Trivium, Avatar, Light the Torch play unforgettable Vancouver Commodore show
written by Emilio Angel
The best show I’ve been to in a while. These 3 bands absolutely blew me away. The Halloween-esque atmosphere, the amazing performances, the loud metal music and the circumstances which Trivium played. Rock and Roll at its finest.
Light the Torch
The show started off with Howard Jones’ (Ex Killswitch Engage) new band Light the Torch (previously known as The Devil you Know). The band played from their new album “Revival”, and after the show I listened to the album – this is some genuinely awesome music, you need to check these guys out.
The band played “Die Alone”, “The Bitter End” and songs from previous Devil You Know albums. First time seeing Howard Jones and he killed it, amazing voice, amazing dude, amazing performance!
Avatar
Gothenburg’s Melodic Freakshow Metal band Avatar got on stage shortly after Light the Torch.
The Commodore Ballroom was decorated with cobwebs all over the roof for Halloween, thus the atmosphere for Avatar was spot on spooky. Avatar performed with cool stage setup, their LED lights illuminating AVATAR on the backdrop.
The band is notorious for its gothlike antics; singer Johannes Eckerstrom knows perfectly well how to command an audience and perform theatrically while singing. The band recently released an album titled “Avatar Country”. Tonight they performed songs from all their albums. The band has an amazing energy, and the performance is very theatrical, the singer looks like a derange psycho clown freak from a gory episode of American horror story. Perfect for Halloween. The band’s performance was engaging and awesome with heavy guitar riffs and mixed vocals. I’ve never payed too much attention to this band before, but they’ve got a new fan now.
Trivium
Trivium ’s show was F*cking amazing. I’ve seen this band twice before, once in 2012, and last year. This has to be my favourite time seeing them. Vocalist Matt Heafy had to miss out on this leg of the tour to be present for the birth of his two children. Amazing news and very respectable reason to miss out. Nonetheless, the show must go on and heavy metal never stops. Trivium asked YouTube guitar star Jared Dines, Howard Jones, and Johannes Eckerstrom to cover for Heafy while he was away.
Everyone had very little time to prepare for this and the shows were quickly selling out. Edmonton, Calgary and now Vancouver. The concert honestly was a unique experience. Corey Beaulieu (guitar) and Paolo (bass) were coordinating this symphony of madness that played for an hour and a half.
The show started with Iron Maiden’s ‘Run to The Hills’ playing in the background. Once Maiden stopped, the band blasted out “Betrayer” with Jared and Howard. The sold-out Commodore Ballroom audience jumped throughout the first three songs, “Betrayer” “Throes of perdition” and “Beyond Oblivion”. You could clearly tell the nervousness from Jared and Howard as they sang and played through the first part of the set, although the nervousness would settle mid set and after several chants from the audience. The first half of the set was a mix of old and new hits, the band was still in support of their new album “The Sin and the Sentence” and played several of their songs from that album but also playing Trivium classics like “Light to Flies ”.
Something to note from the show, Howard’s mic had several issues. The guy has one of the best voices in all of the Metalcore/American Melodeath genre and his voice could not be heard over the loud guitars and Corey’s screaming, regardless he was clearly having fun jumping around onstage and getting the audience pumped.
The Trivium classics everyone knows and loves from their old albums were played with Corey and Paolo singing. “Down from the Sky” and “A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation”, “Into the Mouth of Hell we March”, while songs from newer albums were played with Howard on vocals. A problem I’ve noticed with Trivium shows is that an hour and half is not enough time to play all the classics Trivium has. They have the fortunate luxury of a large repertoire of amazing songs from each album, but they tend to always play a mixture of Shogun, ascendency era songs with In Waves, Vengeance Falls, Sin the Sentence etc. But can you guy’s please play “Dying in your Arms” its my favourite Trivium song by far.
I digress. The energy at the show was Brutal. Mosh pits, walls of death, and crowd surfers everywhere. I haven’t seen the Commodore this packed and energized since ‘In Flames’ 2 years Ago. Clearly as Matt had tweeted earlier, Trivium isn’t just the band, but also the audience that joins the ritual of heavy metal.
The last half of the show featured Johannes on vocals singing “Strife” and “Pull Harder on the Strings of your Martyr”, the contrast of singing style between Johannes eccentric theatrics and Howard hardcore punk was quite noticeable and a very different interpretation of those songs compared to Matt Heafy’s style. Still, the entire Commodore was in a racket and loving the show, from my understanding the show was livestreamed on Matt Heafy’s Twitch channel.
The last song performed was ‘In Waves’, the audience would get on the ground and jump up once the singing starts, a quick and awesome way for the crowd to participate even further. Howard was on vocals and Corey screams were loud. Yes, everyone saw Howard trip before the song ended.
The show in all was amazing. The original three members managed to carry the show, and Matt Heafy was missed. Even though he had possibly the best talent you can find replacing him, it still was a different show. Unforgettable? Yes, but Matt style is what you expect to complete Trivium, hopefully I’ll be able to see them again. If I didn’t have class, I would buy a ticket to Seattle and Portland just to see them again.
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written by Emilio Angel
images by Red Lenses Photography