Triumph Is Returning to Grand Rapids for the First Time Since the ’80s
Matt Wardlaw from 94.9 MMQ's Ultimate Classic Rock Nights recently had the opportunity to chat with Triumph's Gil Moore about the band's newly-announced show in Grand Rapids this November.
Triumph is coming to Grand Rapids. You read that right and this is not a drill.
In fact, the Canadian rock legends, known for radio anthems like “Lay it On the Line,” “Magic Power,” “Hold On” and many others, are opening the next leg of their monumentally successful reunion tour here at Van Andel Arena on Nov. 17. It will be the first time they’ve performed here in Grand Rapids with lead vocalist Rik Emmett at the helm since the ‘80s.
April Wine is also on the bill, bringing an additional stack of your favorite songs, including “Just Between You and Me,” “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” and “I Like to Rock” as part of the musical time travel adventure that you won’t want to miss.
Tickets are on sale now, and we recently spoke with Triumph drummer and vocalist Gil Moore to talk about the tour, the band’s expanded lineup and he shared his Michigan memories as well.
Gil, we’re so thrilled to see Triumph coming back to Grand Rapids.
Well, vice versa. I mean, you know, we love our friends in Michigan. It was always such a great stomping ground for us. You know, as much as Michigan is the Nuge’s territory, I guess, officially back in the day, it’s also Triumph territory. So we’re thrilled to be coming back to Grand Rapids.
For people who don’t know, some of the earlier Triumph adventures included being here in the ‘80s at the Civic Auditorium. What sort of Grand Rapids memories do you have -- or even, just memories of Michigan?
I was joking about how close it is to Ontario, with some of my friends. I just feel like it's an extension. It's their first entrance, let's say, to our American neighbors, and kind of like upstate New York in that way. And there's such a great triangle there, like Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Battle Creek.
There’s just a great trio of cities that are very close together and we played all three of them. We also played Timber Ridge back in the day, which is not all that far away, with Ozzy, which a lot of people remember, in '84 at the American Rock Festival. We just have some great memories coming across the border and we are looking forward to this run.
[Triumph performed at the American Rock Festival on May 27, 1984 at Timber Ridge Ski Area, an epic day of music that as Moore indicates, featured Triumph and Ozzy Osbourne, but also, an overload of rock and heavy metal from Accept, Ratt, Night Ranger, Motley Crue and Quiet Riot. You can see a short documentary about the festival below.]
Watch the ‘American Rock Festival’ Documentary
We were sad to lose Ozzy last year. What’s a good Ozzy memory from your side of things?
He’s really a gentle soul, you know, despite being kind of like a wild man on stage and stuff. He's a good family man and a great guy and [had a] good sense of humor too, which is really important in Triumph. Humor is a big part of what keeps us motivated on the road and, you know, laughing backstage. It was very sad to see Ozzy pass, just like seeing Dolly go this week was very sad as well. But you know, rock and roll is still alive and breathing. I know somewhere up there all our musical friends are still wanting us to keep the torch flying, so that's what we're trying to do.
I had the chance to see Triumph at the Michigan Lottery Amphitheater at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights earlier this year. Michigan music fans are diehard, but Triumph fans are also that way as well. I spoke to one guy who was wearing a vintage Triumph shirt and he told me how he’d seen you guys at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo back in 1985 on the Thunder Seven tour. I’m sure you all heard a lot of things like that during the first leg of the tour.
Well, those old memories, like you said, like Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo, [bring out] little anecdotes. I had a red Kalamazoo Wings jacket that I got from the team and I wore it [back then]. It's in a lot of old vintage pictures that are online. People see that and it's like, “How the hell is he wearing a Kalamazoo Wings jacket?”
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Well, that's the story [for us], going back to the arena and the hockey team there and so on. You hear these stories that are in people's memories. They're little tiny nuggets from the past. I have my own [memories] thinking about other bands [I was into] when I was a little kid. I was out there at that time chasing bands and trying to learn how to play drums. Those stay with you forever, kind of like sports memories -- music and sports memories, I think, really stick with us.
Most of the shows on the first leg were outdoors. This time around, many of the concerts are going to be in arenas, including the show here at Van Andel Arena. The production seems like it’s really kind of tailor-made for the arena setting. So you’ve got to be looking forward to that aspect as well.
Very much so. We're tweaking a few things like we're bringing out lasers this time, which we didn't have lasers on the first leg of the tour. But we've got some really great smoke and lasers planned on this leg. There’s some changes to the pyro lineup and a couple of tricks that we've got up our sleeves too.
You know, the band seemed to get super tight musically, so it was just like, “Okay, what can we do to tweak the production a little bit now?” I think 14 out of the 16 shows are in arenas. I always feel like when we leave the dressing room, we're like a sports team. So playing an arena feels very natural to me.
Rik had basically retired from the road prior to all of this. But here he is back out there with Triumph in 2026. It was cool seeing him sharing the stage with Phil X. The mojo and chemistry with Phil, Todd Kerns, Brent Fitz and the rest of the band has been so cool to see.
Well, you know, I never played in a band situation with two drummers, so that was a new thing for me. I never realized how much I love it, because [now] Brent and I just work so well together. Phil and Rik — I mean, those two guys just became each other's biggest fans, and are so supportive of each other and they just admire each other's playing so much.
So it's just a love fest between those guys on stage every night and Brent and I are kind of the same way. We’re trading licks back and forth and then Brent will [also] play keyboards because he's a great keyboard player. When he's on keyboards, I'll play drums by myself. Then the next thing you know he plays drums by himself and I go out front and I'm the lead singer all of a sudden, which I couldn't really do very well back when we were a trio.
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So it's opened up some opportunities, and I'll say this too: Brent has got a perspective into drums that he shares with me. So it's great to be able to be in the dressing room to actually have another drummer [to talk with] or [be] on the bus and say, “Hey man, did you check this out? Like, what do you think of this?”
We can talk about rhythms or talk about stick control things or whatever. I guess guitar players have had that. At least a lot of bands have two guitar players, but not very many bands have two drummers. And yeah, I really like it like that. The flexibility that it gave me was a real surprise.
We lost Frank Beard of ZZ Top recently. What did you appreciate about Frank and the ZZ guys as a music fan?
They’re a fantastic band. You know, there's just nothing about Frank or ZZ Top that I don't like. People that know me personally know that when I'm in the car with my family and my daughter says, "Dad, what do you want to hear on the radio?” We're on a long drive and I go, "ZZ Top,” instantly, first choice before Led Zeppelin.
There’s something about Billy Gibbons’ grinding guitar and his voice that just grabs me. And of course, if you're the drummer and you're supporting what I'll call that greasiness that he's got in his guitar playing, that takes a special feel and a special player to sit behind that groove and work with it.
Frank Beard did an unbelievable job and also had some of the most unbelievable kits. The last kit that he was using, the gentleman that actually put that together did some of the work on the kits on the Reloaded tour as well. But yeah, we're sure gonna miss Frank.
Link to additional information about Triumph's Nov. 17 show at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids here.
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