Photos & Review by Greg Hamil for MPM
For one night in Rosemont, Illinois, the calendar flipped backward four decades. Denim jackets came out of closets. Vintage tour shirts reappeared like treasured relics. Air guitars were not ironic.
And inside Allstate Arena on May 13, 2026, Canadian rock royalty April Wine & Triumph delivered a double bill that felt less like a nostalgia exercise and more like a reaffirmation that arena rock, when played with conviction and skill, still has the power to shake concrete.
The crowd filing into Allstate Arena leaned heavily Gen X and late-boomer, but the audience was far from exclusively nostalgic lifers. Teenagers wearing Rush and Van Halen shirts stood beside fifty-somethings reliving high school parking lot memories. Fathers pointed toward the stage while explaining who Rik Emmett was to sons who had only heard Lay It on the Line through playlists. The atmosphere before the lights dimmed was unusually warm and communal, like a family reunion where everybody agreed on the soundtrack.
Doors opened at 7:00 p.m., and by the time April Wine hit the stage promptly at 8, the arena was already impressively full.
April Wine walked onstage without excessive theatrics. No giant video intro. No dramatic spoken-word buildup. Just musicians stepping into the lights and detonating I Like To Rock almost immediately while shouting “We came down from Canada to make some noise with our friends tonight!”
It was the perfect opener because it immediately clarified the band’s mission for the night: no wasted motion, no self-indulgence, just direct, muscular rock and roll. The triple-guitar motif in I Like to Rock still sounded massive in a live arena setting, and the audience responded with instant energy. Hundreds stood up before the first chorus even arrived. A group near the floor shouted every lyric at maximum volume, while the upper bowl clapped along in unison.
April Wine’s set carried a blue-collar efficiency that contrasted nicely with Triumph’s more theatrical tendencies later in the evening. The band sounded tight, aggressive, and focused, with the guitars pushed forward in the mix. Big City Girls followed and injected a swaggering groove into the room, while All Over Town kept the momentum surging.
One of the more impressive aspects of April Wine’s performance was how naturally the band balanced melody and grit. Songs like Say Hello and Enough Is Enough were delivered with enough edge to satisfy hard rock fans yet retained the polished hooks that mad April Wine such a staple of FM radio in their peak years.
The crowd particularly came a live during Enough Is Enough The riff hit with surprising heaviness, and the audience responded with synchronized fist pumps across the lower bowl. Several fans near the barricade waved Canadian flags throughout the song, drawing appreciative nods from the band.
The emotional centerpiece of April Wine’s set arrived when the band announced, “This next one’s for Myles (Goodwyn). We know he’s here with us” just before they played Just Between You and Me. Goodwyn passed away in December 2023.
The arena noticeably softened during the opening chords. Cell phone lights appeared throughout the venue, transforming the room from beer-soaked rock show to heartfelt tribute. The performance was restrained and sincere, avoiding sentimentality while still acknowledging the enormous shadow Goodwyn cast over the band’s legacy. Vocally, the song held together beautifully, and the harmonies carried surprising emotional weight.
Sign of the Gypsy Queen restored the harder edge. The song’s mystical atmosphere translated perfectly live, with the lighting rig bathing the stage in deep purples and reds. Guitar solos stretched slightly longer than their studio counterparts, giving the performance a loose, jam-oriented energy that the audience clearly appreciated.
By the time April Wine closed with Roller, the crowd was fully activated. As they took their final bows, they gave the crowd a thumbs-up and said, “This building sounds incredible tonight!”
April Wine Setlist: I Like to Rock – Big City Girls – All Over Town – Say Hello – Enough Is Enough – Before the Dawn – Right Down to It – Just Between You and Me – Sign of the Gypsy Queen – Roller
Then came the transformation.
At approximately 9:10 p.m., the house lights dropped again. A dramatic Time Canon intro rolled through the arena speakers before Triumph exploded into When the Lights Go Down.
The opening seconds immediately revealed the difference in scale between the two bands’ productions. Triumph’s lighting rig was enormous and relentlessly active. Laser-like beams swept across the arena. Giant video screens flashed archival imagery and abstract visuals. Smoke cannons fired at strategic moments. The stage looked less like a rock setup and more like a command center.
And then there was Rik Emmett.
At 72, Emmett still played with absurd technical precision. More importantly, he played with visible joy. Every solo felt alive rather than dutifully recreated. His phrasing during Somebody’s Out There was fluid and melodic, and his interaction with the crowd was constant. He smiled through solos, pointed toward cheering sections, and repeatedly encouraged singalongs without sounding canned or rehearsed.
Spellbound and Hold On pushed the energy even higher. The crowd response during Hold On was especially striking because the song’s optimistic chorus became a genuine communal moment. As Emmett shouted, “Chicago always brings it harder than anybody”, thousands sang the refrain together, turning the arena into something resembling a giant barroom choir.
Triumph has always existed in an interesting place historically – technically dazzling enough for prog fans, heavy enough for metal audiences, melodic enough for mainstream rock radio. That combination was fully visible during Allied Forces, which hit with surprising aggression.
The riff sounded enormous live. Drums thundered through the arena floor, and Emmett’s guitar tone carried enough bite to satisfy anyone worried the band might soften with age. During the chorus, fans in the lower sections threw fists into the air in synchronized rhythm, creating one of the night’s biggest visual moments.
Blinding Light Show followed and served as a reminder that Triumph were always underrated showmen. The lighting production finally matched the song title literally, with bursts of white light repeatedly flashing through the arena while smoke drifted across the stage. It bordered on sensory overload in the best possible way.
But the defining sequence of the night began with Rock & Roll Machine.
This was where Triumph separated themselves from ordinary legacy acts. The song expanded into an extended showcase featuring a dazzling Rik Emmett solo that moved seamlessly between blues, jazz phrasing, and outright shred guitar heroics. The audience reacted to every flourish like a sporting event, cheering individual runs and sustained notes.
At one point Emmett launched into a rapid-fire tapping section that drew audible disbelief from fans around the arena. A man near section 112 yelled, “He still has it!” to absolutely nobody in particular.
The band then pivoted unexpectedly into a cover of Joe Walsh’s Rocky Mountain Way. It could have felt like filler, but instead it became one of the evening’s most entertaining moments. The song included drum and bass solos, crowd call-and-response segments, and a playful acknowledgement from Gil Moore encouraging the audience to cheer for absent bassist Mike Levine.
That moment drew one fo the night’s loudest ovations and added a surprisingly emotional undertone. Levine’s absence could have cast a shadow over the performance, but instead the band treated him like an ever-present member of the evening’s celebration.
Never Surrender restored the focused intensity. The song’s defiant spirit resonated deeply with this crowd, many of whom clearly grew up with Triumph as a soundtrack to adolescence. The chorus became another massive singalong, and the audience volume nearly matched the band’s amplifiers.
If there were one song that definitively captured the emotional center of the concert, though, it was Lay It on the Line.
The arena collectively leaned forward during the opening chords. Couples wrapped arms around each other. Beer cups were raised like lighters from another era. Emmett delivered the vocal with remarkable control, preserving both the vulnerability and power that made the song a classic.
And then came the solo.
Even among a night filled with exceptional guitar work, the Lay It on the Line solo stood apart. Emmett stretched notes with incredible patience, allowing the melody to breathe instead of racing through it. The crowd roared after nearly every phrase. By the end, the arena was standing almost universally.
The quieter transition into 24 Hours a Day served mainly as a setup for another Emmett spotlight before the band surged into Follow Your Heart.
Follow Your Heart may have been the most joyful performance of the night. The song radiated positivity without becoming corny, and the audience responded with broad smiles and loud harmonies. It felt like the emotional release after the heavier moments earlier in the set.
Then came Magic Power.
There are songs designed for arenas, and then there are songs that practically become architecture inside them. Magic Power belongs in the latter category. The entire venue sang the chorus so loudly that Emmett repeatedly stepped back from the microphone to let the crowd carry it alone.
For several minutes, the distinction between performer and audience vanished completely.
The main set ended to thunderous applause, but nobody seriously believed the show was over. Chants of “Triumph! Triumph!” echoed through the building before the band returned for the encore.
As the band returned for the encore, Emmett said, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you classic rock is dead.” With that, I Live for the Weekend arrived first and turned the arena into a full-scale party. Beer splashed. People danced in the aisles. Security guards who had spent most of the night stone-faced finally cracked smiles.
And then Triumph closed with Fight the Good Fight.
Before the song began, Emmett briefly shifted the atmosphere from arena celebration to something more reflective. He looked across the crowd, and said: “No matter what you believe, no matter where you come from, you’ve got to hold onto faith in something bigger than fear.” The line drew a loud cheer from the audience, especially from longtime fans familiar with the spiritual and philosophical themes woven through Triumph’s catalog. He continued: “Music kept us going. And nights like this remind us we’re still connected.”
The comments fit naturally into the tone of Fight the Good Fight, a song that has long carried the themes of perseverance, belief, and personal conviction without being overtly religious. Many fans responded by raising phones and lighters during the song’s final section, creating one of the evening’s most emotional moments.
It was the perfect closer because it encapsulated everything Triumph represented: technical excellence, emotional sincerity, uplifting themes, and arena-sized ambition. The audience screamed the chorus with near-religious intensity, and the band stretched the ending long enough to maximize the catharsis.
As the final chords rang out, the band stood arm in arm at center stage soaking in an ovation that lasted several minutes. Then, fittingly, The Hockey Song played over the speakers as fans slowly exited into the Rosemont night.
What made this concert memorable wasn’t simply the quality of the musicianship – though that was undeniably impressive. It was the complete absence of cynicism. Neither April Wine nor Triumph approached the evening like a contractual obligation or a museum-piece nostalgia tour.
They played like these songs still mattered.
And judging from the reaction inside Allstate Arena, they absolutely still do.
Triumph Setlist: Time Canon – When the Lights Go Down – Somebody’s Out There – Spellbound – Hold On – Allied Forces – Blinding Light Show – Rock & Roll Machine – Rocky Mountain Way – Never Surrender – Lay It On The Line – 24 Hours a Day – Follow Your Heart – Magic Power – I Live for the Weekend – Fight The Good Fight
