Triumph guitarist and singer Rik Emmett sat down with Mike DiGiorgio of Rochester’s 13WHAM to talk about the band’s first tour in over 30 years — what fans should expect, who’s filling out the lineup, and how he’s thinking about performing at 72.
The 2026 Triumph tour features original members Emmett and Gil Moore (drums, vocals), joined by guitarist Phil X, drummer/keyboardist Brent Fitz, and bassist Todd Kerns — all three of whom bring serious résumés. Phil X is a Bon Jovi guitarist and a former Triumph member himself; Fitz and Kerns both play in Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. Original bassist Mike Levine is sitting out most of the dates due to a hand problem that limits his playing.
When asked whether the crowds buying tickets are mostly longtime fans or people experiencing Triumph for the first time, Emmett said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “It’s a little bit of both. I think that there are people who — I think there are grandfathers that wanna bring their grandsons and their grandchildren. We’re literally sort of three generations in. And honestly, I think it’s a question of the music being — the songs are the things that are dragging us all out. So I think that’s the biggest thing that I feel, that people are kind of going, like, ‘Oh, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Triumph do “Magic Power” or “Fight The Good Fight” or “Lay It On The Line” live.'”
He continued, addressing what fans expecting a time capsule performance are in for: “But the pressure from fans is an interesting thing because, of course, I can’t do what I did when I was in my thirties, which is what most people remember. And so if they think they’re gonna get to relive this guy in his red spandex pants or his jumpsuit or something, that’s just not gonna happen. But I do feel like the resurrection of the band as a concert touring act is because there are these songs, and I really look forward to the chance of getting to play with different musicians and in a different kind of circumstance. I mean, it’s gonna be a big show. So there’s gonna be a crowd that has lots and lots of different people with lots and lots of different expectations in every market. But I don’t know.”
“Back to your question, I think that there’s probably gonna be much more repeat customers than there are people experiencing it for the very first time. But, as I said, if they’re dragging along the next generation or two, then there will be new fans. And so — I don’t know. In some ways, I guess I’ll have to mind my Ps and Qs a little bit.”
On why the band brought in Phil X, Fitz, and Kerns, Emmett explained: “Well, first of all, we felt like we had to build a bit of a safety net for ourselves. There are certain notes that I just can’t hit, but there’s this guy, Todd Kerns, a good Canadian boy from Saskatchewan, and he’s been out with Slash and Alice Cooper. And he’s a tremendous musician — guitar, bass, singer. And then Brent Fitz on drums, just because there are some songs where Gil goes, ‘Well, I wanna come down front and sing.’ So Gil Moore is from the original lineup. But there are gonna be double drummers. We’re gonna be like the Allman Brothers and the Doobie Brothers, and I’m sure that more than half of your audience doesn’t even know who I’m talking about. But we’ll have that for some stuff.”
“And then Gil‘s gonna come down and sing a couple of things. And Brent is amazing. He can play keyboards as well, so we kind of get a double-threat kind of guy there. Oh, and he can sing harmony too, so a triple threat. And then Phil X, who replaced me in Triumph when I left. And Phil, he goes out with Bon Jovi and plays all kinds of different things. And he’s a tremendous guitar player with this absolutely unbridled enthusiasm for rock. So that’s really good for me. It’s kind of like, I get this Phil X cattle project; it keeps giving me bursts of energy.”
On Levine‘s situation, Emmett kept it open-ended: “Mike Levine, his health has been up and down, in and out. I’m not sure he’s gonna be able to join us for a lot of shows. The invitation is open, and there’s a place for him whenever he feels like he might wanna do it, even if he just came and sat at a keyboard for a bit.”
Emmett also weighed in on the ongoing debate around legacy bands touring with partial or rebuilt lineups — pointing to Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and Def Leppard as acts whose catalogs carry them regardless.
“There are bands that are out there — Journey, Styx, REO [Speedwagon], Def Leppard — and they have a catalog that is so strong that it becomes this compelling thing. So it’s kind of like jukebox rock, if you’re being cynical or skeptical. But what’s wrong with a really great jukebox, if the songs are done with respect and they remain true to the spirit of the original? But I will deviate from that, because I feel like I’m a musician and a writer before I’m anything else. So a performer is part of it, and people wanna, ‘Hey, I’d love to see [former Journey singer] Steve Perry be able to sing “Don’t Stop Believin'” in the original key and hit all the high notes.’ But life is the way that it is. You don’t get any younger. And so, from my perspective, I go, yeah, but these songs — I get a chance to reinvent them as I reinvent myself, given my circumstances. I’m 72 years old.
“The management company we work with, they also handle Peter Frampton, and Frampton went, ‘Okay, I’m gonna go out and I’m gonna do just a farewell tour.’ And he got out there, and he told them, ‘That 90 minutes I get on stage is the best part of my day. As long as I can keep doing it, please keep booking me. I wanna go back out.’ And I feel like I’m already sensing that when I’m in rehearsals. I mean, I tire more easily than I did. I’m working hard to have the same level of chops. I practice now more than I’ve ever practiced in my life. It’s kind of like the veteran hockey player goes to the camp, and he’s gotta work way harder than the rookies just to be able to compete. And I feel that.
“But I also feel like, how lucky am I, at 72 years of age, that I’m getting to chase this thing? How many other people my age get this opportunity? A friend of my wife said, they were talking on the phone, and she said, ‘Most people when they retire,’ and I retired about four or five years ago, but she said, ‘Most people, when they retire, their lives get smaller. They kind of intentionally, they kind of shrink their lives to make it simpler and easier when they’re retired.’ She goes, ‘Look at Rik. He’s trying to make his life bigger.’ And I think that’s an easy way to say it, that that’s the most fun of all, that I’m kind of going, ‘Yeah. I’m gonna see if I can keep up with the 60-year-olds.'”
Triumph kicked off the 2026 tour on 04/10 in Orlando, Florida, donating 100% of net proceeds from that show to Make-A-Wish. The concert at Hard Rock Live Universal Orlando was part of the 23rd annual Celebration Exotic Car Festival.
The North American run celebrates Triumph‘s 50th anniversary, with support from April Wine throughout. The Canadian leg runs from 04/22 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, through 05/08 in Calgary, Alberta. The U.S. leg begins 05/13 in Rosemont, Illinois, and wraps 06/06 in Boston — 10 Canadian and 17 American cities in total.
Formed in Mississauga in 1975, Triumph built their name the hard way — from high school auditoriums and bar stages to sold-out arenas like Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens and Dallas’s Reunion Arena. The band has shifted over 15 million albums worldwide, with a catalog anchored by “Lay It On The Line,” “Magic Power,” and “Fight The Good Fight,” and a live reputation built on pyro, lasers, and high-production showmanship. A highlight of that era: a 1983 US Festival performance in front of half a million people.
