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It looks like nothing can dent Huge Assault’s ethical compass. The Bristol trip-hop pioneers have all the time been a principled pressure, however since coming back from a five-year live performance dry spell in 2024, they’ve particularly used their stature to mould reside music to their design.
Final evening, they banned promotion for Barclays at a Manchester gig (the financial institution has ties to firms funding the Israeli army). Now, the primary day of London’s LIDO pageant has a invoice hand-picked by Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall, all of the meals on sale is vegan, and the whole lot the group sees onstage is battery-powered.
From the beginning of tonight’s headline showcase, it’s clear these batteries are doing very important, herculean work. Huge Assault’s intro is a video concerning the atrocities at present being dedicated in Gaza, screened onto a backdrop at the very least 30ft tall.
That consciousness runs like a heartbeat all through the 90-minute set. The group’s towering visuals show haunting numbers and pictures not simply in regards to the horrors in Palestine, but in addition the struggling inside the Congo, the hoarding of knowledge for wealth, and the information media and politicians attempting to distract us from all of it. It’s a manifesto for the human race, rooted in harsh actuality relatively than the flimsy plucking of heartstrings.
After all, that messaging wouldn’t land half as arduous if the music underscoring it wasn’t immaculate. However, Huge Assault put simply as a lot effort into sonic presentation as they do optical info (if no more), increasing to a monumental eight-piece lineup. And that’s not together with the revolving door of visitor singers they’ve introduced alongside, as properly.
Such opuses as Blue Traces and Mezzanine have been benchmarks for songwriting financial system ever since they got here out, making only a handful of layers and motifs really feel like orchestral monoliths, and this night solely furthers that sense of scale. Inertia Creeps’ distorted riffing and twin drumkits hit as arduous as any steel band you’ll be able to title. On the different finish of the spectrum, Teardrop is much more tragic than standard, hammered dwelling by highly effective acoustic guitar.
Vocalists Horace Andy, Deborah Miller and Elizabeth Fraser – every of whom recorded their defining Huge Assault elements greater than 25 years in the past – are all in majestic type. Andy stays distinct and seductive at 74, particularly through the darkly alluring Angel. Miller’s wails all through Secure From Hurt ignite a couple of spherical of blown-away cheering, and Fraser leads the ominous crawl of Black Milk as gracefully as she did in 1998.
In a single efficiency, Huge Assault have captured the aim of contemporary reside music, being trustworthy to recorded works whereas elevating them to new ranges, and embodied the spirit of protest artwork. This can be a collective who embrace their standing and use it to its fullest potential, each as entertainers and campaigners. Why can’t extra musicians do this?
Huge Assault setlist: LIDO pageant, London – June 6, 2025
In My Thoughts (Gigi D’Agostino cowl)
Risingson
Woman I Love You
Black Milk
Take It There
Future Proof
Music To The Siren (Tim Buckley cowl)
Inertia Creeps
Rockwrok (Ultravox cowl)
Angel
Secure From Hurt
I Towards I (feat. Yasiin Bey)
Unfinished Sympathy
Ranges (Avicii cowl)
Teardrop
