The Metal Files

I’ve been a triumph fan since the early 80s. Best I can remember I found a cassette of Progressions of Power in the cutout bin for $0.25 around 1981. I was hooked forever.

I first got to see them in 1986 on the Sport of Kings tour with Yngwie opening and that was a pretty special night in general as it was the first time I’d met a few folks that became lifelong friends and even bandmates at some point. It was a great show but it was the only time I caught them live unfortunately. I moved to Austin in November 2006 and got to see Rik Emmett solo in San Antonio at Tiffany Billiards in February 2007. That was the first paid meet and greet ($50!) I had ever done and was totally worth it to get his sig in The Book.

Triumph was pretty much done forever it seemed and they put out a good documentary a couple of years ago that I was hoping would spark enough interest in a tour. In 2025 they played the fan park at the Edmonton Oilers stadium and announced an upcoming tour around that time. I was stoked.

As soon as tix were getting announced I automatically looked into the meet and greet as I wanted to get Gil Moore and Mike Levine in The Book. The price for that was around $850. You read that correctly. $850. This is an all time favorite band and pretty much the only chance I’d get to attain those signatures. So I said “fuck it” and bought the ticket. Ouch.

It was announced pretty early that Levine’s appearances would be few and far between and I was hoping San Antonio would be one of them since that’s where they got their start in the US.

Day of show I take off work early and drive to San Antonio to beat traffic. I had plenty of time to spare until the 6pm checking and grabbed a burger and Sam’s Burger Joint. First time there and it was a fine burger. I headed over to the Frost Bank Center, park and just do some work and doom scroll for a bit.

I mosey over to the check in and it was a mess in general. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to get in with The Book as the bag I carry it in was slightly oversized. I ran into my buddy Juan and were discussing the meet and greet, the show and just general catching up. The bag gets thru no problem and I’m stoked. We check in, get the swag and a stamp that allows a few of us to see the band’s traveling museum. It was cool for what it was but very small. We got to shop merch ahead of gates and I was pleased to see a Texas only shirt.

After that, they herd us to one section of the venue, then moved us to another section. Then to another. It was a real clusterfuck especially as they had opened doors to the public. Finally we get herded to the bowels of the venue and I put myself last in line. The Live Nation rep starts going into details of the m&g and finishes with “no personal autographs”. lol wut? I asked her to come over and showed her The Book and explained blah blah blah. “No signatures and please don’t ask them.” Ugh.

There were about maybe 20 of us total and we got brought in the room 2×2 to shake hands and get a photo with the band. Juan is ahead of me and when it’s my turn, I shake hands with the band with The Book in my hand. Rik asked what it was and I showed him his signature. Phil X was asking questions about it. So I said, “I was hoping to get Gil to sign it but they said no personal autographs” and Gil says, “yes, that’s right.” I was pretty frustrated and said “So I spent almost $1000 for a photograph? Cool.” Surely I sounded like a total choad but that was that. They took the picture with me holding The Book and I’m sure my face will tell the story when they post them. I was pretty deflated.

We get herded to our seats and I’m on the first row in the first section stage left. Almost ln the floor without being on the floor. A couple of minutes pass and one of the band crew walks up and says, “Give me The Book” and I say “for what?!” He says, “I’m taking it backstage to get Gil to sign it.” He said Gil felt bad and he had to follow Live Nation’s policy since they were paying the band for this. I was stunned. I handed him The Book and my sharpie and the page was already bookmarked. That book has only been out of my sight twice before and I was really nervous about it. A few minutes later he comes back, opens to the page and shows me the sig. I’m not gonna lie, I got a little choked up. I thanked the guy, offered him a tip and he waved me off, shook my hand and said, “Gil said thanks you for coming. Triumph cares about their fans.” Squeaky wheel gets the grease sometimes. Lemme tell ya something, nothing else really mattered after that. Nothing.

I chill in my seat and the lights go down for April Wine who I’d never seen before. They were great and seeing Just Between You and Me and Sign of the Gypsy Queen live was great. The whole band was killer.

After they finished I went to the outer ring hoping to be able to run The Book and swag out to the truck but no ins and outs. Ok. Back to my seat and Boys are Back In Town starts then transitions in Time Canon and a short video. The band opens to When the Lights Go Down, Somebody’s Out There and Spellbound. The way they’re set up now is that Gil and the other drummer are pretty much playing together on most of the songs. A couple were just Gil or just the other guy. Phil X, who replaced Rik and played on the Final album handled 2nd guitar, lots of backing vocals and some lead vocals. Rik is 72 and Gil is 73 and they were both better than expected. Gil was out front singing solo on Rocky Mountain Way and some other stuff and his voice still sounded strong as did Rik’s. The set had pretty much everything you’d expect from a hits driven tour and while we didn’t get Mike Levine, the new guy was great and his vocals were top notch. Rik didn’t play every solo but it didn’t detract from anything for me. It was cool that Phil X did a snippet of Little Texas Shaker.

I love Triumph and have most of my life. It was a great show and I’m glad I went. I didn’t expect to Have Rik and Gil on stage as much as we did and that was a pleasant surprise.

I don’t see another paid m&g in my immediate future but I’m glad that Gil and that roadie came thru for me. I’ll never forget it.

Never Surrender.