Crucial Velocity At 50: Classic CanCon Rockers Reload The Rock ‘N Roll Machine For Another Wild Ride At The Canadian Tire Center On May 2, 2026

Running motors!
Highway life!
And still looking for adventure!

Two of Canada’s most prolific names in hard rock brought their sweet rides out to the CTC and made a popular name for themselves amongst both their newfound and longtime fans – particularly those same fans experiencing at least one of these same names performing for the first time.

But before I commence with the review, I must bring attention to the recent passing of one Chris McNamara aka xopher68, a veteran KNAC chatroom alumnus whose presence and love of rock ‘n roll wasn’t just felt in the hallowed columns of our online place of chat, but also within the video of a well-known hit by one of the bands. Meanwhile, follow this review for an otherwise hearty night of heavy CanCon hard rock.

DING!
DING!
DING!
DING!

As a fiery hi-hat cymbal sounds off across the venue, co-headliners APRIL WINE open their set with “Oowatanite”. They may have about an extra decade or so on the esteemed headliners in terms of the number of years they’ve existed as a band but can anyone think of a more deserving co-headliner for this tour? And not just because APRIL WINE are now essentially an Ottawa-based band with more than half of its current lineup residing here, so the convenience of just ringing the band up to open this gig made sense not just logistically-speaking, but they are also a live band that rarely disappoints. That said, with my second time seeing them in the last eight months back when they played with BTO and the HEADPINS at TD Place during my ahem paid working concert, there wasn’t much of a big deviation from both shows. The setlist was pretty much the same as the TD Place show but the energy of the band, comprised of BrianGreenway (vocals/guitar), Richard Lanthier (bass), Roy Nichol (drums) and Marc Parent (guitar), is consistently undeniable. Their original material such as “I Like To Rock”, “Enough Is Enough” and “Roller” are always bonafide classics alongside their sharp choice renditions of “You Could Have Been A Lady”, “Sign Of The Gypsy Queen” and the groovy-sounding “Bad Side Of The Moon”; indeed, when APRIL WINE choose a song to cover, they not only personify their version, but they choose the less obvious choice, opting only for the deepest of the deepest classic cuts. Would their late mentor/colleague Myles Goodwyn allow for a too close-sounding version of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” instead of the swaying jam of “Bad Side OfThe Moon”? Or even a less convincingly-sounding attempt at “You Sexy Thing” in place of the bouncy “You Could Have Been A Lady”? Maybe, but with my own nerdy Mystery Science Theater 3000-sounding suggestion that Myles Goodwyn would open either song with “I’m Myles Goodwyn and I’m about to get fun-KAY!” each time. And that suggestion would – and should – be absolutely voted down by any saneperson within the AW camp despite the brief moment of comedy relief. So, heading into their 57th year as a band, it’s safe to say that APRIL WINE still know what they’re doing all of these years, including paying homage to their fallen brother Myles Goodwyn as both Brian Greenway and Marc Parent encourage the crowd to hoist their phone flashlights towards the stratosphere as the band plays the bilingual-friendly “Just Between You And Me” in a sea of bright lights.

Long may APRIL WINE reign in CanCon history.

https://aprilwine.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/AprilWineOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/aprilwineband/

Setlist:

“Oowatanite”
“You Could Have Been A Lady”(HOT CHOCOLATE cover)
“Say Hello”
“I Like To Rock”
“Enough Is Enough”
“Just Between You And Me”
“Sign OfThe Gypsy Queen”(LORENCE HUD cover)
“Bad Side OfThe Moon” (ELTON JOHN cover)
“Roller”

Lights!
Powerful magic!
Guest appearances!
And puttin’ it all out there!

There was a reason as to why Canada’s other winning classic power trio were bestowed with the moniker of TRIUMPH (though it’s heavily rumored that the band name was inspired by the famous British motorcycle of the same name). Their fusion of Rik Emmett’s neo-classical playing style and hard rock riffs with Mike Levine’s bottom-end bass and Gil Moore’s progressive styled drumming on all ten of their full-length studio albums has earned them many accolades over the years, ranging from countless Juno Awards to even having their own street named after them in their homebase of Mississauga – and a high demand for their return to play back on a Canadian stage for the first time in 38 years.

There was one noticeable difference though – specifically, three in total, as the whole Rock ‘N Roll Machine Reloaded tour was not just billed as the highly-touted return of TRIUMPH after their last attempted comeback back in 2008 was a grand total of two appearances at both the Sweden Rock Festival and Rocklahoma and little else by way of a live DVD, but also as a surprise gathering of guest appearances. In other words, with bassist Mike Levine unable to commit to the tour due to rumored health issues, both Rik and Gil were able to group a series of similarly established musicians worthy of the caliber of TRIUMPH’s hard rock in the form of bassist Todd Kerns, drummer Brent Fitz (SLASH, TOQUE) and second guitarist Phil X – with the last inclusion as part of that same proverbial machine already being a reliable and vital component of TRIUMPH’s sound as he had played on the band’s last studio album Edge Of Excess back in 1992 following Rik’s own departure that same year; the band would later disband after their label Polygram Records went bankrupt and remained otherwise largely dormant up until they got the call to take part in a pre-game performance alongside then-headliners the GLORIOUS SONS in Edmonton to commemorate the Oilers making the 2025 NHL finals against the Florida Panthers. Both Brent Fitz and Todd Kerns had subbed for Mike Levine on that performance at the last minute when the latter had a doctor’s appointment and were immediately offered his slot on the forthcoming tour with the longtime bassist’s own blessing, which brings us to here.

As the two screens on opposite side of the stage displayed a well-choreographed montage of the band’s ten studio albums to much rapturous applause before the quintet took the stage to the stomping rock groove of “When The Lights Go Out” sung by Gil Moore on his kit, a whole new generation of ardent TRIUMPH fans immediately saw their live bucket list grow shorter. Exiting his drumkit and letting Brent Fitz handle the remaining tubthumping duties on the track, Gil is almost like the CanCon 70’s version of Dave Grohl as he continues singing the song like the born frontman he’s discovered himself to be without missing a beat. With his longtime colleague Rik Emmett alongside him casually trading riffs with Phil X, Gil may act as TRIUMPH’s proverbial carefree wild man onstage, but he’s also the main curator of the stage set-up and its production as well as the guy who made this whole reunion possible. Nevertheless, it was Rik who was the true voice of the TRIUMPH classics such as “Somebody’s Out There”, “Hold On”, “Spellbound”, “Magic Power” and “Lay It On The Line”, but he also was fine with ceding control of the vocals over to Phil X, who brought the fire to the deeper and heavier cuts such as “Allied Forces” and “Rock & Roll Machine”. Even the prog-rock aura of “Blinding Light Show” capturing TRIUMPH at their best impression of YES had a pleasant collaboration of both Rik and Phil on the track – the musical equivalent of watching a young Daniel LaRusso picking up Mr. Miyagi’s wax-on-wax-off skills as the long-time student surpasses his proud teacher. Meanwhile, as the flashing pyro illuminates the stage around the band during their performance, there is nary a hint of the production itself sounding off any louder than the band members themselves. The song is, after all, called “Blinding Light Show” rather than “Deafening Pyro Show” for that reason. And, with a fine collection of moving classics such as “Follow Your Heart” (whose video indeed features the aforementioned Chris “xopher68” McNamara in the audience), the (yes) flute-driven “Magic Power”, the rousing “Lay It On The Line” (featuring the appearance of the double-necked axe known as the Fat Bastard, whose name was bestowed upon it by Alex Lifeson), the surprisingly better-sounding-live version of JOE WALSH’s “Rocky Mountain Way” and the closing defiance of “Fight The Good Fight”, TRIUMPH have once more won over the Ottawa crowd some three decades later – and no one was more surprised about the reaction from the crowd than Rik Emmett himself, who’d confessed that he had his own apprehensions about participating in this tour at first as he’d been well-settled in his post-touring life, but following much persuasion from Gil Moore and Phil X to continue and even seeing for himself the overall response from the audience, whom he credited with “bringing it in spades”, he was convinced to fight that same good fight. And fight on TRIUMPH shall as the tour continues to cover the rest of the continent over the summer touring season. If you can’t owe it to Rik, Gil, Brent, Todd, Phil or even Chris to catch this tour, at the very least, owe it to yourself and experience TRIUMPH at their most reloaded, magically powered and high performance.

https://www.triumphmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TriumphTheBand/
https://x.com/triumphtheband
https://www.instagram.com/triumphtheband/

Setlist:

“When The Lights Go Down”
“Somebody’s Out There”
“Spellbound”
“Hold On”
“Allied Forces”
“Blinding Light Show”
“Rock & Roll Machine”
“Rocky Mountain Way” (JOE WALSH cover)
“Never Surrender”
“Lay It On The Line”
“24 Hours A Day”
“Follow Your Heart”
“Magic Power”

Encore:

“I Live For The Weekend”
“Fight The Good Fight”