I remember the very first time I listened to a Trivium song and how much it fascinated me and blew my mind. It was ridiculously fast and heavy, and it was on a Kerrang! CD, which I still have. The song was Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr, so it was back in 2005-ish when I first got into rock and metal.

This was my first visit to the Roundhouse as well as my first Trivium concert, and I stood in the large hall staring up at the domed ceiling in awe. I never take these experiences for granted, and I can guarantee that at some point in the evening I will probably be mentally thanking my lucky stars in amazement.

Supporting Trivium were Shvpes and Sikth. Shvpes were memorable, and the singer cut off his long hair for cancer right onstage, and also got in the mosh pit as he was singing! Someone heckled him as he was speaking onstage and he merrily told the heckler to fuck off, which was followed by cheers and laughter. I have to admit, fair play to him, as if it’s not tough enough for a band to have to warm up a cynical crowd that just want the main act to come onstage without someone hurling abuse at them on top of it all. I’d heard of Sikth on the That’s Not Metal podcast, and the cheers for them were super loud. Another band I’d missed out on seeing and glad I got to now see!

Before Trivium appeared they played Iron Maiden’s Run To The Hills and everyone in the audience had a massive singalong! I was in the second/ third row and had a great view of the lit up skulls onstage. And then Trivium came onstage and things got super squashy. I’ve been to a lot of gigs but I have never been at one where the crowd was quite this rowdy! Everyone was surging and squeezing the life out of everyone else, and it was all I could do to stay upright! Two or three times I had beer or something poured on me. But strangely, I still felt safe. In fact, there’s nowhere I feel safer than at a metal concert. I know if I fall someone will pick me up, and despite the over enthusiasm, nobody would intentionally hurt me. Rockers look after their own.

Matt Heafy looked amazing and his vocals were clean and strong. It was strange and exhilarating to see him in the flesh and so close up, he’s so familiar to me! I love the fact that he looked so damn happy so much of the time, flashing the audience a big toothy rockstar grin at regular intervals, and smiling as we all sang along. He sounded like a radio host as he spoke to us in his clear cut American accent and expressed gratitude for his fans. Corey Beaulieu slayed on lead guitar, his solos are insanely awesome! There’s a little video of one here on my Instagram if you’d like to check it out, it’s just face-meltingly glorious. Paolo pummelled the hell out of his bass guitar like his life depended on it. There has been a lot of talk about Trivium’s new drummer, but Alex Bent certainly didn’t disappoint, and despite having only played a handful of shows with the band, he offered a sparkling display of his Trivium’s material, being particularly impressive on the likes of Forsake Not The Dream and Rain.

I enjoyed the 90 minute set enormously, and it spanned Trivium’s impressive discography beautifully. Until The World Goes Cold and Strife sound ridiculously heavy played live, even more so than on the album, the audience was going berserk and people were crowd surfing and moshing all over the place. And of course, they finished with Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr at which point the crowd nipped off stage for a bit, and came back for a very welcome encore. Really, it’s insane how quickly these events fly by.

If I had to sum up this special evening in London in one word, it would be magnificent. Trivium really do deserve all the recognition they get, and as Matt said in one interview, the band are still young, and they have plenty of time to rise to the very highest level. I, for one, can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

Setlist:

1. The End Of Everything
2. Rain
3. Forsake Not The Dream
4. Down From The Sky
5. Rise Above The Tides
6. Entrance Of The Conflagration
7. The Deceived
8. Strife
9. Dying In Your Arms
10. Dusk Dismantled
11. Throes Of Perdition
12. Silence In The Snow
13. Pillar Of Serpents
14. A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation
15. Until The World Goes Cold
16. Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr
    – Encore –
17. Capsizing The Sea
18. In Waves