The Metal Files

Rik played in a rather large pool hall/sports bar that had a really nice stage and held about 300 people. I am pretty sure it was sold out as it was packed in there.

I got there around 6 and the doors were open at 7.

The opening band was metal cover band from San Antonio called Incoming. It was one of the worst things I have ever witnessed. The singer was awful and so was the drummer. I couldn’t wait for them to leave. For their final song, the singer says, “Anyone want to hear some Metallica?” Of course a lot of people cheered. He said, “Sweet. We’re gonna play Am I Evil.” In the brief part of silence after he said that, I shouted, “That’s a Diamondhead song, not Metallica!” I was 3 feet from the stage.  He turned around and shot an evil glare at the crowd. Funny. I was just glad that they were leaving.

Rik comes on about 45 minutes later. He walks on stage to cheers, grabs a Yamaha Pacifica guitar, walks to the mic and sings, “It’s the same old story, all over again.” The crowd went crazy, including me. I adore that song. He played almost all Triumph songs which was a bit of a let down for

Rik Emmett and his signature Dean guitar

me as he has some great solo work to choose from. I was a bit surprised that they played Allied Forces as it was a song that Gil Moore sang. The bass player took the vocals duties on this one and sounded great. I was really surprised to see that there were that many Triumph fans still around. I was very close to the stage for the first 5 songs of the show and then decided that I wanted to go and find a seat for a little while. My legs were killing me from standing all night the night before and from the wait that evening.

After the show, we were allowed backstage with our handy-dandy passes. I saw Rik’s drummer when I was walking back and said, “Great set, Randy.” The dude hugged me. “Thanks, man!” hahahaha.  I let the crowd attack Rik for a while then went up to get him to sign my book and some CD covers. I asked him to sign the book first and if he felt like it, sign some CD covers. Of course I brought 21 CD covers with me. He signed 4 of them and we chatted a bit about seeing him in 86 with Malmsteen opening up. I thanked him, hugged him and got a photo with him.

Triumph is one of my all-time favorite bands and to be able to see Rik up close and personal like that was awesome.

When I walked away, his drummer, Randy Cooke, caught me again. “You have Rik’s solo CDs with you? I want to sign them.” Of course I obliged

Me and Randy Cooke

and we talked for a long time. He is an incredible drummer and a really nice guy. One of my best friends wanted to come to the show but his job sent him to India for 2 weeks and had to miss it. I had Randy leave a message on my friend’s cellphone voicemail so that he’ll have a nice surprise when he gets back. It was a pretty funny message.

It was a great night but the drive home was getting harder as it was getting late and I was still worn out from the night before.

Setlist, in order:

Lay It On The Line
Somebody’s Out There
Saved By Love
Allied Forces
Fight The Good Fight
Midsummer’s Daydream
Acoustic jam with his guitar player
Blinding Light Show
Hold On
Clouds Across The Moon (from Swing Shift)
Drum solo
Extended electric guitar jam between Rik and his guitar player
Encore: 10 minute version of Magic Power

Rik Emmett and Me

Rik Emmett