Tortoise

“Touch reminds you how much fun Tortoise are, how seriously they take these musical ideas and how utterly unseriously they take themselves.” – UNCUT magazine

Tortoise is “body music for head people”, according to Pitchfork. Emerging out of Chicago, USA in 1990, the band was one of the few essential bands that charted a path for post-rock at a time when the genre was still defining itself. Unlike their international contemporaries—Mogwai favoured ominous atmospheres and weighty distortions while Sigur Ros drew inspiration from Icelandic landscapes to create sweeping ambient sounds—Tortoise was recognised for their eclectic influences and profound technicality. Landmark records like Millions Now Living Will Never Die and TNT bore elements of jazz and krautrock peppered with electronica flourishes, anchored by gnarly grooves and off-kilter time signatures. Body music for head people, indeed.

In 2025, the band released their eighth album, Touch. Eschewing some of the minimalism that feature in older records, Touch unapologetically embraces grand gestures with aerodynamically re-engineered krautrock, hand-cranked techno rave-ups and spaghetti Western fanfares. The record is big, bold, fun, and a reintroduction to a band that truly does not need introduction.

The records only tell half the story. Tortoise’s legacy goes beyond its recorded output, per Rolling Stone who deems Tortoise “a live marvel,” while Pitchfork furthersays the band’s performances reveal that “at heart, they’re a supremely fun band, wide open to all sorts of sonic possibilities.” Onstage, the cerebral architecture of their music gives way to something visceral and communal. Body music is, after all, meant to be felt.

Now, Tortoise returns to Esplanade after fourteen years, having made two memorable appearances at Mosaic Music Festival in 2005 and 2011. This is an invitation to the believers, the curious, the jazz cats and the post-rock heads—feel the full weight of Tortoise’s legacy in this epic live show.