Massive Attack kick off new London festival with groundbreaking sustainable event

09 June 2025 - Press release

Guest appearances from Elizabeth Fraser, Horace Andy, Deborah Miller and Yasiin Bey

Lido Field, Victoria Park
Friday 6 June 2025
Visit LIDOFESTIVAL.CO.UK

LIDO Festival, London's newest music event, kicked off with a 100% battery-powered day headlined by the legendary Massive Attack.

With a new, state of the art sound system bathing the park in beautiful, pin sharp sound, LIDO burst onto London's festival scene with its first day proving it will quickly become an essential urban event.

Victoria Park was showcased to stunning effect, a day of artistic excellence and, in an industry first, LIDO's main stage was entirely powered by the Grid Faeries x Ecotricity 1 MW battery.

The sound system is the brand new ML3A system from Martin Audio - supplied by Solotech and mixed by sound engineer Robb Allan.

It was a triumphant show from the Bristol musicians Robert '3D' Del Naja and Grant 'Daddy G' Marshall, with guest appearances by Elizabeth Fraser, Horace Andy, Deborah Miller and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def).

Celebrities in the crowd for the festival's launch included Naomi Campbell, Nick Grimshaw, Chris Packham, Jake Shears, Bella Freud and Sean Pertwee.

The Victoria Park crowd was primed for a rare appearance by the band, on a day on which sustainability was front and centre, the first time a main stage has been powered by green energy in what was billed as London's most sustainable festival to date.

The headliners' set, packed with visuals, kicked off with the intense beats of 'Risingson', questions flashing up in computer text on screen: "Do you cry? Do thoughts have shadows?"

Horace Andy was the first guest on stage for 'Girl I Love You', with an epic 'Angel' later in the set. Faces from the crowds flash up on the screen, smiling as they realise they've been tagged by mocked-up facial recognition.

The unmistakable and sublime voice of Elizabeth Fraser, of Cocteau Twins, featured on 'Black Milk', an exquisite cover of Tim Buckley's 'Song to the Siren' and showstopper 'Teardrop'.

'Inertia Creeps' was all threat and menace, while a cover of Ultravox's 'Rockwrock' was an unexpected and joyful slab of post punk.

It was Deborah Miller who was brought on to sing the band's first classic single, 'Unfinished Sympathy', as well as 'Safe From Harm'.

'I Against I' saw a guest appearance from Yasiin Bey, who collaborated on the track under his former name of Mos Def and had performed with The Alchemist as FORENSICS earlier in the day.

It was an uplifting show, fitting for the scale of LIDO Festival's opening night.

A sunny afternoon had kicked off with chilled acoustic tales of heartbreak on the main stage from HUNNY - in Liverpool FC top above a Manchester United skirt - such as 'I Was Born To Cry' ("Maybe that's a bit too sad for this time in the afternoon"). New single Revolution took in a full-throated segment of Lauryn Hill's 'Ex-Factor'.

HUNNY said: "It's so cool to be the first ever act to play Lido. I was just so excited because it's a huge opportunity and a huge deal. I've never played on a big stage like that. In the moment, it was amazing. It's following a dream, you want to be up there. It's euphoric."

Opening Stage 2, XL Recordings impresario Richard Russell presented soulful, sample-laden tunes with his outfit Everything is Recorded. Rapper BERWYN added vocals to Firelight, while Mary In The Junkyard's Clari Freeman-Taylor came on for a soaring 'Swamp Dream #3'. 'Goodbye (Hell of a Ride)' was a sumptuous, heartfelt farewell and a cover of Gil Scott-Heron's 'New York is Killing me' had the crowd clapping along.

Singer Tirzah, with musical partner Mica Levi wound beguiling tunes to gently morphing sample loops. Tracks like 'Send Me' wrapped the audience in warm musical coils, before closing with a heavy dirge, while 'Their Love' was something darker ("Doesn't make it okay just 'cause you know me") before tracks like 'Promises' picked up the pace with an upbeat RnB.

Long-time Massive Attack associate and master of dub Mad Professor took to Stage 2 on a mission, saying: "You can call me Mad Professor. Yeah, big respect to massive, massive Massive attack. Attacking you with music. Vibes!"

The vibes continued on the main stage with 47SOUL: "Good evening London. How are you doing? We're 47SOUL from Palestine, via east and North London. We're honoured to be here. We call this Shamstep music. Are you ready for some more Shamstep? Eid Mubarak for the ones celebrating." The group's hard-edged tunes interweave hip-hop, electronica, rock and sounds of Dabke, a traditional folk dance, and other Shaa'bi roots music from the Levantine region. Tracks like 'Don't Care Where You From' and new song 'Ghost Town' are driven anthems.

Yasiin Bey took to the stage scattering petals before his set with musical partner The Alchemist in the emerging project FORENSICS. "Peace, peace, peace. That is the alchemist. Who are you? I am me. I am Yasiin Bey and we are FORENSICS.  This is the UK premier of forensics with The Alchemist." Yasiin Bey was formerly known as Mos Def and a packed tent was treated to a hip-hop set from a true master.  This was an exclusive glimpse for fans of a project that is set to make a big splash in rap.

From the opening chords of 'La femme d'argent' the audience knew they were watching a class act in Air. The defining album Moon Safari also produced classic singles 'Sexy Boy' and 'Kelly Watch the Stars' - perfect for a twilight set. Elsewhere, the likes of 'Venus' and 'Cherry Blossom Girl' had an otherworldly drive, washing over Victoria Park. On stage, the French legends carried their trademark effortless cool, saying simply: "Thank you so much. We're happy to play here."

Bristol pioneer and The Wild Bunch founder member DJ Milo kept the crowd moving before the headline act topped off a groundbreaking, sustainable event.

Ahead of LIDO, Robert Del Naja (3D) wrote: "To present London's first ever 100% battery powered festival day with a dynamic range of artists is an optimum outcome for us. History shows it's often the combination of art and science that overcomes the greatest challenges we face, so it's good to see LIDO take learnings from our ACT1.5 event last year and apply those technologies to where they see emissions coming from. Clean productions beginning this journey to normalisation is good news for everyone, but especially for music fans that come to festivals and the local communities that live around them."

Jim King, CEO of European Festivals, AEG Presents, said: "Big changes require both courage and determination, and I cannot speak highly enough of Massive Attack and their team for embracing the challenge of launching this important initiative. AEG was fortunate to collaborate with Massive Attack on the ACT 1.5 event in Bristol last summer, which set the standard and inspired our team to continue the work they have started at LIDO.

"Massive Attack has demonstrated that there is a better way to operate for the future of both our planet and our industry. LIDO represents the next step towards a broader adoption of industry-leading sustainability principles across AEG European Festivals, all while continuing to bring the world's biggest artists and the best production to deliver incredible experiences for fans at our festivals."

Massive Attack joined headliners Jamie xx (Saturday 7 June), OUTBREAK Fest (Friday 13 June), Charli xcx's own party girl festival (Saturday 14 June) and London Grammar (Sunday 15 June) for the inaugural LIDO.

LIDO is putting artists first and handing them control, for a festival entirely programmed by the headliners. They will bring their favourite artists, collaborators, newly tipped artists and their own style to each day. From the acts to the artwork and stage design – every aspect is personal to them. Named after Victoria Park's Lido Field, the 10-day event will offer hand-picked music line-ups with a strong focus on sustainability, as well as community events during the week.

More headliners, full line ups and programmes are to be announced. Follow LIDO on Instagram and X, and join their newsletter here for updates.