Massive Attack pull out of all tour dates until August due to band member’s ‘serious illness’

Trip hop collective said band member is ‘now in recovery’

Massive Attack (Picture Perfect/Shutterstock)

Massive Attack have cancelled all of their tour dates until August because one of their band members has been suffering from a “serious illness”.

In a post on Instagram on Thursday (24 March), the trip hop collective wrote: “For the past few months, a member of Massive Attack has been contending with a serious illness. We are pleased to say they are now in recovery.

“This process is positive but also challenging and ongoing, which unfortunately means that Massive Attack are not presently in a position to fulfil our live shows scheduled for May, June, and July 2022.”

They said they “deeply regret any inconvenience or disappointment caused – particularly to the fans with whom it’s always an honour to engage, and to our production crew who, owing to other global events, have already had to wait too long to do what they do so well”.

The band had been due to perform in Belgium, France, Spain, Norway, Italy, Czech Republic and Germany.

Massive Attack are seemingly still set to headline Edinburgh’s Connect Music Festival on 26 August and play in Dublin on 28 August.

The band’s Robert Del Naja recently offered fans a chance to purchase limited-edition prints to help raise funds for victims of the Ukraine conflict.

He also called out the UK government’s response to the growing number of refugees seeking help as they flee their war-torn home.

“DON’T WAVE FLAGS / WAVE VISAS,” he wrote in multiple messages to the Home Office earlier this month.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.