Trivium Concert Review HOB Anaheim 11-2-18

Trivium Concert Review HOB Anaheim 2018

Trivium KillSwitch Engage House of Blues Concert Photography Concert Reviews

Howard Jones on vocals for Trivium’s Matt Heafy

The Trivium show at the House of Blues in Anaheim had been sold out in advance long before the show date of November 2, 2018 and for good reason; these guys kill it!!

The opening bands were Light The Torch and Avatar.

Check out the Light The Torch Show Review Here!

Check out the Avatar Show Review Here!

Trivium fans were in for a very different kind of evening. For this night at the House of Blues in Anaheim and the last 6 shows prior, the band’s audience found themselves witness to an extremely unique and a once in a lifetime show. The band’s front man and driving force Matt Heafy;was not in attendance. After their October 23rd show, Matt had to fly home to be with his wife and family, as he was soon to be the father of twins.

As Johannes, the singer for the band Avatar stated during his guest vocal spot in this special Trivium show;

It’s not always that a “fill-in” for a band on tour is for a good reason; but tonight with Matt’s new arrivals, we have a good reason indeed!

The vocal duties on this night were handled by Trivium guitarist Corey Beaulieu (Dirty Vocals) and Paolo Gregoletto (Clean Vocals) and guest singers Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage, Light The Torch), Brandon Saller (Atreyu, Hell or Highwater) and Johannes Eckerström (Avatar). The band was also augmented by the phenomenal lead guitar work of guitarist Jared Dines (YouTube guitar sensation).

Everyone filling in for Matt on this night gave an incredible performance, especially on such short notice. One thing we can all take away from this show is how many people it takes to cover what Matt brings to this band. Matt is truly a brilliant vocalist, musician and entertainer!!!

The band opened up with Howard Jones tearing it up on Betrayer from Trivium’s latest LP The Sin and the Sentence. Howard’s infectious energy was intense, as he ran back and forth across the stage; only pausing momentarily to engage the audience and bounce like a supercharged madman. The band continued with Howard Jones on Throes of Perdition from their Shogun LP and Beyond Oblivion from The Sin and the Sentence LP. Beyond Oblivion’s incredible audience participation kept Howard smiling throughout the song and would have definitely made Matt proud.

The band followed with Into the Mouth of Hell We March and Like Light to the Flies which were were sung by Paolo and Corey before Howard returned for a brutal version of Sever the Hand from their latest LP that incited an insane circle pit.

Paolo at one point stated that Vancouver Canada, was the loudest audience up to this point; beckoning Anaheim to meet the challenge. This audience was more than up for the task and this challenge set a course for an audience chanting of USA, USA, USA that would continue throughout the night, Awesome!.

Guest guitarist Jared Dines, shredded one solo after another throughout the night, proving why he is such a YouTube Phenomenon; this guy is a serious guitarist and fit right into this band like he’s been on the whole tour and not just the last six shows.

The band then brought out both Brandon Saller (Atreyu) and Howard Jones to sing on a killer version of Until the Work Goes Cold; which wasn’t going to happen any time soon as these guys were on Fire!.

They continued with The Wretchedness Inside (Howard Jones), A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation,(Paolo and Corey), The Sin and the Sentence (Howard Jones), The Heart From Your Hate (Brandon Saller) and Down from the Sky (Paolo and Corey), before they brought out Johannes from Avatar.  Johannes’s entrance brought the house down with Johannes screaming; Mom, Mom, Mom look, I’m in Trivium!!! Johannes and the band delivered stellar versions of Strife and Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr before turning the stage over to Howard for their last song of the night; In Waves. At the song’s beginning, Paolo asked everyone in the audience, to get really low; get down to the ground and to then jump up when the lyrics kicked in; this crowd did not disappoint, as everyone leaped skyward with Howard’s opening roar!

To say this night was anything less than Amazing would be a major understatement; Trivium and guest artists delivered an INCREDIBLE show that will not soon be forgotten. Although I’m sure the fans are eager to see the band soon with Matt Heafy, this was definitely a night to remember and one for the history books!

Check out the Trivium HOB Anaheim Photo Gallery Here!

The set list from the stage was:

Trivium