It’s been a loooong hiatus, but the prolonged pause is over: the original lineup of Triumph, one of the most popular hard rock bands of the ’70s and ’80s, has reunited for its first tour in 30 years.
The American phase of the Canadian power trio’s itinerary includes an April 13 stop at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.
Formed in Toronto in 1975 by Rik Emmett (guitar, vocals), Mike Levine (bass, keyboards) and Gil Moore (drums, vocals), the band achieved worldwide fandom with dynamic arena stage productions, 16 albums and 25 Gold and Platinum awards and hits such as “Lay It On the Line,” “Fight the Good Fight,” “Magic Power” and “Hold On.”
In 1983, Triumph co-headlined the largest festival audience in U.S. concert history, the US Festival in California, which attracted nearly 500,000 fans. The band has been named to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and Canada’s Walk of Fame, among other honors.
The group played its final show in 2006, at a time when the chart primacy of arena rock stalwarts like Triumph had faded, with the rise of grunge, rap, country, and dance music.
After disbanding, Emmett, Levine, and Moore occupied themselves with individual pursuits. In Moore’s case, that meant focusing on his family and growing Metalworks Studios, a recording and production studio he founded in 1978. The facility has played host to a host of high-profile artists, such as Drake, Prince, Rush, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Christina Aguilera.
Hard Rock Live will be the second stop on the Rock and Roll Machine Reloaded tour, which kicks off with the band’s April 10 concert in Orlando.
Concert goers at the Hard Rock Live show are likely to see Triumph’s classic lineup onstage, joined by some additional musicians who’ve played with the band in the past. But some good fortune will be required in the case of one original member, explained Moore.
“Mike Levine is a 50-50,” he said. “He’s got some health issues, so we’re not sure if he’s going to be there, but Rick and I will be there for sure. We do have another bass player, Todd Kerns, if Mike isn’t able to make it. We’ve been rehearsing with him and we’ve played with him and we’ve really kind of augmented the band, like pretty much all of the older bands are doing. As well as Rik Emmett, we’ve got our other original guitar player, Phil X. So we have Phil and Rick together on guitar. We have a second drummer, Brent Fitz, and he also plays keyboards. So we’ll be five piece or if Mike’s able to make it, there’ll be six.”
Moore said reuniting wasn’t something he and his bandmates had been considering. That changed thanks to a 2025 request by a totally out of left field source irresistible for any red-blooded Canadian.
“We went into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in Canada,” he said. “And then the next thing we knew, the National Hockey League, for the Stanley Cup playoffs, they started playing Triumph music. Then Rogers Sportsnet, which is the biggest media company in Canada and they broadcast all the playoff games, they picked up some of our music and start building it into commercials. The next thing you knew, you couldn’t watch hockey on TV without listening to Triumph.”
Next came a request for the band to play at a Stanley Cup Finals contest between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers. Triumph performed “Lay It On The Line” before the series’ second game, held last June in Edmonton.
“Mike was unable to because he was doing an interview that day that had been booked for a long time,” said Moore. “So I asked Rick. I said, ‘Hey, do you want to do this? We don’t have Mike, so we’re going to have to get somebody else.’ He said, ‘Well, why don’t we get Phil and see what he’s doing?’”
“So one thing led to another, and I figured, you know what, if Todd’s (Kern) coming, you might as well bring Brent (Fitz) so we have another drummer. We’ll go at this with Brent and Todd, myself and Phil and Rick and see what we can do.”
Despite only having one rehearsal, the musicians jelled and performed well, despite not taking the stage together for many years.
Next came another unexpected request, this time from Live Nation, a prominent concert promoter both inside and outside the U.S., asking the band to tour America.
“I didn’t think too much of it initially, because we were happy doing what we’re doing up here in Canada,” said Moore. “But of course, when my kids found out, they were like, ‘Dad, you got to do this. This is going to be great.’ My wife said the same thing. So. I just got overwhelmed between Live Nation and my family, and I think Rick got the same treatment. Mike did too. Like everybody wanted us to do it, so you start to feel, well, we owe it to the fans. Then it became exciting once we said we would do it. It’s a real throwback to what we were doing when we were in the thick of it.”
He said performances are scheduled through June and the tour could resume in the fall.
Regarding what audiences can expect, Moore promised the band will deliver in the same fashion it did during its heyday.
“We were always known for having a lot of theatrics back in the day and we’re not going to disappoint anybody,” he said. “I mean, the technology has improved so much that our shows are going to have things that we were never able to do back in the 80s. And I will say this in terms of the firepower that we have on stage. Having Rick and Phil on guitar. I mean, you’ve got two of the best hard rock guitar players on planet Earth. Hopefully, Brent and I are going to provide the same thing on drums. Todd Kern is a rock star. I can tell you that. So we’ve got a great lineup and we’re going to play all the hits. I think everyone’s going to have a blast that comes out to see us. So we can’t wait to get together with the Florida audience we haven’t seen for so long.”
Triumph will be donating one hundred percent of the concert’s net proceeds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The nonprofit creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit casino.hardrock.com/hollywood/events/triumph
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