By Lindsey Weedston

Copyright dailydot

English trip hop collective Massive Attack stunned a recent concert audience by displaying real-time facial recognition tech. As the crowd watched, their faces began drifting across the screen behind the band, each one under a hard-to-read label.

Massive Attack often uses their shows to bring attention to political issues, including mass surveillance. However, some fans didn’t appreciate the thought of becoming a part of one without their consent.

“Did they give consent?”

Footage from the Massive Attack concert spread across social media as people discussed the implications of using facial recognition technology like this. Seeing surprised faces from the audience appear over the stage shocked folks into realizing that this software could be used anywhere at any time to identify them.

That may well have been the point.

The footage appears to be from the LIDO festival in Victoria Park in London, which took place on June 6, 2025. During “Girl I Love You,” faces from the crowd flickered onto the massive screen behind the stage.

The labels over each are difficult to read, but appear to contain nonsense job titles rather than actual identifying information.

Still, the message remained clear, and the possibly intended shock and outrage got across. After videos started going viral on Sunday, commenters aired their discomfort with the idea of bands capturing their images and information.

“Did they give consent for that?” @anjelikaperry asked on behalf of the concert-goers.

“I love Massive Attack, and have been fortunate to see them live, so I get where they’re going with it, but I’m not looking to get doxed at a [expletive] concert,” wrote Threads user @justasimpledroid.

Others pointed out that this technology has, in fact, been around and collecting data for years. Massive Attack’s use of something like it, considering their history, was probably meant to startle people into paying attention.

“I find it funny that many are uncomfortable, but that’s the point,” said TikToker @cjgrham. “Art is meant to be provocative at times. And it’s a clever warning for what’s to come.”

“How delusional people are about the times we live in,” wrote @nunasays. “There is no such thing as privacy.”

Massive Attack is no fan of surveillance

Massive Attack has a strong reputation for getting political at their concerts. They often bring up issues such as war, environmentalism, and violence against protesters at these shows, including their recent vocal support of Palestine.

Their messaging, however, doesn’t always come across as intended. Soon after the London concert, the band put out a statement addressing fan criticism over their use of footage of Hamas chairman Yahya Sinwar. They rejected the idea that they were attempting to “glorify” Sinwar by including him in the show, pointing out that the visuals included multiple controversial figures.

“Would ‘x’ observer suggest we sought to glorify Vladimir Putin, who appears in four loops?” they asked. “Or Donald Trump who appears in several?”

Massive Attack has not yet responded to the facial recognition criticism, but their recent actions would suggest that they’re against the use of this technology in general. In late July, they joined rap trio Kneecap in a legal challenge to U.K. surveillance laws, citing potential threats to privacy and personal freedom.

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