Tortoise The Garage, London 26/8/09
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Although Tortoise are inevitably categorised broadly as ‘post-rock’, the Chicago veterans tend to reside in a place closer to the lounge-y Bacharian pop stylings of Yo La Tengo than the eardrum-shredding blitzkriegs of Mogwai.
The cosy proximity the band find themselves both with each other and the audience tonight serves to enhance the more visually arresting elements of their performance; with all six band members cramped on to the Garage stage, the close-quarters interplay between the duelling percussionists is a captivating sight. It’s a bit like that famous banjo scene from Deliverance, only with thirty-something bespectacled, bookish acolytes mercifully replacing the terrifying presence of bloodthirsty rednecks.
The technical gremlins that rear their irksome head during opener ‘Prepare Your Coffin’ can do little to dampen spirits of the assembled throng, with a rapturously received rendition of ‘The Suspension Bridge at Iguazu Falls’ from 1998’s much-admired TNT album provoking the broadest of grins amongst the crowd.
Artists in this article: Tortoise
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment