When your band is in-between albums, what’s the next best option for a tour?
Over the past 15 or so years, it is getting to be a common occurrence for bands to do a full album on tour. Like what do you do right? I mean you milked your 4 year old album to death all over the world, but need to go on tour to pay the bills or pay for a future album. I remember back in 2013 in Vancouver when I saw Anthrax do it with Among the Living, it was fantastic to see them perform every song, good or bad (there isn’t a bad one on that album). Nowadays, we see the older bands doing this quite frequently, not only Anthrax, but Testament, Slayer, Exodus and many others have done this to keep on the road. Add Trivium and Bullet for my Valentine to that list, as they continue their wildly successful Poisoned Ascendancy Tour at the PNE in Vancouver with support from Sylosis and August Burns Red.
This tour is a co-headlining tour, as both metalcore bands share the top bill as this is the first date of the North American tour. It was advertised for the longest time as Bullet for my Valentine would be last up on the bill but we saw that change a view days prior with Trivium taking top spot. How do they decide this? A coin flip? Does it matter? Well, depends how you look at it, as tonight Bullet will play 14 songs (all of Poison, and a couple others) and Trivium will do 12 from their 2nd album from 2005, Ascendency, so likely all based on time anyway. This is a completely stacked bill with 4 uber talented bands, so nobody is leaving the show feeling ripped off.
As for Trivium, no lineup changes in many years, with Matt Heafy (lead vocals, guitar), Cory Beaulieu (backing vocals, guitar), Paolo Gregoletto (backing vocals, bass) and Alex bent (drums).
Trivium start their set with a taped version of “The End of Everything” then come out with a blistering performance of “Rain”, and if that wasn’t enough, song 2 is the heavy weight with “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr”. Both songs were done precisely, and why not? I mean they should, as they performed this tour in Europe last year with the same songs. They could do them in their sleep I am sure.
They had a massive blowup of the menacing skull like Ibaraki figure behind the kit, which took mere minutes to pump up, but looked really sick as a backdrop. Reminded me when Amon Amarth which does the same idea with a dragon. Lights were good, but not too extravagant. The sound in this large hall, was powerful, louder, and fuller than we have ever heard Trivium perform at any Vancouver venue. How can Trivium ever play a small club again after we have been all spoiled by this setup.
On a regular tour cycle, they would likely do either “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” or “Gunshot to the Head of Intrepidation”, so hearing “Like Light to Flies”, “Ascendency” ,“Suffocating Sight”, “Departure or “Declaration” is quite the treat if you are a hardcore Trivium fan. Typically most bands have the lesser quality songs near the end of the album, which means hearing these is new again.
The last time Trivium was in Vancouver was in 2022 at the Vogue theatre. This is close to a sold out show of over 4000 people, so easily the largest headline show they have ever played in Vancouver. When Matt is doing his ringmaster show voice, he mentioned that the last time they were here was when he had the birth of his twins to attend to. At time, he had to exit the tour, so they subbed in Howard Jones on vocals and youtuber Jared Dines doing guitar. Well, sorry Matt, I fact checked that, and that was actually in 2018. That was a unique show however, as Johannes Eckerstrom of Avatar sang “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” as well as “Strife”.
After the 11 songs from Ascendancy were completed, we did get a familiar bonus at the end for an encore. OF COURSE, it was to be “In Waves”, likely Trivium’s most popular upbeat songs, which has the sweaty fans jumping and moshing in the pit one last time. Speaking of the mosh pit, I have to say I was quite impressed with Vancouver’s participation. I would have to say this was one of the best shows I have seen in awhile with the mosh pit, as it was churning fast with hundreds involved at times. With this stacked bill tonight, they got their steps in I am sure as all the bands were on top of their game. This is a tour everyone is going to love, the classic album Ascendancy in full, yes please! Definitely is a must see tour of 2025, if you can get a ticket, GO!
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