Photo Credit: Richard Giraldi

There are shows and then there are shows. You know what I’m taking about. Performances in which the band are just completely feeling it -- the crowd, the room, their band mates. Everything in the universe aligns at that one precise moment and it’s perfect. There could be a natural disaster, earthquake, flood or, most likely in Chicago, blizzard, and it wouldn’t make you flinch for a second because the band on stage are absolutely killing it.

This was the scene last Saturday night at Lincoln Hall when Chicago’s influential post-rockers Tortoise offered an immaculate performance during which they were received as hometown heroes -- and rightfully so.

As odd as it may seem, last weekend’s show was Tortoise’s first headlining gig in Chicago since the release of the latest effort Beacons Of Ancestorship last summer. They’ve played Chicago quite a few times between then and now -- at Pitchfork Festival 2009, a Reckless Records in-store in October and even opened for Wilco during their two-night stand at the UIC Pavilion -- but this was the first time the band had been able to rock a small club into the early morning hours in more than a year.

It was obvious Tortoise were excited for this moment as they had the chance to jam on their new material in what is arguable one of the best sounding venues in the city, Lincoln Hall.

Beacons’ synth-heavy opener “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” started the show as sometimes percussionist, sometimes synth player, sometimes vibraphone-ist John Herndon effortlessly laid down a jazzy, off-kilter drum beat over a barrage of synthesizers until the song completely breaks down after two minutes and shifts into a dirty funk piece.

The band did play a number of tracks from their latest effort including the 1970′s-cop-show-theme-song swagger of “Prepare Your Coffin,” the electro-dance, world beat epic “Gigantes,” and even the unpronounceable fuzzy-punk rocker “Yinxianghechengqi” in which Dan Bitney stood tall with his bass slung low and bobbed his head to the beat as if he were channeling Dee Dee Ramone.

But the crowd became most engaged during the band’s older, classic selections such as “I Set My Face to the Hillside” from their classic 1998 release TNT, which features a vibrato-filled, latin-jazz intro courtesy of guitarist Jeff Parker. Even Doug McCombs, who appeared as the group’s elder statesman by hiding in the shadows of right side of the stage for the majority of the night, came alive during a rousing rendition of “Seneca” in the first encore and ripped a gritty, dissonant guitar solo.

Drummer John McEntire played with machine-like precision throughout the two-hour set, but it was his use of delicate cymbal dynamics during set closer “Glass Museum” off 1996′s Millions Now Living Will Never Die that had the crowd on edge.

Instrumental post-rock isn’t the easiest musical genre to pull off in a live setting. It’s even more difficult to keep an audience interested through a two-hour set of it. But Tortoise -- who are five of Chicago’s most talented musicians -- never wavered or faltered. The audience hung on every note, every synth blast, every vibe hit, every drum roll, every sleek guitar lick, every mind bending groove. Tortoise had returned home and Chicago welcomed them, scratch that, embraced them with open arms.

So what if Chicago doesn’t have the Saints, the Lakers or the Yankees, and year after year the Bears, Bulls and Cubs falter. Tortoise are our champions.

Tortoise -- “Salt The Skies” -- Live at Lincoln Hall -- Chicago, IL -- 2/20/2010

Tortoise -- “I Set My Face to the Hillside” Clip -- Live at Lincoln Hall -- Chicago, IL -- 2/20/2010