Tortoise played Bowery Ballroom (Night 1)

Post-rock titans Tortoise just released their great new album Touch and are now residing at Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan for the weekend. Bill Orcutt played a solo set to open Friday night's show.

As he sat down and picked up his lone guitar in front of a very crowded Bowery Ballroom, Bill Orcutt didn't have anything to say as he instantly ripped into his discordant guitar riffs that echoed throughout the room with fracturing despair. Tearing through us like razor wires being strum with claws, the music is abrasive and upfront, and unlike when he led his super trio Orcutt Shelley Miller last week at Union Pool, this time it was all Bill all the time. Watching his fingers move up and down the fret board struck me like the way Thelonious Monk approached his piano playing with jagged movements that staggered along, never following any recognizable patters, but crafting a brilliant storm of free form noise jams. A divisive set, some around me were not at all into Orcutt's sonic mazes while others (myself included) got lost in the audio barrage, giving in to the sublime harmonic bliss. At times Orcutt would shout out various barks and at one point yelled "150 Delancey look it up" from behind his wall of sound. (Google results tell me this is a Holiday Inn, but please confirm if this is over my head.) An arresting and demanding musician, witnessing his attack on his guitar remains a stunning experience and one to always explore.

Sliding right into a groove with stark percussion, the men of Tortoise assembled together and cranked out churning tunes that merged dizzying electronics with motorik beats and looping guitar riffs that made for a night of heady jams that spiraled with psychedelic splendor. Playing without Jeff Parker who had to miss the gig due to a family emergency, things were a bit wobbly to start, loose in the melodies and slightly restrained rhythms, you could watch the band finding each other, albeit just a tad out of place to start. As things shook into place, however, the band started to jive and lock in to their groovy tempos, each member balancing their work with the exact right tension and for a leaderless group, it was clear that the trust was abundant. Doug McCombs kept to his back corner for the night as he switched up between guitar and bass and the dueling drum sets were front and center, leaving the vibraphones to the sides and the boards to the back which gave the band opportunities to move about the stage as they switched off instruments between songs. By the time the band got to "I Set My Face to the Hillside," the crowd had fully committed and the band fed off the energy as the jazzy guitar riffs began to flow making for a crowning segment when the audience finally let loose and began to sway with the music. As both Dan Bitney and John Herndorn took their seats behind both drum kits on stage, the two locked eyes and hit a beat that would set them forth on a stupendous, and altogether explosive, drum duet. Standards cut "Monica" morphed into a rousing take on "In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Women and Men" that had everyone in the room watching on in total wonder. Moving straight from the triumph of that drumming, the band took it even further with a triple attack on vibraphones as they banged out the undeniable groove of "Ten-Day Interval" which brought the night to its absolute peak. It was a mighty run of songs that extended with this year's return single, the excellent "Oganesson" that propelled the moment forward, the band firmly in the pocket and nailing these jams with unstoppable force. The surgical-like approach towards these songs is apparent on record, but watching them reconstruct the jams on stage and add in some extra magic is a joyful and lively experience, one where you can get lost in swirls of paisley guitar solos or zone out to looping electronics and enriching drum fills. Tortoise bring the magic to their live set and do so very matter of factly. They know what they're there to accomplish and they do it with skill and finesse. To watch that is a very rewarding thing.

Set list:

01 "Vexations"
02 "The Equator"
03 "Prepare Your Coffin"
04 "Dot/Eyes"
05 "I Set My Face to the Hillside"
06 "Elka"
07 "Night Gang"
08 "Axial Seamount"
09 "Monica"
10 "In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Women and Men"
11 "Ten-Day Interval"
12 "Oganesson"
13 "The Lithium Stiffs"

14 "Crest"
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15 "Tin Cans & Twine"
16 "Rated OG"