London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Massive Attack cancel Liverpool gig to boycott arms fair at venue

Massive Attack cancel Liverpool gig to boycott arms fair at venue

Bristol band “disappointed” by move, but said showing solidarity with people of Liverpool supersedes live show

Massive Attack said it is “really disappointing” to cancel a Liverpool gig in order to boycott a venue where a major weapons fair is due to be held next month.

Robert “3D” Del Naja, one of the Bristol band’s founding members, said the move was to show solidarity with the people of Liverpool, where campaigners have launched a legal challenge in an attempt to stop the controversial electronic arms fair taking place.

A demonstration against the use of the venue for the arms fair will take place at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on Saturday at 12.30pm. It is being organised by Liverpool Against the Arms Fair and supported by the wider labour and trade union movement.

Del Naja said the gig, which was supposed to be putting into effect the carbon reduction methods the band researched with the University of Manchester, can be rearranged.

He said: “The one-off testbed show planned for Liverpool involved design, planning and relationship building on a scale that dwarfs any conventional tour, so it’s really disappointing that for reasons way beyond our control we can’t pull it off. But showing solidarity with the people of Liverpool at this crucial moment supersedes that.

“We can rearrange a testbed show, but applying a wider focus, I can’t imagine a more graphic example of the psychosis of the systems we live by than what’s playing out in Liverpool.”

Del Naja added: “On the eve of a global event that’s totally critical if we’re to avoid a catastrophic extinction event, arms barons are shop-windowing technologies that inevitably harm and incarcerate people; often in the hands of states already acknowledged to be human rights violators.

“The International Red Cross says that the impacts of climate emergency seriously increase the risks of armed conflict, by exacerbating existing social, economic and environmental factors. In what world is that an ‘opportunity’ worth promoting? As artists, we cannot travel along with that.”

The National Union of Students has also pulled an event.


The event, AOC Europe 2021, is due to take place at Liverpool’s ACC Exhibition Centre on 11-13 October 2021.

Anti arms trade activists have called on the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, and the city council to use their powers to cancel the arms fair.

Public Interest Law Centre, instructed by Mark Jackson, a social justice campaigner, have sent a pre-action protocol letter to Anderson, the first step before launching a judicial review challenge.

The basis for the potential challenge is that the city council, which owns the exhibition centre, should have cancelled the event on ethical grounds, and that its failure to do so may be unlawful.

Both ACC Exhibition Centre and Liverpool city council have been contacted for comment.

#AOC 
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×