Tomahawk
Emo’s
Austin, TX
July 20, 2026
Photos and Review by Roy Vergara
On a sweltering July night on East Riverside, Emo’s filled early with a crowd that knew exactly what it was waiting for. Tomahawk’s A Huge Waste of Your Time and Money tour hit Austin, the first shows since 2013. There was a humming of anctipiation from the sold out crowd who have followed Mike Patton, Duane Denison, John Stanier, and Trevor Dunn across decades of bands and side projects.
The Melvins strolled out at 8:00 pm to the Star-Spangled Banner in their retro inspired glam garb, and featuring multiple giant gold and turquoise all seeing eye. The four piece turned Emo’s into a physical experience, the kind of volume you feel in your sternum first. A midset drum battle between Dale Crover and Coady Willis pulled a roar out of the floor, crowd surfers followed soon after, and by the time they wrapped at 9:00 pm the room was already fully lit for the headliner.
Tomahawk walked out at 9:37 pm and opened with “Flashback,” the song that introduced the band to the world 25 years ago, and the response was immediate and loud. Much of the early set drew from Tonic Immobility, the 2021 album the pandemic never let them tour, and watching those songs finally meet an audience was its own kind of payoff. The crowd treated brand new live material like old favorites, pressing forward as Patton twisted his voice from a lounge croon into a full throated howl and Denison’s guitar carved sharp angles over the rhythm section’s relentless pulse.
The band moved through their catalog like it was one continuous piece, eerie slow burns like “Birdsong” giving the room just enough space to breathe before the floor churned back to life. Patton worked the stage with the restless energy of someone making up for lost time, and by the time “Point and Click” closed the main set, the whole venue was shouting along, the years between tours fully dissolved.
The encore opened with a wink, a twangy run through Duane Eddy’s “Stalkin’” that let Denison stretch out into pure surf noir before the band detonated “God Hates a Coward” and the pit answered in kind. They rode that wave to the finish, closing with the desert soaked stomp of “Laredo” just before 10:45 pm. For a band that spent 13 years away, Tomahawk sounded like they never left, and Austin made it clear the wait was worth it.
Check out the gallery below to relive the night or see what you missed.
The Melvins
Tomahawk
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