Hard 20 |
TriumphLive At The US Festival Remember the US Festival? It was a HUGE rock festival held in Southern California during the Memorial Day weekend of 1983, this year being the twentieth anniversary of that event (I unfortunately was unable to make it, as I was only 13 at the time and lived on the east coast! Bummer!) Tons of bands played at it, all the heavy metal ones playing on that Sunday, including Ozzy, Van Halen, the Scorpions, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, and these classic Canadian rockers, Triumph. Triumph were a household name among hard rock fans in the 80's, and this is a never before released recording of their US Festival performance. A short DVD is included with the CD, which is actually a taster for a full length DVD, to be released separately, of Triumph's US performance. On the CD, Triumph performs nine of their classics (one of which, "Follow Your Heart", included as a bonus track, was recorded at a later date, as this song came out about a year after US, on the "Thunder Seven" album). Most hard rock/classic rock fans should be familiar with Triumph, and know that they are a hard rocking, talented band, who have released many quality rock albums, playing classic style, melodic hard rock, and they sure sound like they can kick some booty in concert! Frontman Rik Emmett is a very good singer and guitarist, and his two cronies, drummer Gil Moore and bassist Mike Levine, are also very good at their respective jobs. They were a very powerful power trio, and they rock their way through all the tunes on this album and sound good live. The audience sure sounds like they dug them! My only complaint is that they cut a couple of the songs short. In the middle of "World Of Fantasy", the suddenly decide to start playing "Rock And Roll Machine", which they end after Rik's lengthy guitar solo, not finishing the song. Aside from that, this is an enjoyable live recording of a classic hard rock band at a legendary festival. If anyone (like me!) missed out on the US Festival, them this (and the DVD) will at least give you a feel of what it was like. A piece of rock history! The bonus DVD that comes with "Live At The US Festival" features Triumph performing three of their classics live in concert. The first one is them playing "Fight The Good Fight" at US. The other two are songs from the '84 "Thunder Seven" album, "Follow Your Heart" and "Spellbound". On both these songs, drummer Gil Moore sings lead, and we get a look at Triumph's stage show, featuring some (for the time) high tech lighting and lasers, one of the things Triumph was well known for. As I mentioned earlier, they are talented band who perform(ed) well live (and was a good laugh to see them in their striped spandex! Rik Emmett looked like a walking candy cane! Ah, the 80s!), and their shows look like they really rocked! |