For any board member that may have attended Triumph’s concert at Kingswood Music Theatre at Canada’s Wonderland (an amusement park north of Toronto, in Maples, Ontario) during the labour day weekend, I would like to get specific details about this final show with Rik, before the breakup in 1988: set list, opening act (if any), stage details, how did the boys interact with each other on stage, your review, merchandise, et cetera. Was any Surveillance merchandise available for sale? Does anyone know whether Triumph performed any other dates in support of Surveillance? I never saw any announcements nor did I hear about the gig at Canada’s Wonderland.
I was too young to attend the Thunder Seven and Sport of Kings tours; therefore, I was not going to miss the group on the Surveillance tour.
I remember reading a magazine article shortly after the release of Surveillance where Mike or Rik stated that the band had toured prematurely in support of The Sport of Kings. According to Mike, the group lost considerable amounts of money on that tour.
Given the competitive aspect of touring back in 1986/early 1987 and the cold reception the SOK received, I can see why the SOK tour did not as well as previous tours. In addition, many classic metal/hard rock bands were touring (Van Halen with Sammy, DLR, Iron Maiden, Dio, Ozzy, Judas Priest, Bon Jovi, Ratt) during that same period. Somebody’s Out There may have generated a lot of airplay, but this fact did not translate into record sales or concert tickets sold.
If Triumph had undertaken a major North American tour, what songs from Surveillance would you have wanted to hear?
I'm sad to say, I wish I could remember. Been so long, and at the time it was not a significant show.
But I will tell you what I do remember. It was outdoor, daylight and under multiple huge kevlar type circus tents. Lol, if you Google Images "Kingswood Music Theatre", the 2nd picture is Rik and and a guy from Frazegang. Anyway the closest picture I can find is a map, sorry: http://www.coasteramania.com/CanadasWonderlandmap.jpg It's the bottom left attraction.
I was about 4th row on Rik's side. Never being up so close before, the some of the pyro was really loud and had shockwaves. I'm used to being at the back of an arena on the floor level. This was awesome. I never got the full effect of the light show, but Kingswood was more of a festival type show. Not a full blown spectacle which I hads seen on the Sport of Kings tour. But what was awesome, was I could see Rik play. He's a real entertainer.
I remember he was playing a song and he broke a couple of strings and managed to get throught he song okay.
I'm not sure when this happened. Probably after Rock and Roll Machine, but before their encore. He would do a little 30 second piece by himself and watch the crowd go nuts. Then another 30 second piece, and the crowd got louder. This continued for about 5 minutes with Rik pumping up the fans back and forth. I was WOW'd that he could have that effect on people. He's a virtuoso and a great entertainer on stage. Really fun to watch up close.
In hindsight, maybe his ego got the best of him. I'm not sure. Quarterbacks are the main focus on a football team, but it takes a good team to win games and a great team to win championships. But that was then.
I think the song set was mostly similar to the to Sport of Kings tour. I could be wrong though. I've only seen the Sport of Kings and Surveillance shows though. I think I would remember if they played something different, like Blinding Light Show, or something from Progressions of Power.
I did NOT hear that this was Rik's last show. That's not to say that it wasn't said. I may have heard it, but my mind may have not digested.
Anyway, I wish I remembered more. Sorry
Here's the set list off the bootleg I have...........
9/3/88 Kingswood Music Theatre, Toronto, Ontario Rik Emmett's final show with Triumph
Intro Tears in The Rain Somebody's Out There Allied Forces Lay It On The Line Midsummer's Daydream Follow Your Heart Never Say Never Magic Power Rock n Roll Machine Spellbound Rocky Mountain Way Fight The Good Fight
Fighter
To Jimbo and Fighter, thanks very much. I have always wondered if thet played anything from Surveillance during that final show.
Fighter: where did you find such a bootleg?
Frank
Schenker: To Jimbo and Fighter, thanks very much. I have always wondered if thet played anything from Surveillance during that final show.Fighter: where did you find such a bootleg? Frank
guitars101.com.......not sure if there's still an active post these days.
I was a little disappointed they didn't play more material from the new one. (Only a little, because it was still just a frigging great concert!)
I mean, -one- song??? C'mon, All the kings horses/Carry on the Flame -should- have been the show piece for that tour! They had Santers to play the synth parts, so that was no excuse.
Long Time Gone was the single track that got any air time in the area I lived, so I would think that too would have been included. And with a second guitarist, Headed for Nowhere would have made a great live tune. That should have been there in place of Rocky for a Gil tune, as far as I'm concerned.
The less than large audience were pretty much all Triumph diehards (you could tell by the way most of them stood throughout the entire set) so I don't think playing a few more tracks from the latest album would have gone down badly at all. There is some worthwhile music on Surveillance, no doubt about it, even if it's not on par with Allied Forces, Never Surrender or Thunder Seven.