt worth the Canadian equivalent of about $44. Williams was sentenced to 18 months in jail. Williams was a founding member of The Wild Bunch along with other soon to be Massive aAtack members. After appearing onBlue Lines Williams left soon after. He initially worked with the musician Tricky, but has since fallen on hard times. Williams broke into Hamer’s room at the Madeville House bail hostel, where they were both residents and beat him as he slept, leaving bruises and cuts on his face, the report said. Williams wore the fork around his wrist as a bracelet. The BBC said Williams was likely to serve half of his 18 month sentence before being released.

Aug 04th

The Edinburgh Film Festival which took place over the weekend starting on this date, is held in Edinburgh, UK. It featured the world premiere of the new U.N.K.L.E promo video for Eye For An Eye, a song that would be not released as a single for another year later. The video is more like a short story of the collapse of utiopia and the horrors of war, than a typical promo video. The video is of relevance to Massive Attack fans as 3D was the artistic director behind it, with many of his designs and figures such as the Eurochild and the Insect President.

Sep 11th

The anti-war poster designed and financed by Damon Albarn of Blur and 3D appeared in this week’s NME, amid accusations from 3D that bands are unwilling to speak out on the issue. The double page advert, featured in the centre spread of that week’s paper, was aimed at raising awareness of opposition to any British involvement in a US led attack on Iraq. Albarn and 3D worked with CND and the Stop The War coalition, who are organising a demonstration in London (September 28). The advert quotes former Labour MP Tony Benn and former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1967-69), two people 3D said “represent a balanced view of Britain and America”. However, he told NME.COM that he was frustrated with what he saw as a lack of support from his musical peers. Quote – 3D said of the Stop The War demonstration“A lot of people have stated interest but not followed it up, in terms of people getting back to the CND or Stop The War it’s been very apathetic, it’s very disappointing really. Damon and myself don’t feel that’s a problem [on other bands not getting involved]. The reason we want to use the NME is because it’s the only weekly music paper and we’re musicians. It’s the obvious place to for us to present our case and create a forum for debate. We’re not that concerned that we’ve had to stick our necks out for it because we feel totally at ease with our views and opinions. But there has been a surprising amount of apathy from other bands. I’ve got to say it”

Oct 28th

A new compilation mixed by former Wild Bunch member DJ Milo is released on this date in the UK that attempts to offer a good picture of the music and culture behind The Wild Bunch, who were one of the most sound system / DJ collectives of their time and from which there would have been no Massive Attack if there had been no Wild Bunch. The compilation album from DJ Milo is formally The Wild Bunch: Story of a Soundsystem

Nov 18th

A new DVD chronicling ten years of live performances on the Later With Jools Holland BBC TV show is released in the UK today. Among the 30 or so performances, there is one of Massive Attack recorded back in 1995 playing Karmacoma. They were accompanied by Talvin Singh, a renowned tabla player Indian and dance music fusionist. This live performance on DVD is still the only official live performance of Massive Attack on retail DVD/video, the rest all being taken from bootleg sources.

Dec 08th

100thwindow.com, a promotional website for the new Massive Attack album 100th Window. This site was created to offer an up to date list of all 2003 tour dates but more importantly it was the method by which fans could communicate with the 2003 tour by sending messages via this site to show up on the large LED screen, for whichever particular show. This was done through a collaboration between web designers Hi-Res and the company behind the tour visuals UVA.

Dec 09th

An exclusive listening party preview for 100th Window is held at Channel Four Soho studios in London, UK. It is attended by music industry professionals only and is the first time the album has been heard by the public.

An new official forum goes online today as part of the revamping the official website in time to promote 100th Window. It replaces The Raft forum as the place for Massive Attack discussion on the internet with far better search facilities and a better design and aesthetic look.

Dec 14th

The promo video for Special Cases, directed by the French film production duo H5, is filmed on this date at the BT Building in Greenwich Park, Watford in the UK. It would not be seen until early in the following year.

3D took his anti-war campaign to the HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT on this day – which just so happened to be his birthday! 3D and his campaigning partner Damon Albarn turned up outside Big Ben as part of a national lobby of Parliament aimed at opposing a future war in Iraq. Protesters met up with their local MPs to criticise the recent deployment of troops to the Gulf region. Quote – 3D told NME.COM – “What a way to spend your birthday!. I”ve already faxed my MP in protest. I used the online site www.faxyourmp.com, it’s so simple it’s ridiculous.”

Jan 29th

After a nearly five year wait since Mezzanine, the new Massive Attack album, 100th Window is finally released first in Japan only. The Japanese preceeded the rest of the world’s release by nearly two weeks. It does however contain copy protection software embedded on the disc itself.

Feb 04th

The official website produced by a London web consultancy firm called Hi-Res, goes online on this date and serves as a promotional tool mainly for the soon to be released 100th Window album. The website is designed completely in Flash, so you must have Macromedia Flash installed on your computer before attempting to view the site. During the 2003 tour, the site was updated frequently with photos from each of the individual shows. These photos have since early 2007 disappeared from the site inexplicably. Since the 2003 tour, the site has been very infrequently updated. The last update to the site was in Summer 2004 and has been pretty much dead since. Do not expect any major updates to the official site until the release of the next Massive Attack album.

Feb 10th

100th Window is released in the UK and most other European territories. Depending on your location or region, your 100th Window copy may or may not have copy protection software on it.

Feb 11th

100th Window is released in North America.

Almost one million people gathered to march through London on this day, police have said, in an unprecedented protest against war in Iraq – with Damon Albarn and 3D amongst the leaders. While march organisers have put the figure for those taking part closer to two million, the official number still marks the event as the biggest of its kind in the history of Britain. Protestors gathered in London by the Thames from early that morning. One commentator described seeing a “sea of people” snaking along Embankment on the way to a meeting point in Hyde Park. The Hyde Park rally was addressed by, amongst others, US civil right’s leader Rev Jesse Jackson, long-standing Parliamentarian Tony Benn, playwright Harold Pinter and MP Mo Mowlam. Radio 1 figurehead John Peel and veteran protest singer Billy Bragg were also amongst the crowd.

Feb 24th

The first single to be taken from 100th Window, Special Cases is released in the UK and some select European territories. It is also the first Massive Attack single to be released in over four years following on from Inertia Creeps.

Feb 27th

3D was arrested and questioned by police over alleged Internet child porn offences on this unfortunate date in Massive Attack’s history. He was bailed by officers working on Operation Ore, the national crackdown on child porn. Detectives seized computer equipment and a quantity of suspected drugs during a raid at 3D’s home in Bristol on the 25th February. The news of this would not break until two days later however. A spokesman for Avon & Somerset Police said: “A man in his 30s from Bristol was arrested on February 25 in connection with allegations of the possession of class A drugs and Internet porn offences. “He was bailed pending further inquiries.” The arrest was made under Avon And Somerset’s Operation Ricochet, part of Operation Ore, the national crackdown on child porn. Quote – 3D said of the incident – “I have never looked at child pornography in my life. “I am co-operating fully with the police and I would ask everyone not to judge me prematurely. I have total faith in the justice system.”

Mar 04th

Directly owing to 3D’s recent arrest and questioning on child porn offenses, the first two shows of the 2003 tour have been forced to be rescheduled. The two affected shows were both in New Zealand, in Wellington (7th March) and Auckland (8th March). The shows were rescheduled for the 29th and 30th March respectively. An apology from 3D to New Zealand fans was also issued on this date.

Mar 10th

The Special Cases single is released in Canada.

Mar 11th

Even though the 2003 tour to promote 100th Window was inteneded to get underway in New Zealand, because of the recent rescheduling of dates, the 2003 tour now starts at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on this date. This is Massive Attack’s first live show as well in over three years, their last one being at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 28th November 1999.

Mar 19th

The two New Zealand dates which had previously been rescheduled, Wellington (29th March) and Auckland (30th Match) are been cancelled. These two dates had already been delayed once, and the reason for the cancellation is that “they have been unable to secure all the production elements they need and are not prepared to deliver sub-standard performances”. Full ticket refunds were given out to the disappointed New Zealand fans.

Mar 20th

Massive Attack held a minute’s silence at their show this night in recognition of Iraqi citizens caught up in the current war in their country. At the gig at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre , the band lined-up at the front of the stage before their performance, held hands, and conducted a minute of silence. Quote – 3D said to the crowd – “As you all know, the war in Iraq started today. We’d like you all to join us in silence to think about the innocent civilians who are suffering as a result of this tragedy.” 3D had been one of the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq, within the music industry. Since last year he had been involved in various demonstrations in London, and along with Damon Albarn of Blur , designed and financed a number of anti-war ads that appeared in the NME.

Mar 22th

Avon & Somerset Police in Bristol, UK on this day announced all enquiries relating to the arrest of 3D for Internet pornography have been dropped. All property seized in this matter were returned to 3D.

Apr 02th

The promo video for Butterfly Caught, directed by Daniel Levi, is filmed at Black Island Studios in London, UK. Filming also continues on into the next day on the video.

Apr 08th

Following on from the successful Australian and Japanese first leg of the 2003 tour, Massive Attack played their first European date at the Academy in Glasgow, UK. After palying several UK dates, Massive Attack would then make their way onto mainland Europe by the end of the month.

Jun 16th

The second and also last single to be taken from 100th Window, Butterfly Caught is released in the UK.

Jul 02th

The Butterfly Caught single is released as a limited edition single in Japan, in order to promote Massive Attack’s live appearance at the Fuji Rock Festival later on that month. Japan is the only country outside the UK to recieve the Butterfly Caught single.

Aug 25th

Massive Attack stage a triumphant return to their hometown by staging a homecoming show right in the centre of their city of Bristo, UK on this date. About 20,000 music fans packed into Queens Square in the city centre had been transformed into the open air concert venue over the course of the last few days. It was the first time the group, currently on a world tour had played in Bristol for nearly five years. Band members said it was great to play in their home city but added it was time the city had a proper concert venue. Quote – 3D spoke about this by stating – “Bristol still hasn’t got an arena which is a shame because the city’s been missed out on the map by a lot of bands on their tours, so this is a way of compensating for that a bit. We’ve just bought a building outside Bristol and are installing all our stuff in it so we’re waiting to go into the studio to work for the rest of the year. “We’ve got a massive amount of stuff written on the back of bits of paper and hotel menus.” The group were supported by the musical acts The Streets, Goldfrapp, The Bees, Martina Topley-Bird and Lupine Howl in a concert which went on until nearly midnight.

Aug 28th

The entire 2003 tour ends on this date at the Pukkelpop Festival in Hasselt, Netherlands, two shows after playing their homecoming gig in Bristol, UK earlier in that same week. The next Massive Attack would not begin until the Creamfields Festival in Mexico City, Mexico on the 22nd May 2004.

Sep 22th

The new album from U.N.K.L.E is released today. Among other things, it contains a new collaboration with Massive Attach with 3D on vocals called Invasion. Quote – James Lavelle of U.N.K.L.E said of this collaboration with 3D – “That was one of my boyhood dreams. He was meant to do the last record. I think he realised if he didn’t do it this time, we’ll never do it. He was really nervous and said look if you don’t use it I would’nt be offended”.

Sep 23th

A career retrospective of Irish singer and recent Massive Attack collaborator, Sinéad O’Connor was released on this day spanning two discs, one devoted to her greatest hits the other one rare b-sides and collaborations. On the second disc there are two new Massive Attack songs which were both recorded with Sinéad O’Connor during the 100th Window recording sessions. These songs respectively are It’s All Good and Love Is Ours.

Dec 09th

3D condemned the decision to release a Pop Idol (UK version of American Idol) version of John Lennon’s single Happy Xmas (war Is Over), this Christmas. Massive Attack have joined up with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in opposing the single and are calling for all profits from the sale of the CD to go to humanitarian aid organisations working in Afghanistan and Iraq. Quote – 3D said – It’s utterly repugnant as a choice of song by anyone right now. This is a new low – it is utterly repugnant as a choice of song by anyone right now. US planes bombed and killed children in Afghanistan this week, US troop deaths since May have topped 200 and there have been thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties since Bush declared the war to be over”.

James Lavelle from UNKLE releases a new mix CD recorded from a DJ set he played in Bucharest, Romania last year. The title of the CD is “Global Underground 26: James Lavelle in Romania” and it contains an new remix (called the Medway VS Eva Coast To Coast mix) of the UNKLE track Invasion which was a collaboration with 3D which had originally came out on Unkle’s album “Never Never Land” last year.

Mar 16th

Details are announced on the official Massive Attack website of a new tour for 2004 following on from the success of the 100th Window tour last year. The initial tour dates were T in the Park – Scotland, Oxegen – Ireland and the V Festival – England. More dates were announced a few weeks after this date.

Mar 29th

Massive Attack announced a one-off date at Brixton Academy for 8th July. This was the only date Massive Attack would play on the 2004 tour that was not a festival show.

Apr 26th

information about a new artistic project that 3D and his partner (when it comes to painting and art design), Tom Hingston were involved in came out on this date. The project itself was called “Lyric” and was been organised by Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio website. What “Lyric” was, was twelve leading creatives from the fields of fashion, music and image-making coming together to produce eight distinct projects under the mantle of ‘Lyric’, an umbrella project that pioneers creative ground using the latest ‘third generation’ mobile-imaging technologies. Each contributor, or creative pairing was issued with a ‘Motorola’ handset with video call facility on ‘3’s video mobile network, and asked to make a series of short films or ‘motion clips’ that visually interpret the song lyrics of their choice – producing one clip for each lyric line. The contributors produced a clip for each lyric line, and each lyric and clip were released one by one over a month-long period, gradually revealing the visual interpretations of each maker in numerous audacious, provocative outcomes. On completion, each song sequence imparts a sense of the personality of the practitioners.

The project was among the first to initiate the creative use of the latest video mobile technology, and this was enabled by the support of 3 and Motorola networks in partnership with SHOWstudio

The eight short films were broadcast live from Tuesday 27th April on SHOWstudio, where the visuals were gradually unfolded over the following four weeks. Songs that inspired the film makers include tracks by John Cale, Barry Manilow, The Cramps, Donna Summer and Massive Attack. The lyrics that Massive Attack used were taken from Antistar. Since then, the lyric website has been removed offline but you can still watch the twenty or so short clips by clicking here to visit their entry in the videography section.

May 14th

Massive Attack announced an extra date to their one-off Brixton Academy show on 8th July for the following date, 9th July, due to the first date selling out rapidly.

May 22th

Massive Attack kicked off their 2004 tour on this date at the Creamfields Festival in Mexico City, Mexico. This also marked their first show in South America since the 1998 tour were they played in Brazil on the 17th October 1998.

Jun 23th

Starting on this date, a four part radio programme entitled “Way Out West – The Bristol Underground” was a documentary on the music scene that came from inner-city Bristol to make such a huge impact on the world, from Mark Stewart’s angular, jagged The Pop Group to the city’s mid-1990s trip-hop heyday with Tricky’s Maxinquaye, Massive Attack’s Protection and Portishead’s Dummy. There were interviews with all the above, plus the organisers of the legendary blues parties and Nellee Hooper, former DJ with the Wild Bunch and now a producer to the stars. Presented by David Quantick, this was the raw story of how, for a brief flash, a gang of musical mavericks and misfits came together in inner city Bristol for a unique period in British musical history, tracing the musical and cultural roots of these seminal bands. The series re-examined Pigbag, Rip, Rig and Panic, Maximum Joy and of course The Pop Group. It also visited key venues; The Dug Out, Foster’s, The Granary, all haunts of the infamous Avon Soul Army, and talks to DJs Dennis Richard and Superfly, tracking down original blues party organizers. Mark Stewart of The Pop Group reflected on his memories of the lively Bristol music scene of the late eighties, and Smith and Mighty, Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky discuss their careers. Nellee Hooper, who went on to produce Bjork and Madonna, spills the beans on those early days with The Wild Bunch. As the series progresses and the story of each band is told, the programme tries to determine what it was that made the Bristol sound. What is the essential Bristolness of it? The series is as eclectic as it is deep: expect to hear everything from Bacharach and David through roots reggae and into hip hop.

Jul 19th

Formal news is released stating that Neil Davidge will be involved in the soundtrack to British film about inner city related gun crime called Bullet Boy. It is only later on in the same year, that the Massive Attack fan community would discover that this Bullet Boy soundtrack would also involve 3D, effectively making this a Massive Attack production in all but name.

Aug 01th

Announced on this date, was the news that The Cure’s Robert Smith, Josh Homme and 3D from Massive Attack would be amongst the names who would decide this year’s Shortlist Music Prize. Though the winner was be announced until November 11, organisers had already unveiled the full judging panel – their ‘listmakers’. The rest of the names were: Dixie Chicks, John Mayer, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Perry Farrell, Jim Jarmusch, Black Eyed Peas’ William, Norah Jones, Roots member ?uestlove, and Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba.

The voting procedure throwed up quite a list of possible winners. Each of the listmakers submited up to seven albums – any full-length release that appeared between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004 that has not been certified gold in the US. They then received a list of all judges submissions and raned their 10 favourites. The 10 finalists would be announced at the end of September.

Aug 02th

Past Massive Attack collaborator and arranger, Craig Armstrong released his new album “Piano Works” on this date. This is of importance to Massive Attack fans for its inclusion of two new arrangements of Heat Miser and Weather Storm

Aug 22th

The 2004 tour comes to an end at the V Festival in Chelmsford, UK, on this date. They would not return to a worldwide touring schedule until 2006 to promote Collected.

Oct 04th

A press release made public today, makes it clear that 3D would also be involved in the Bullet Boy soundtrack along with Neil Davidge. Wishing to keep a low profile for this soundtrack, the pair would go under their own names and not under the Massive Attack banner as they had already done for the Danny The Dog soundtrack.

Oct 11th

Danny The Dog, the first complete soundtrack score undertaken by Massive Attack is released today in the UK and certain other European territories. It would be Massive Attack’s only release and new material this year.

Oct 18th

As part of the ongoing DJ Kicks series from the K7 record label, which has been described by Mixmag in the past as being “the most important DJ-mix series ever”, Daddy G’s own contribution to the DJ Kicks series was released in the UK and certain other European territories. For more discography information on this release, click here to visit it’s relevant section in the Collector section.

Advanced word breaks that a special one-off charity event organized by OXFAM to raise both money and awareness of the plight of people affected by the recent Tsuamni disaster in Asia in December 2004. Not only would Massive Attack be performing at the event which was held at the Bristol Academy in Bristol, UK on 19th February but it would also mark Portishead’s first return to playing live in seven years.

More details of the aforemtioned Crisis In Asia Tsuamni Beefit concerts is announced with other bands slated to perform alongside Portishead and Massive Attack would be The Coral and Robert Plant. A week before the main event, a DJ night would also be held at the Bristol Academy, which would include the likes of Dj’s Aspects, Babyhead, Boca 45 (Grand Central), Geoff Barrow (Portishead), John Stapleton (BlowPop), Stereo 8 (Fingerlickin’) and Daddy G. Intentions were also made on this date, that a live webcast of the event would be made available at a fee of £4.50, which would all go to proceeds to OXFAM.

After the rapid sell-out of the first show for the Crisis In Asia Benefit Concert on the 19th February, a second and final date is added for the following day on 20th February.

Daddy G along with several other DJ’s perform a special DJ night at the Bristol Academy to raise money for OXFAM as a percusor to the main event to be held one week from this date, also at the same venue.

The first of the Crisis In Asia Tsuanmi Benefit concerts is held in Bristol. Massive Attack are second last to perform on the night with Postishead making their triumphant return to performing live as the headliner. This show is also broadcast live over the internet. For more information about this particular show, visit its entry in the Gigography section by clicking here.

The second and final of the Crisis In Asia Tsuanmi Benefit concerts is held in Bristol. It is very similar to the first night in most regards, except that it is not broadcast live over the internet. For more information about this particular show, visit its entry in the Gigography section by clicking here.

The Bullet Boy film which is the second movie to have an all Massive Attack score after Danny The Dog is released in a limited capacity in UK cinemas. It does not recieve any other international release, except for a few film festivals around the world. The film credits the music, not as being done by Massive Attack but by Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja respectively.

The Bullet Boy Soundtrack E.P was officially released as a Itunes exclusive download on this date. For the first few weeks of release however, owing to a mistake on the part of Itunes, the Bullet Boy Soundtrack E.P was credited to Massive Attack and not Robert Del Naja as had what been originially intended, to keep the soundtrack a decidely low-key release. This accreditation issue was eventually corrected by Itunes. For more details on this release, visit its entry in the Collector section by clicking here.

Unleashed (the name of Danny The Dog in the US, UK and most other English-speaking territories), which Massive Attack have completed their first soundtrack score to, is released in cinemas across the US.

Unleashed (the name of Danny The Dog in the US, UK and most other English-speaking territories), which Massive Attack have completed their first soundtrack score to, is released in cinemas across the UK, several months after its first showings in America.

Oct 22th

Photos taken of Daddy G along thirty other famous people from around the Bristol area are presented at the Thistle Hotel in Bristol, UK on this date. The photos in question are all in the nude and posing at various Bristol landmarks and were taken to raise money for the charity foundation, Make-A-Wish. To MASSIVEATTACK.IE’s understanding, the photos were never released over the internet or printed anyway else.

Over at DotAllison.com, the song which Dot Allison collaborated with Massive Attack for the Danny The Dog soundtrack and lent vocals to, but inexplicably was ommitted on the official soundtrack release, is released in a semi-official manner as a free download in the mp4 format. For more details on this song known as “Aftersun”, visit its entry in the Song Info section by clicking here.

3D by means of posting on the official Massive Attack forum, announces the unexpected but welcome news, that in March 2006, Massive Attack would release a Best Of retrospective compilation to be titled Collected. To coincide with this release a new single called Live With Me would also be released around the same time to promote the Best Of and a new world tour would also suitably commence. To find out more about Collected or Live With Me, click either here or here respectively.

The Collected microsite designed to promote not only the Best Of collection but all of Massive Attack’s previous major releases in the run up to its release launched on this date. Each subsequent week (on a Monday), the microsite expanded its content to include each album starting with Blue Lines on the 10th January and working its way up in chronological order until Live with Me on the 13th March where it skipped 2 weeks until the 27th March, where it revealed the Collected content. The content for each album revealed included a music and video player, mobile ringtunes, wallpaper, screensaver, buddy icons and in the case of Collected, an EPK Interview Podcast split into 5 parts.

The promo video for Live With Me, directed by Johnathan Glazier is filmed in Camberwell in London, UK. Filming also continues on into the next day on the video.

The alternative promo video for Live With Me known as the “performance version”, directed once again by Johnatan Glazier is filmed at asylum studios in Middlesex,UK.

The promo video for False Flags, directed by Paul Gore is filmed in Brixton in London,UK

BBC Radio 1 had the exclusive world first radio play of Live with Me on the Jo Whiley show, with the song being released to general radio playlists across the world the day afterwards.

Channel 4 in the UK had the world exclusive first showing of the promo video for Live With Me directed by Johnathan Glazier. The video was shown at 11:30pm GMT.

Live With Me is released as a single in certain European terroities.

Live With Me is released as a single in the UK

Triple J Radio, an Australian radio station broadcasts an 11 track mixtape compiling some of Massive Attack’s highlights from the last 15 years. This mixtape is notable as it contains Small Time Shoot Em’ Up, the first time in the world this track was played on air or heard by fans.

Collected is released in Japan. this is the earliest release date in the world.

Collected is released in Germany. This is first European country to recieve it.

Collected is released in the UK and throughout most other European terrioties. The Itunes release of the Regular edition is also released on this date.

Collected is released throughout North and South America.

The Special Edition version of Collected is released on Itunes.

The 2006 tour to promote the recent release of Collected, gets under way at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, USA with a mini tour of the West coast(Seattle,Denver and the Coachella Festival). Not only is this the first date of this year’s tour, it is also the first North American date in nearly 8 whole years, the last one being at the Palladium in Los Angeles,USA on 27th September 1998.

Massive Attack performed an exclusive live performance for the BBC which was broadcast on the Dermot O’Leary Radio 2 show. The show was recorded sometime earlier in May but broadcast on this date.

The long awaited collabaration project from ex “Faith No More” member Mike Patton, “Peeping Tom” is released. The album features a Massive Attack collaborartion with Mike Patton on vocals called “Kill The DJ”.

In a rare appearance, former Massive Attack member Mushroom took part and succeeded in breaking a world record – the highest altitude live concert ever performed. A promotional event for a new band called “The Girls” hailing from Bath, UK, the concert was performed in a one large 16-man hot air balloon over the Wiltshire countryside at about 6000ft for a lucky audience of two. Mushroom himself for whatever reason, was involved doing DJ duties as part of the band. Quote – Mushroom on the record breaking event – “The balloon was rocking with the music. It was the perfect little gig. That’s what you get with accomplished musicians, they are going to make it work,It’s got me ready for the project I’m working on at the moment. It has taken all the stress away. I can go back into the studio with a clear mind again.” [Virgin Balloon Flights PR - June 2006]

Horace Andy sustained a minor injury involving a motorcycle whilst in Kingston, Jamaica and was out of action for roughly 2 weeks. As a result he missed the opening leg(the first 6 shows) of the 2006 European tour.

The 2006 tour takes off in Europe now with its first date being at the Earth Theatre in Salonika, Greece. This show and the following 5 dates are notable for the absense of Horace Andy as a result of his injury in the prior few days.

The Massive Attack online shop relaunches with new t-shirt designs modelled after Collected and the return of the limited edition lithograph prints(250 only) for each album. All the 100th Window t-shirt designs, flame logo pins and keychains that were apart of the previous online shop were removed.

Following on from a well deserved 2 week break and a brief stop over in Japan for the Summersonic Festival, the second half of the European tour begins in the Philipshalle in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The False Flags/United Snakes EP is released as an exclusive Itunes release. It is the only commerical release of the EP following on from the promo CD and 12″ vinyl releases roughly two months earlier.

Offical confirmation was issued, that Massive Attack were forced to reschedule several of their North American shows owing to the fact that essential U.S. immigration visas were not issued in time to key tour personel for the beginning of the North American leg of the tour. The dates affected by this were the first 4 shows of the North American tour namely Toronto(9/10), Montreal(9/11), Detroit(9/12) and Chicago(9/13). All other tour dates remained unaffected.

The rescheduled North American dates were announced as follows: Chicago(9/27), Toronto(10/6), Montreal(10/8) & (10/9). The Detroit date was unfortunately cancelled.

The North American tour continues on from where it left off with the mini tour in April at the Verizon Theatre in Houston, USA. Daddy G was absent for the first leg of the North American tour as he was awaiting the arrival of his newborn child with his wife.

Daddy G’s wife gave birth to their third child. Because of this happy occasion, Daddy G missed the first leg of the North American tour, returning to the touring fold for the beginning of the triple New York shows.

The North American and along with it, the entire 2006 tour official comes to an end at the Metropolis in Montreal, Canada. This was 4 days after it was originally intended to end, brought on as a result of the rescheduled gigs.

Massive Attack announced two special one-off live dates for 2007 in order to raise money for the HOPING Foundation, an organisation that hopes to raise money and awareness for Palestinian children living in refugee camps in the Westbank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The shows themselves were be at the Birmingham Academy in Birmingham,UK on the 6th Febuary and Brixton Academy in London,UK the next day on the 7th. Tickets for these dates would go on sale on the 3rd November.

Because of the rapid sell out of tickets for the first 2 dates for the HOPING Foundation benefit gigs in 2007, one last extra date was added. This new date was in Brixton Academy in London,UK on the 8th February making it a 2 night residency for Massive Attack at the Brixton Academy.

An art installation known as Volume opened on this day to the public and which ran to the 28th January 2007 at the John Madejski Garden in London, UK. Volume itself was sponsored by the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum and Sony Playstation. It was an array of light columns positioned dramatically in the centre of the garden, which reacted to human movement, creating a series of unique audio-visual experiences as one stepped through the light columns. Volume was the brainchild of UVA (the designer’s behind the visuals at the last 3 Massive Attack tours), who created the visual aspect whilst 3D and Neil Davidige (under their film music production company name of onepointsix) worked on the audio. The audio portion was created mainly from using analogue sounds from old keyboards and converting them by using digital software in an attempt to keep the sound as pure and the sequences natural as possible. The logistics behind Volume consisted of 46 8ft glossy black aluminum columns arranged in a grid, with a panel of LED lights in the front of each one, literally towering over visitors. As the viewer walks into the grid, their position and movement affects the colours and sounds produced by it. The concealed speakers within each light column were devised by Lee Shephard – one of the studio whiz kids behind Massive Attack.

Joel Lewis from UVA on Volume – “Volume is the one we exhibited in November 2006 for 3 months. It was commissioned by Play Station for their Play Station 3 launch event in the UK. We made something visually beautiful, with strong audio. It consists of 46 columns of lights, each equipped with a speaker, so that there are 46 channels of sound. It uses a camera system to track everyone that moves through the installation and responds to them in a different way. We commissioned Massive Attack to do the audio.”[PingMag Magazine - April 2007]

3D on Volume – “We’ve had to work on a way of making it so that the whole area will be musical, because if it was random it would just be a cacophony.”[The Times Newspaper - November 2006]

3D on the necessity of using analogue sound recordings in Volume – “We need to have a sequence running so that it’s a beautiful experience” [The Times Newspaper - November 2006]

The Twilight Singer’s EP “A Stitch In Time” was released featuring a cover version of Live With Me featuring vocals from Mark Lanegan. The cover version was played many times on The Twilight Singer’s live shows throughout 2006.

The Zane Lowe show on BBC Radio 1 hosted a live session appearance by Massive Attack. The sessions on this show were taken from the same sessions recorded in May at Maida Vale studios for the Dermot O’Leary show with the added bonus of Safe From Harm which was omitted on the Dermot O’Leary show. This session also contained a new interview segment conducted over the phone between Zane Lowe and 3D.

The Bitesize Massive Attack EP is released as an exclusive Itunes release, a 5 track selection covering all of Massive Attack’s 4 albums up to that point.

Today was the first date in a small mini-tour for Massive Attack consisting mainly of Iberian shows with one held in the UK. The first show was at the BEC in Bilbao, Spain with the sixth and last show being at the Pilton Fayre in Glastonbury, UK on the 21st September. Not only this, but a brand new and previously unheard of song in any form, was debuted at these shows called 16 Seeter featuring Horace Andy on vocals.

The new U.N.K.L.E album, War Stories is released on this day. Once again, as with the last U.N.K.L.E album, James Lavelle has managed to rope in his friend 3D for another collaboration named Twilight. This follows on from the recent remix work U.N.K.L.E did on False Flags and the song Invasion that appeared on U.N.K.L.E’s Never Never Land in 2003.

Massive Attack launched their official My Space page today, finally following many of their musical peers in doing so. Like the majority of MySpace pages, the Massive Attack page contains a streaming music player, numerous photos and pictures and a community areas for fans to leave comments and communicate. Of particular note is the streaming music player that has a previously unheard of dub remix of Risingson called the the “Setting Sun Dub 2″.

The campaign against the UK Governments proposed Trident Nuclear renewal took place the River Thames in London, UK on this day, when The Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise docked in the shadow of Tower Bridge played host to a 50 strong choir. The choir Sense of Sound performed a piece composed by Damon Albarn of Blur. Entitled 5 Minutes to Midnight the performance represented a peaceful demonstration against renewing Trident and against Britain possessing nuclear weapons. Directed by Hannah Eidinow with visuals designed by 3D of Massive Attack, and contributions from Brian Eno, 5 Minutes to Midnight followed the launch of www.no-bomb.com an anti trident website, announced the week before. The picture directly below this article is one of four of 3D’s new paintings for this project. “Five actors will join the choir on the Arctic’s deck in a cycle of meditations using public statements, quotations, reports and statistics on the British government’s part in this debate,” said director Hannah Edinow. Opposition is growing to the government’s efforts to rush through a decision on Trident renewal. Greenpeace director John Sauven said: “It’s not too late to stop Tony Blair wasting billions on new nuclear weapons. Trident is a cold war relic designed to destroy Russian cities and has no place in 21st century Britain”.

The first of Massive Attack’s three benefit shows on behalf of the HOPING Foundation, took place today at the Birmingham Academy in Birmingham, UK. The other two shows were held in the following two days at the Brixton Academy in London, UK.