Rock & Roll Machine Reloaded?
More like “Retooled,” as Mississauga progressive hard rockers Triumph shook off the cobwebs for their 50th anniversary tour and played a large scale concert in Toronto Friday night for the first time in decades (there was a three-song reunion performance at Metalworks Studio in 2019 to an invite-only crowd to be included in the 2021 Banger Films documentary “Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine”).
However, if the estimated 13,000 hardcore fans at Scotiabank Arena thought they were going to witness a prototype display of the guitar/bass/drum format that served the band after Gil Moore and Mike Levine recruited guitarist Rik Emmett in ‘75, spawning nine albums that sold millions and culminated with headlining festival appearances at 1978’s Canada Jam and 1983’s US Festival, they weren’t only mistaken, but in shock.
First, the unfortunate reality: aging, and the health issues that can sadly accompany it, have pretty much nixed original bassist and keyboardist Levine, 76, from the live lineup, leaving drummer Moore, 73, and six-string specialist Emmett, 72, to soldier on.
Conversely, the duo aren’t alone: an all-Canadian trio of drummer and keyboardist Brent Fitz (Slash, Theory Of A Deadman), bassist and singer Todd Kerns (The Age of Electric, Slash) and former Triumph and current Bon Jovi guitarist, Mississauga’s own Phil “X” Xenidis, have been parachuted in to supplement the roster for these 27 North American dates — and their roles are more than hired guns.
Both X — who initially joined the band in 1992 following Emmett’s acrimonious 1988 departure — and Kerns also provided lead vocals on songs usually handled either by Emmett or Moore. Kerns cashed in his lead vocal chips as early as the third song, “Spellbound,” as well as “Follow Your Heart” in the nearly two-hour, 14-song set, while X took charge on “Allied Forces.”
Although Triumph had been performing as a four-piece with the addition of Rick Santers on axe and keys from 1986 through 1993 , this increase to five for showmanship’s sake was the right move.
The two-stickman approach gave Moore the flexibility to emerge from behind his kit to sing the occasional lead and wander around the stage, and the two-axeman tactic gave the dexterous Emmett a foil in the equally intricate X, as they traded licks and impressed one another with their nimble fingers.
For the record, Rik Emmett has lost none of his speed or his capacity: his accelerated solo spotlight that acted as a bridge within “Rock & Roll Machine” demonstrated his jazz licks and a passage of Edvard Grieg’s “In The Hall Of The Mountain King” to cover the classical discipline portion of his versatility. He played a variety of instruments, from the V-shaped electric for “Allied Forces” to the double neck on “Never Surrender” to acoustic on “Fight The Good Fight.”
Whatever one might think of Triumph’s music, Emmett has always been a tasteful artisan of his fretted renderings — and with the fuller sound offered by his other four compatriots, the high octane rock was at its peak delivery and doused with a vibrant energy that pleased the band’s faithful to no end.
Here’s the other shocker: technology has come a long, long way since the days Triumph impressed their audiences with big light shows and pyro. For this edition, the band has incorporated some outstanding graphics and CGI animated videos, offering numerous picturesque landscapes that bordered on sci-fi.
Colourful, beautiful vistas served as backdrops throughout the concert, occasionally interspersed with photos and archived film of the original trio as they evolved from the bar-and-high-school circuit to a vastly in-demand concert attraction, also inserting plenty of footage of Mike Levine to assert his importance to the band of brothers.
Friday night’s show wasn’t flawless by any means: prior to Triumph taking the stage and launching into “When The Lights Go Down,” a big green animated face I can only call “The Wizard of Blahs” appeared, asking the crowd, “Where am I” and “Who are you?” before announcing that “the machine looks ready” and giving way to the band. Still not sure what that Spinal Tap moment was supposed to signify.
And when Moore took the mic to sing a cover of the Joe Walsh classic “Rocky Mountain Way” — an important song in the Triumph annals because it was the band’s first international radio hit, compelling RCA to acquire their first two albums from Canada’s Attic Records and establishing the trio in the U.S. — he sounded wobbly in terms of pitch, often subbing attitude for melodic accuracy.
The set list was packed full of positive messages that were usually wrapped in the philosophy of putting on a show (“Blinding Light Show,” “Rock & Roll Machine,” “Magic Power,” “Follow Your Heart”) and how music often plays the role of saviour to those who believe.
Triumph gave their fans plenty to believe in, supplying a performance that perhaps they always desired to give, but couldn’t due to technical restrictions back in their heyday.
This thrilling, bells-and-whistles production is their best yet.
It’s not without irony that opener April Wine is in its 56th year of existence, although Myles Goodwyn, the band’s founder, singer and songwriter died back in 2023.
It’s again sobering to realize that many legacy bands no longer have original members touring due to illness, mortality or retirement. In April Wine’s case, guitarist Brian Greenway is the sole link to the Goodwyn era, even though singer and guitarist Marc Parent was given the late founder’s blessing when he signed on back in 2022.
While Parent doesn’t possess the honeydew tenor of Goodwyn, he does perform the hits well — and Friday, there were a stack of them sung back-to-back over 35 minutes — ”Oowatanite” and “You Could Have Been A Lady” from the ‘70s and “I Like To Rock” and Lorence Hud’s “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” from the ‘80s, to justify the standing ovation they received at the end of their set.
That also applied to both Canadian Music Hall Of Fame appointees who also appear Saturday night at Hamilton’s TD Coliseum.
The crowd loved them.
