Tortoise at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival
photo by David Andrako

Tortoise played 'TNT' in Prospect Park with Emily Wells (pics)

Post-rock greats Tortoise played their classic 1998 album TNT in full at Pitchfork’s Midwinter Festival back in February, and this past Saturday, John McEntire and the rest of the band brought it to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as part of BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival.

TNT was famously very much a studio creation, making the most of then-new hard disc digital recording, and employing a cut-and-paste technique, with songs assembled in the computer. The long, jazzy, jammy songs — full of vibraphones and marimba — sounded like natural creations, however, as Tortoise played them in the cool of the idyllic Saturday evening. There was a lot of instrument switching, with two drum kits going at times, and occasional string, horn and woodwind players. For the jungle-inspired “Almost Always Is Nearly Enough,” they literally just played the record on a turntable before it morphed into “Jetty.”

Emily Wells opened with an impressive set backed by a drummer and the orchestral The Metropolitan Ensemble. She likely could’ve done it all herself, too, as she played synths, violin and percussion, all while showing off her very impressive vocal chops. Pictures from the whole night are in the gallery above.

SETLIST: Tortoise @ BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival 6/22/2019
TNT
Swung From the Gutters
Ten-Day Interval
I Set My Face to the Hillside
The Equator
A Simple Way to Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work
The Suspension Bridge at Iguazú Falls
Four-Day Interval
In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Women and Men
Almost Always Is Nearly Enough
Jetty
Everglade

photos by David Andrako