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Massive Attack To Celebrate 21 Years Of 'Mezzanine' With 2019 Anniversary Tour
British electronic trip-hop group Massive Attack released their third album, Mezzanine, in 1998. The album, especially its single "Teardrop," made waves in the U.K. and U.S., and was a seminal recording for late-'90s electronic music, with its dark and brooding beats and haunting vocals. On Oct. 30, 20 years after its release, the group has announced that they will be taking the classic album on the road with a special anniversary tour in Europe and North America in 2019.
According the group, Mezzanine XX1 will give attendees a new taste of the classic album 21 years later, using "custom audio reconstructed from the original samples and influences." They have recruited Elizabeth Fraser to tour with them, the vocalist on "Teardrop," "Group Four" and "Black Milk." Fraser, who was part of Scottish rock group Cocteau Twins, hasn't toured since the last time Massive Attack brought her on tour in 2006.
The show will also include new audio/visual elements and sounds, making the experience a very special way for fans to revisit the album and see the group perform its songs live for the first time in years. As the group's Robert "3D" Del Naja said, "It's going to be a one off piece of work; our own personalised nostalgia nightmare head trip."
Mezzanine, which was originally released on April 20, 1998, will be available as a special remastered reissue with previously unreleased Mad Professor remixes. The reissue will be available on streaming and special edition CD on Nov. 16 and as a vinyl boxset on Dec. 7.
Earlier this year, on the 20th anniversary, the group had the album's audio files encoded into synthetic DNA, making it the second largest file to date stored in DNA. On Oct. 19, the group got extra creative and announced that the album's DNA would be available to purchase in the form of can of spray paint, each of which contains about one million copies of the album.
The tour begins in Glasgow, Scotland on Jan. 28 with dates across Europe until March 1 in Bristol, England, after which the North American leg of the tour will begin. Specific dates and venues will be announced Nov. 2, but, according to Pitchfork, will include stops in Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, St. Paul, Minn. and Toronto. Presale tickets for select European shows go on sale today, Oct. 31. More info can be found on Massive Attack's website.
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