Live Review: Tortoise - Kings Arms, Auckland (+ Photos)

One of the progenitors of post-rock with a swish poster reminiscent of Terry Pratchet lore? Colour me impressed! I couldn’t think of many other ways I would rather spend a Friday evening in Auckland city. 



Openers Greenfog slayed the stage as always, with an especially pretty, post-rock leaning set. Clearly they were in their element and well acquainted with the spectacularly skilled sound engineer. The subs were heaving and smiles were abounding.



Two drum kits, a MIDI marimba and a gaggle of other gear later, and Tortoise took their place amongst a city of instruments on stage. Combining the traditional rock instrumentation with waves of percussion and a soothing whirlpool of samples, the sonic ocean was vast and varied here. Stage presence abounded as band members swapped instruments like they swapped riffs and the textures created were palpable and almost graspable in the air.



Tortoise is one of the few acts I have listened to in recent years that I genuinely couldn’t predict which rabbit hole the music would slide down next. At first I thought I felt the sweetly familiar swatch of improvisation but I soon realised that to co-ordinate five people through that audible journey so impeccably was no coincidence.

Check out photos from the Auckland show below courtesy of Connor Crawford, and head over here to see photos from the Wellington show at San Fran, thanks to Eclectica Photography