Concert Review: Triumph and April Wine at Darien Lake Amphitheater in Darien Center, NY

Mark Kurtzner
13 hours ago
7 min read

Photos by Mark Kurtzner

Review by John Moore

Rock band performs on a large lit stage before a screen reading THE ROCK & ROLL MACHINE, with drums, amps, and smoke. — Triumph

It’s always fun, in rock journalism, to make and debate lists when discussing genres of music. You know: 50 greatest guitarists, Top 500 albums of all time, Big 4 of thrash metal, stuff like that. If there was a “Big 3” of Canadian hard rock – and I’m not talking the later 80s wave all-out heavy metal like Anvil, Exciter and Razor, but old-school, vintage hard rock – you’d almost certainly have to put Rush as #1 - they were the biggest, longest-lasting, and sold the most albums. But my vote for the other two bands of Canada’s “Big 3” of vintage heavy rock were at Darien Lake Amphitheater on June 3: Triumph and April Wine. This tour – which began in Florida in April, wound its way across Canada in early May and then moved into the Midwest and eastern US in later May and into June – is nearly over. Darien Lake, located between Rochester and Buffalo in Upstate NY, and only a few hours from these bands’ native land, and was the fourth-to-last gig of this current tour, which had only a couple shows in Boston and one on Long Island remaining before the tour finishes in Montreal, QC on June 10.

Darien Lake Amphitheater is a nice ‘shed’-type venue, a covered pavilion-type theater that holds just under 6500, and a large bowl-hill type lawn area that brings the capacity up to around 21,000. Triumph pretty much packed the ‘reserved seat’ portion out, with the remaining lawn area maybe 1/5 full. The weather was fairly perfect. The crowd was largely made up of 50-and-60-somethings who’d been there for Triumph’s radio and arena-packing peak years of the late 70s and early mid 80s. A few people brought kids and there was a smattering of younger folks.

Both bands have long, successful histories. Like Rush, each band’s biggest record was released in 1981: for Triumph it was ‘Allied Forces’ (their fifth record), for April Wine, ‘The Nature of the Beast’ (their ninth - and to close the loop, for Rush it was ‘Moving Pictures’, also released in ’81). Both ‘Allied Forces’ and ‘The Nature of the Beast’ were platinum records in the U.S., each with two bonafide radio hits (“Magic Power” and “Fight the Good Fight” for Triumph, “Just Between You and Me” and “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” for April Wine), both bands had continued success afterwards (AW did well with ‘Power Play’, Triumph hit gold in the U.S. with ‘Never Surender’), but classic lineups had broken up and mainstream success faded by the end of the 80s. But everything comes back around, and this double-bill of classic north-of-the-border heavy rock is doing great business.

The venue doors opened and 7 pm and April Wine hit the stage at 8 pm, so the first half of their opening set was the soundtrack to people finding their seats and buying their t- shirts and onerously Live Nation-priced beers. April Wine 2026 is not the 5-piece lineup that recorded ‘The Nature of the Beast’ – only guitarist Brian Greenway remains from the ‘classic lineup’ – supplemented by guitarist/vocalist Marc Parent (who had been hand-picked by April Wine leader Myles Goodwyn as his replacement before Goodwyn’s sad death in 2023), plus bassist Richard Lantheir and drummer Roy Nichol.

AW kicked off the show with the slow-building but rousing “I Like to Rock’, from their killer 1979 ‘Harder … Faster’ LP right into rocker “Anything You Want, You’ve Got It” from the ’82 ‘Power Play’ record. Marc Parent’s voice is great; he sounds just like Myles did.

Most of the band’s set relied on their ’79 – ’82 period, including catchy hard rocker “All Over Town” (from the aforementioned ‘The Nature of the Beast’), the melodic “Say Hello” and Brain Greenway-sung “Before the Dawn” (also from ‘Harder … Faster’). About halfway through their 45-minutes set, the earworm “Enough is Enough” (again from ‘Power Play’) was the first song to get an audible reaction from the crowd. The only track from their earlier-70s ‘Aquarius Records’ years was a grooving cover of Hot Chocolate’s “You Could’ve Been a Lady” (originally recorded by April Wine in 1972 on their second album ‘On Record’), also well-received. April Wine wrapped up their 10- song set with hit ballad “Just Between You and Me” (which despite its status of the ‘prom song of 81-82’ got a more muted reaction), before the band ramped up with “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” to a big cheer. The crowd was on their feet for the set-closing, pummeling boogie-rocker “Roller” (from 1978’s ‘First Glance’). A great opening set, but you’d think they’d have gotten more engagement from the crowd if the doors hadn’t opened shortly before they played.

It’s kind of amazing how long Triumph have been away from the U.S. arena rock circuit. You forget how huge they were at that time, how often you’d hear “Hold On”, “Lay it on the Line”, “Fight the Good Fight”, “Magic Power” and “World of Fantasy” on US rock radio. Along with Ozzy, Judas Priest, Rush, Van Halen, etc., they were hard rock kings, at the top of their game. At the enormous US Festival in 1983, Triumph stole the show from a drunken David Lee Roth and Van Halen, on a day that featured competition such as Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Scorpions, Ozzy and Priest. They were gigantic in those years. To be sure, as trends changed and record sales dropped through the 80s, especially after singer/guitarist Rik Emmett left the band (to be replaced by Phil X for one album), they faded as a major force in rock, but at their peak, Triumph were huge.

But oddly, unlike so many other bands from that era, nostalgia for Triumph through the 90s into the new century was not widespread as many of their peers, and other than a handful of dates in 2008, and assorted philanthropic efforts over the years, there was no reunion, and the band was clear that they were not coming back.

That all changed in recent years, prompted by a successful 2021 documentary (‘Rock’n’Roll Macine’) and then more recently in 2025, when the band (drummer/vocalist Gil Moore and Emmett, supplanted by Emmett’s 90s replacement Phil X on guitar/supporting vocals, and Todd Kerns and Brent Fitz on bass and drums, respectively, both members of Slash’s band, amongst others) played “Lay it on the Line” at a Stanley Cup finals pre-game. The ‘Rock & Roll Machine Reloaded’ reunion tour was announced at the end of ’25. Bassist Mike Levine was intended to play shows when able – due to health issues, he has not yet on this tour and wasn’t there in Darien Lake.

My memories of seeing Triumph as a kid was that it was a big, loud, bombastic rock show, and 2026 Triumph did not disappoint. You could almost feel the raw anticipation in the amphitheater as the intro music (fittingly, Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town”) played, and the place exploded as the lights went down for (again, fittingly) “When the Lights Go Down” (from ‘82’s ‘Never Surrender”). The stage show was huge, lights, video screens, all five band members ranging the stage.

To be sure, Triumph 2026 is a different approach from the power trio of old. The band have been open about the fact that the three new guys – black-clad, hirsute rock’n’roll pros who do what they do exceedingly well – were there to prop up the band and help Triumph be as powerful as in days of yore. It worked great. On some songs, Moore and Fitz were a two-drum attack. On other songs, Gil drummed alone while Brent played keyboards (as on songs #2 and #3, later-80s hit “Somebody’s Out There” and ‘Thunder Seven’ rocker “Spellbound”). On other tracks Gil came out front to sing and left Brent to drum alone. Todd sang “Spellbound”, Phil sang the traditionally Gil-sung standard “Allied Forces”, and Rik let him take several verses on other songs. And both Rik and Gil left the stage entirely for a song each, leaving the other to lead the charge with the new guys.

By song #4 we were into almost all hits and standards: Emmett gave a brief soliloquy about the classic-era “three musketeers” (giving many props to the absent Mike Levine, whose image featured frequently on video screens) and huge hit “Hold On” from ‘Just a Game’ ramped the crowd right back up (with Gil Moore stepping offstage for that song). Gil returned behind the drums for headbanging rocker “Allied Forces” (sung by Phil X in his stead), before the band indulged in first-album deep track (and live standard) “Blinding Light Show”, with Rik taking center stage.

It was just strength to strength after that, with the crowd loving it: “Rock’n’Roll Machine” was a blazing heavy rocker, as ever, and the Joe Walsh cover “Rocky Mountain Way” kept the vibe going (with Emmett stepping offstage for most of it, but returning for a ripping guitar duel with Phil). It must be said – although Moore and Emmett deferred to the new guys for vocals, solos and instrumental breaks on and off through the show (Phil even leading a call-and-response with the crowd at one point), Gil still sings and plays great, and Rik’s solos were jaw-dropping – truly, what a guitar player the man is – and while he can’t hit the paint-peeling high notes as in the old days, the backup guys filled the holes perfectly. Sure, complainers will complain and moaners will moan about it not being the ‘original three’, but they delivered in the new 5-piece format.

Sixth album title-track “Never Surrender” followed, and the place erupted again with “Lay it on The Line”. An intro version of first-album jam “24 Hours a Day” lad into another ‘Thunder Seven’ at-the-time hit “Follow Your Heart” (although the energy ebbed slightly) before the regular set finished with another one of their enormous hits, “Magic Power”.

The encore closed, of course, with their biggest song: “Fight the Good Fight”, which brought the house down, the crowd in their thousands howling every word, the returned northern heroes triumphant.

Triumph brought the goods, an astoundingly successful return to action. All hail.