Primavera 2026: Massive Attack set to use facial recognition technology to scan crowd
Massive Attack are set to take their futuristic heights to a new level when they perform at Primavera in Barcelona this week, as they are reportedly using facial recognition technology to scan the crowd.
It comes as the latest political stunt from the Bristol band, who began making the point on their current tour, starting in Helsinki, and plan to recreate it on a large scale at their festival appearance on June 4th.
According to Novara Media, the technology will capture the faces of people in the 75,000-strong crowd, before projecting them up on the screens at the side of the stage alongside captions such as “11 weeks no time off, burnout” and “unfinished books”.
However, the stunt has been designed not just for a gimmick effect, but to take aim at the data technology company Palantir, a surveillance company used by the likes of ICE, the FBI, and the NHS.
Massive Attack are using a similar style of technology in their show to highlight the issue, as “We really need a much wider debate on the suitability of a company like this having such capture of our societal infrastructure,” said the band’s Robert Del Naja.
In the show, the band use replicas of Palantir’s two main products – the Gotham software, used for militaries and governments, and Foundry, a civilian version of the technology.
To this end, Del Naja explained: “One visual element represents how a Palantir Gotham monitoring and ‘decision chain’ interface might look,” before adding, “Using facial recognition technology, it lands on groups and individuals – implying a consequential outcome for a given target.”
It comes as the latest move that Massive Attack have made in the public eye in recent times, which have not been limited to leading calls to boycott Eurovision due to Israel’s inclusion, and Del Naja being arrested at the Palestine Action demonstration in London last month.
On top of the band’s current tour, they also released their first new music in five years in April with their anthemic protest song ‘Boots on the Ground’, featuring the legendary Tom Waits.
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