Triumph and April Wine @ Darien Lake PAC, Darien Center, NY 6-3-26

The show that so many fans been waiting for finally came to fruition this past Wednesday night at Darien Lake PAC. Triumph along with April Wine played before 7,000 appreciative fans. Besides playing a 3 song set for fans in 2019 and 2 shows in 2008, Triumph have not done a proper tour in 33 years. When the tour was announced, it wasn’t sure if bassist Mike Levine’s health would prevent him or not from joining the band at all on this tour. So, the band enlisted former member Phil X on guitar, Brent Fitz on drums and Todd Kerns on bass. They are dubbing this the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Machine Reloaded” Tour.

First up was April Wine. April Wine have also gone through significant lineup changes a well. Original vocalist Myles Goodwyn passed away back in December of 2023. New vocalist Marc Parent joined the legendary Canadian rock outfit a year before. Longtime member Brian Greenway is still on lead guitar and the rest of the band is rounded out with Richard Lanthier on bass and Roy Nichol on drums. April Wine took the stage at 8pm sharp and really grabbed and held the audiences attention for the 45 minutes the played for. They opened up with “I Like to Rock” off of the ‘Harder….Faster’ album. The hits kept coming with “Enough is Enough” “Just between You and Me” and “Sign of the Gypsy Queen.” Vocalist Parent did a superb job leading this current version of the band. They sounded great and gave the WNY fans everything and then some in the shortened set they played.

As anticipated built before Triumph took the stage, the Thin Lizzy song “The Boys are Back in Town” played. Triumph took the stage at 9:10pm with a full ensemble in tow. Both Rik Emmett and Phil X on guitar, Gil Moore and Brent Fitz on drums and Todd Kerns on bass. The appropriate song “When the Lights Go Down” from 1982’s ‘Never Surrender’ album opened the show. There was a big accompanying video screen backdrop that had some amazing graphics shown at various points of the set. Everyone had an integral part of this show. On some songs, Moore and Fitz were a two headed drum attack machine. For other songs, Moore was left behind the kit while Fitz went behind the keyboards for a couple of songs (2nd and 3rd songs of the set to be specific). Moore also came out to sing a few leads; “Rock and Roll Machine” and “Rocky Mountain Way” and and also came out from behind the kit at various points to address the crowd too. Kerns sang lead on “Spellbound” and Phil X sang lead on “Allied Forces.” There were some other parts of songs that Emmett had Phil X sing on as well. There was always something going visually during the show. Whether it was different members singing, exiting the stage at times (Emmett and Moore did exit at times) or what was going on with the amazing graphics on the video screen. There was no down time during the almost 2 hour show that the band did. There were sentimental parts of the show too. Emmett himself has had a deep connection to the WNY area by playing a multitude of solo shows there over the last 30 years. He addressed that before the band went into “Spellbound.” At various times throughout the performance you had fireworks go off too. This show had everything. The band worked on delivering the songs in a way that can be presentable and respectable to the original recordings. The sound that came off was simply amazing. You can tell how hard they worked to ensure that the legacy of was not harmed in any way.

Emmett and Moore didn’t hide the fact that in order for Triumph to move forward that they would need to have the sound filled out on a bigger level. Having Phil X, Fitz and Kerns just did that. The harmonies were full and the lead vocals were terrific too. Triumph and April Wine delivered a spectacular rock show at Darien Lake this past Wednesday night. Triumph had only a few shows left to play on the original set of dates. Let’s hope they add more as everyone I’m sure would love to see the band firing on all cylinders right now.

Triumph Setlist:

When the Lights Go Down

Somebody’s Out There

Spell Bound

Hold On

Allied Forces

Blinding Light Child/Moonchild

Rock and Roll Machine

Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh cover)

Never Surrender

Lay it On the Line

Follow Your Heart (24 Hours a Day intro)