TRIVIUM

Did they do anything different than the Vancouver show last fall vs tonight in Seattle?

Its not often that I attend a show twice on the bands same current album lifecycle.  But this time I was curious to see if the set, stage setup or performance changes.

Trivium are back to the Pacific Northwest in Seattle at the beautiful Paramount Theatre with support from Archtypes Collide, Malevolence and Beartooth.

No changes in the band personal.   We still have Matt Heafy (guitar, lead vocals), Cory Beaulieu (guitar, vocals), Paolo Gregoletto (Bass, vocals) and Alex Bent on drums.  All these guys appear to play really well together, cant see any changes here in the foreseeable future as they are gaining in popularity eveytime I see them. Even Matt gets blown away by it as he mentions during the show that when they first played Seattle it was in a small bar (likely the El Corazon) and now they damn near sell out places like the Paramount that holds close to 2800 patrons.

The white curtain is in front of the stage to add some drama and excitement as it falls, and they start with “Rain” which is a real thrasher from the 2005 Ascendancy album.  Then thereafter, another from Ascendancy with “Like the Light to the Flies”.   It was a great start that set the pace for the rest of tonight’s performance as maybe Matt wanted the vocal shredding songs out of the way (?).

One that we didn’t hear in Vancouver last fall,  (shockingly actually) was “Strife” from the Vengeance Falls album (2013).  Well, we hear that in Seattle on song 3.   I really love this song, the intro especially, where it starts with some slow guitar riffs and starts moving like a locomotive thereafter.  It was killer as it sounded outstanding in Paramount along with Matts vocals.

Finally we hear on from the latest album In the Court of the Dragon (2021) with “Feast of Fire”.   I never realized how many great songs are on that album until i heard this, and at Song 9 they do “No Way Back Just Through”.  We only get 2 from the new one, but that is about average for most bands that I see lately, especially the established ones like Trivium.

They have 10 albums in the Discography, and they have a really deep pool of songs to pull from at any given time.   Like the super heavy “Amongst the Shadows & the Stones” at song 5, “Down from the Sky” (song 6), “The Sin and the Sentence” (song 7).

Lots of crazy lighting flashing around and the same back drop we saw at the Vancouver show, so no changes there.  Same setup with the mics as both Paolo and Cory will add vocals.  Matt, like we have mentioned last fall, likes to move from mic to mic, sometimes hitting all 3 onstage or whatever one is closest to him at the time.   You don’t see many lead vocalists with guitars that do this trickery on stage.   Song 8 is “Until the World Goes Cold” and we get some snow flake like patterns on the stage which is appropriate since the song is from 2015’s “Silence in the Snow” album.

The sound is fantastic as you might expect in a place like the iconic Paramount Theatre.  If your favorite band is performing here, you better make the trip as its well worth it just for the sound.  Also the staff that work there are top notch and merch which is located in the lobby is easy to get to.  Speaking of Merch, since this was the last stop of the tour, the merch was basically T-shirts by this point.

Another fan favorite was at Song 10 with “The Heart From Your Hate” from 2017’s “The Sin and the Sentence” album.  Here we get something al little different as guitarist Josh Baines from Malevolence, is a 3^rd guitar player joining the guys on stage.    I THINK his guitar is plugged in (?), I don’t really hear much of his playing but it was all rhythm guitar parts if he was.   The left hander did add some excitement as he was headbanging and jumping around like a rockn’n’roll cheerleader.  Cory handles all the leads on this one, his playing is flawless as you might expect.  This was the most energetic performance of the night as it’s fun watching Matt swaying his hips around and jumping up and down and which reflects back on to the audience.  Such a talented front man, and is one of the most dynamic you will see live singing and playing intricate chords at the same time like it was nothing. You ever try singing and playing guitar? Its damn HARD..

However,  the one song we hear at just about all Trivium shows is next with “In Waves” at song 11.  Starting with the taped “Capsizing the Sea” at the start, this gives Matt some time to thank everyone and give some instructs to the mosh pit. It’s always a fan favorite song that ends the show with a tonne of energy with the crowd singing along to it.  Its a easy song to sing along with and the hooks and playing is off the hook catchy.  Drummer Alex bent continues to be a beast behind the kit, I watching him alot on this epic song.

They end this highly bouncy 12 song set with one of the songs that got my into them with another from Ascendency called “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr”.  Was this set alot different from the Vancouver show I saw last October on the same album?  Absolutely, only 4 songs I saw in Vancouver were played this night, so it was well worth coming down and watching them rip through 8 others I haven’t seen in awhile.  Being that this was the last show of the tour, they still put one helluva  show and are unstoppable .   So glad I made the trip, it was probably the best Trivium show I have witnessed to date.