Tortoise at the Corner

30 May 2026 in Melbourne, supported by Chris Brokaw and Fancy Weapon.

Tortoise is one of those bands where it's an automatic 'yes' when you see they're touring. Okay, it's only happened to me twice so far, but still. Last time it was at the Croxton back in 2016, this time we're back at the Corner in Richmond.

The first support was Fancy Weapon, whom you won't recall I saw not that long ago at the Old Bar, because that was just weeks before I started this blog. Anyway, they are one of those bands made up of old hands that know what they're doing. I like them, especially when the drummer sings.

The next was Chris Brokaw who is from the US and on tour with Tortoise. I thought he was excellent. His vocals complement his guitar playing in really interesting and satisfying ways. Now my challenge is to remember to revisit his Bandcamp when I'm next in the market.

By this point, the Corner was pretty well packed. We tried moving forward to get past some tall timber that had sprouted in front of us. Now, I'm not sure how short you have to be for people to take pity on you these days, but I can confirm it's less than 1.57 metres. So I pretty much had to make do just listening.

This was not such a bad thing.

For a while there I was sure that Chris Brokaw was going to be my highlight of the gig. But let's not be ridiculour. Tortoise are amazing. They really are impossible to categorise other than really, really good at music.

It would have been nice to get a glimpse of the vibraphones on stage as well as everything else, but such is life. At least I don't have to bend when I walk past low-hanging tree branches.