Massive Attack returned to Sydney on Sunday night for the first time since 2010. Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall took the stage in near-silhouette, the towering screens behind them flooding the arena with a relentless collage of terrifying headlines, statistics and statements.

The show opened with a cover of Gigi D’Agostino’s ‘In My Mind’ and then ‘Risingson.’ Before Elizabeth Fraser, the Cocteau Twins voice who’s been woven through Massive Attack’s catalogue since the Mezzanine era, stepped forward to sing ‘Black Milk’.

Horace Andy then took the stage with ‘Girl I Love You.’ A reminder that Massive Attack, at this point, function more like a standing collective with Del Naja and Marshall as the core, surrounded by a rotating cast of collaborators who’ve each shaped a different era of the group’s sound.

The sold-out crowd read the screens word for word, as statistics on surveillance, conflict and climate scrolled past. Just weeks ago, Del Naja and Marshall were banned from re-entering Singapore after they unfurled a Palestinian flag during their concert. Singapore police investigated both men over the flag display, with the band saying their hotel rooms were searched and passports temporarily confiscated.

Massive Attack play their final Australian date at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

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