In the mid-80s I discovered a Canadian band called Triumph. Like another band from Canada, Rush, they were supposed to play hard rock with a progressive edge. I bought a few albums and liked what I heard.
My favourite was the live album. I remember listening to it and thinking that there was no chance whatsoever that I would ever see Triumph live. When they disbanded 88-ish my last hope went down the drain.
Fast-forward to early 2008 when the Sweden Rock Festival, one of the biggest in Europe and among artists very popular hard rock festival, announced that Triumph would play their first comeback-gig there. I had already bought a ticket so I couldn’t believe my luck.
Last Saturday 8.15 pm Triumph entered the biggest stage at Sweden Rock Festival.
Rik Emmett played Gibson Guitars exclusively through the gig, including at least two Les Paul guitars and an EDS-1275 doubleneck (same model and colour as Alex Lifeson played on the R30 tour). I thought Rik had a deal with Dean Guitars, but there you are.
Mike played a yellow Fender Jazz bass through the whole gig and would play the occasional chord on his keyboard.
Couldn’t see what kind of drums Gil played.
I guess many of you know that Dave Dunlop joined them on stage as a touring musician. He played rhythm guitar and provided most of the backing vocals where you perhaps would have expected to hear Rik or Gil singing. Mike would only use his microphone to address the audience in between songs. Dave also got to play the odd guitar solo.
Dave Dunlop’s main instrument was a Fender Stratocaster but he also used a Gibson Les Paul for a few songs.
How did they sound then? Remarkably well considering not having played together for 20 years. They had the crowd in their hands right from the start.
First song was When the Lights go down, a great start. They played many of their classics, but I missed Spelbound and some acoustic playing from Rik.
The only encore was Fight the Good Fight. The audience wanted more. Maybe they were short of time, since Poison (yuk!) was on afterwards. Perhaps just as great as another encore was to see the guys hug each other after the last song.
I’ve put together a web gallery from the concert. Enjoy!
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