Newcity Chicago: Tortoise/Empty Bottle
Published by: Newcity Chicago
Date: February 2, 2009
Format: Web (www.music.newcity.com)
Type: Concert Preview
Preview: Tortoise/Empty Bottle
Tortoise is a band that belongs to Chicago, much in the same way that deep dish pizza, John Cusack and lime green river water do as well. Over the years, post-rock godfathers Tortoise has played all around the world in venues and as part of festivals, but no other stage is better to see them on than the one at the Empty Bottle. Even in Chicago, Tortoise at Chicago Symphony Center, in late 2007, was a wonderful, unique experience in which the band played a live score to “Nosferatu,” but it obviously wasn’t a traditional Tortoise performance and many in the audience who had been there for the whole day’s events seemed like they had no idea what they were experiencing. At the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park last August, in the rain, at lunchtime, Tortoise played another joyous set, but the awkward and small day-after-Lollapalooza-didn’t-want-to-get-soaked-tired-of-outdoor-concerts-had-to-go-to-work crowd resulted in a somewhat somber reaction to another amazing set. At the Empty Bottle, though, Tortoise seems the most at home, with their constant rotation and sharing of instruments on a stage which is just large enough to fit all of them, in front of a packed house of family, friends and long-time fans.