Massive Attack + Air at Lido Festival
We got into the site for Air, who were doing their Moon Safari set, which I was keen to see, as I love the album, plus missed their Royal Albert Hall show the other year with a migraine. It was excellent. Maybe not quite suited to a festival slot, but the staging was excellent and made up for their restraint when playing. The post-Moon Safari part of the set did lose the crowd a little.
Then it was Massive Attack, preceded by speeches and video by the PSC. Everything sounded HUGE and so crisp. They were joined on stage by Horace Andy, Elizabeth Fraser, Deborah Miller and Yasiin Bey, and they were all incredible.
This is the first day of the first year of Lido festival, who are taking up an area about half the size of the All Points East site. Late tickets deals meant that it felt pretty crowded, and I don’t think they have enough toilets for the capacity. If you’re going to today’s event, or Outbreak, bear that in mind. The crowd skewed older than the other London festivals we go to (which is understandable, given the artists playing last night), which probably explains why it’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many people smoking cigarettes in a crowd, plus they were more chatty than you get at Wide Awake, All Points East etc.