Massive Attack cancel gig in Liverpool over venue holding an arms fair
The band will be joining a demonstration on Saturday in Liverpool
Bristolian four-piece Massive Attack cancelled an upcoming testbed gig in Liverpool over the weekend after discovering that the venue is being used for an electronic arms fair.
The gig was set to be a “super low carbon emission” test event held at Liverpool’s ACC Exhibition Centre. The band said it was “really disappointing” to have to make the decision to cancel.
The same venue will host a weekend-long event from October 11 - 13, AOC Europe 2021, which is now under fire after the band discovered the centre’s involvement with the arms trade.
Massive Attack are currently boycotting the upcoming event, and have announced that they would be pulling out of their low-carbon gig as a result.
“The one-off testbed show planned for Liverpool involved design, planning and relationship building on a scale that dwarfs any conventional tour,” said Massive Attack’s Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja.
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“So it's really disappointing that for reasons way beyond our control we can't pull it off, but showing solidarity with the people of Liverpool at this crucial moment supersedes that.”
Massive Attack’s event was set to bring awareness to climate change and growth in emissions put out by musicians across the globe. The band recently commissioned a study via The University of Manchester to discover methodologies tackling climate change within the music industry.
Del Naja is now imploring musicians and prominent figures in the industry to step up and do their part as a result of their findings, which revealed startling statistics about the carbon footprint of musicians.
“We can rearrange a testbed show, but applying a wider focus, I can't imagine a more graphic example of the psychosis of the systems we live by than what’s playing out in Liverpool," Del Naja said on the upcoming event.
Read this next: Watch a film with Massive Attack talking about Climate Change
Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter