Massive Attack will play Melbourne in August as part of their first Australia tour in 16 years, ending a long wait for local fans and marking the band's first shows in the country since 2010. The Bristol group will also play Brisbane and Sydney on the rare three-city run.

That is why the search for Massive Attack Melbourne matters today: presale for the Australian dates opens on 4 June, with general ticket sales following on 5 June. For Melbourne, it means the city is on the map for a return that has been long in coming, after just four Australian appearances in the band's career.

Massive Attack, made up of Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall, helped define trip-hop after forming in Bristol in 1988 and releasing Blue Lines in 1991, an album widely treated as a touchstone for the era. The group has sold more than 13m copies across five albums, and its catalogue still pulls crowds whenever it reappears on the road.

The Melbourne date lands while the band remains in political crosswind. In April, Del Naja was among 500 people arrested in London after attending a mass protest against the ban on Palestine Action, and in September the group became the first major-label act to pull its catalogue from Spotify in protest at Daniel Ek's investment in Helsing. Those disputes have not stopped the tour, but they do shadow it, especially for a band that has spent years tying its music to politics as much as to atmosphere.

The Australian return also revives the broader mystique around Del Naja, who has long been the subject of internet speculation linking him to Banksy, with a investigation suggesting he acts as the artist's location scout. But the immediate story is simpler: Massive Attack are back in Australia, Melbourne is on the itinerary, and the first chance to buy in starts this week. What remains unclear is the exact Melbourne venue and the precise August date.