Some tours feel nostalgic. This one feels… historic.
After 16 years away, legendary Bristol collective Massive Attack are officially returning to Australia this August for three exclusive headline shows, marking their first local dates since 2010 and only their fourth visit to our shores overall.
Massive Attack / Tom Waits – ‘Boots on the Ground’
For anyone who’s ever dramatically stared out a rainy car window to Teardrop, Unfinished Sympathy or Angel, this is not a drill.
Presented by Frontier Touring, the long-awaited run will hit Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, bringing one of modern music’s most influential and quietly revolutionary acts back to Aussie stages.
Formed in Bristol in 1988 by Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall, Massive Attack are widely credited as pioneers of trip-hop – helping define a sound that fused hip-hop rhythms, dub, soul, electronics and atmosphere into something entirely their own. Their 1991 debut Blue Lines remains one of the most influential records of its era, while albums like Protection, Mezzanine and Heligoland cemented the group as one of British music’s most singular and enduring creative forces.
And while they’ve never exactly operated at blockbuster album-cycle pace, Massive Attack have remained quietly influential across decades – whether through immersive live shows, political activism, boundary-pushing visuals or occasional bursts of new music.
Most recently, the group returned with Boots on the Ground featuring Tom Waits ((listen above), their first new material in six years and a reminder that Massive Attack still sound like they exist slightly outside of time.
As for the live show? Massive Attack’s performances have long been known for their cinematic visuals, rotating guest vocalists and that weirdly impossible trick of making arena-sized spaces somehow feel intimate and unsettling at the same time.
Safe to say: after 16 years, this one probably won’t stay available for long.
Suss all the details down below.
MASSIVE ATTACK LIVE 2026 – AUSTRALIAN TOUR
- Thursday 6 August – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, QLD
- Sunday 9 August – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, NSW
- Tuesday 11 August – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
FRONTIER MEMBER PRESALE
via frontiertouring.com/massiveattack
Runs 24 hours from: Thursday 4 June (2pm local time)
or until presale allocation exhausted
TICKETS ON SALE: Friday 5 June (3pm local time) via ticketek.com.au
Further Reading
Massive Attack to Power Music Festival with 100% Renewable Energy
Watch Hayley Williams’ Stunning Cover Of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’
Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja May Have Been Revealed To Be Banksy
