Massive Attack call Pete Tong's Ibiza Classics cover "nightmare nostalgia”

Members of Massive Attack have ripped into Pete Tong via a Facebook post for playing a reimagined version of their track ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ as part of his Ibiza Classics show without the group's permission.

Calling Pete Tong’s tour a “nostalgia nightmare roadshow”, 3D from Massive Attack explained that during their own shows, the track is accompanied by photos of refugee camps to raise awareness and money for UNHCR. He insisted that Pete Tong donate some of the proceeds of his show to the organization "if he [means] to carry on coining it", telling him “it would be the least you could do”.

Pete Tong, conductor Jules Buckley and the Heritage Orchestra have been touring their ‘Ibiza Classics’ album at major venues around the world. The album puts a large, classically trained orchestra behind a number of timeless dance tracks such as Fatboy Slim’s ‘Right Here, Right Now’, 'Your Love' by Frankie Knuckles and Orbital’s ‘Belfast’.

This is not the first time that Massive Attack and Pete Tong have been at odds. Back in 2011, Pete Tong issued a restraining order against Massive Attack's former singer Shara Nelson. Nelson claimed she had married the BBC Radio 1 DJ and had his child. Tong asserted that she had been relentlessly harassing him and confirmed that neither of these statements were true and was granted the restraining order, forbidding Nelson to contact him or his friends and family. Coincidentally (or perhaps not at all?), Nelson provided the vocals for their original recording of 'Unfinished Sympathy'.

Check out the Facebook post and see a clip of the Ibiza Classics version of the song below.

Cameron is Mixmag's US Editorial Intern. Follow him on Twitter here