Tortoise (USA) | Musicosity

Tortoise (USA)

Event Details

Saturday, May 30, 2026
Headline Artist: Tortoise
57 Swan Street
Richmond , Victoria
AU

Tortoise is widely considered one of the most influential music groups of the last 40 years, with a wide-reaching impact on the contemporary music scene. Pitchfork says: “Imagine a graphic showing all the bands the five members of Tortoise were in before they came together and then all the bands they went on to play with after. At the top of the funnel you have groups ranging from dreamy psych-rock to earthy post-punk crunch, including Eleventh Dream Day, Bastro, Slint, and the Poster Children; on the 'post-Tortoise' end are groups focusing on electro-jazz and twangy instrumental rock like Isotope 217, Chicago Underground, and Brokeback. In this graphic, Tortoise is the choke point, the one project that has elements of all these sounds but is never defined by nor committed to any of them.”

The band, which originally formed in Chicago in 1990, comprises Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker.

Initially hailed as pace-setters of an...

Artists Performing at this Event

Tortoise is a highly influential Chicago-based American post-rock band formed in 1990, known for pioneering an instrumental sound blending jazz, dub, krautrock, and electronica.