Massive Attack to Tour Australia in August for First Time in 16 Years

Massive Attack will perform in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in August 2026. The Bristol trip-hop group’s tour will be its first in Australia in 16 years and only its fourth appearance there overall. Its most recent prior Australian shows took place in 2010.

The influential British act consists of Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall. It formed in Bristol in 1988 and released its debut album Blue Lines in 1991. The band has released five albums in total: Blue Lines (1991), Protection (1994), Mezzanine (1998), 100th Window (2003) and Heligoland (2010).

Those records have sold more than 13 million copies. Massive Attack’s biggest hits include Unfinished Sympathy and Teardrop. The group recently released its first new music in six years, the single Boots on the Ground featuring Tom Waits.

Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis awarded the track four stars and described it as “dark, disturbing, ominous, with a distinct streak of WTF? running through it … music perfectly fitting for the times”. The band’s history in Australia includes a visa cancellation in 2003.

Robert Del Naja was arrested that year as part of a UK police crackdown on child sexual abuse images. He was never charged and the investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence. Del Naja claimed a British tabloid called the Australian embassy and told them about the allegations, leading to the band having to postpone their Australian tour in 2003.

Though visas were eventually reinstated, the episode forced the group to cancel dates. Del Naja later described the period as “the hardest time in my life. I had to go on tour with those allegations in the air, which was horrendous”.

In recent years Massive Attack has drawn attention for political activism. In September 2025 the band became the first major-label act to pull its catalogue from Spotify. The move protested founder Daniel Ek’s €600m investment in the military AI company Helsing.

The group has boycotted performing in Israel since 1999. It signed on to the No Music for Genocide initiative, in which more than 400 artists and labels blocked their music from streaming services in Israel. 5 that was 100% powered by renewable energy.

In April 2026 Robert Del Naja was among 500 people arrested in London on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organisation. The arrests followed a mass protest against the ban on Palestine Action. Presale for the Australian shows begins 4 June 2026.

Tickets go on general sale on 5 June 2026.