Lamb Of God & Trivium
w/Bleed From Within
AEC Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia
October 4th 2026

_{Review by Kayla Hamilton}

Every now and then, there is a show that comes around and becomes the perfect storm. It happens when the lineup is balanced just right. It sets the vibe of the room and delivers the ultimate balance of chaos and joy.

An example of this was the Lamb Of God and Trivium co-headline tour.

Not my favourite venue to attend just in the way it’s set up but the Adelaide Entertainment Centre theatre was the only place to contain this mayhem. If it wasn’t sold out, it had to have been very close by the end.

Opening this whole affair was Scottish metal giants Bleed From Within. Setting the tone with a fog and stage setup resembling the eery moors of the Scottish isle and bagpipes filling the room, the anticipation was palpable. Slowly revealing themselves the band paced in and it was time to go. Opening with one of their newer tracks ‘Zenith’, I instantly was hooked. How could this band be the opener?

Frontman Scott Kennedy knew exactly how to get the Adelaide audience moving. Appealing to the Australian nature with drawing the similarities in our country’s love for beer and using the word cunt without getting ‘cancelled’, his thick Glaswegian accent charmed the room. Even “if it was awkward because it was only half full” (his words), he was able to inspire some circle pits and a wall of death. In only eight songs they had me convinced they were one of the best bands on the planet. Closing with ‘A Path In Hell’, as excited as I was for the headliners, I found myself wishing for more. As the bagpipes filled the air for the final time and Kennedy made his way into the crowd, I couldn’t fathom that anything could top this set.

I should’ve taken that as a warning though that things were only going to go up.

It was then time for the co-main event: Trivium. Now, let me get personal here. This is a band I’ve been listening to for 21 years but have never been able to experience live. Their stage set up was a thing of beauty; a neo-traditional Oni design appealed to this irezumi enthusiast. When the lights dimmed and ‘The End Of Everything’ intro started playing, I got full-body goosebumps. I knew what was coming and I couldn’t believe it. As the hit the stage with ‘Rain’ and then straight into ‘Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Matyr’, I thought maybe we were getting the Ascendency 20 year anniversary set. Well, it wasn’t far off it.

The whole band oozed a sense of joy that is hard to truly explain. The legendary Matt Heafy felt less of a metal icon and more like an old friend who was having the time of his life. That mood extended to every other band member too. It was a fiesta of shredding. The tone of everything was a harmonious blend of melody and fury, plus Heafy’s vocals were on point. Crowd surfing started. Circle pits were moving. The fans were jumping and singing. It was everything you want from a metal show. It was Trivium at their absolute best, sharing the highlights of their incredible discography. By the time the finished with ‘In Waves’, the emotion was strong. All the years of missing them like a ship in the night felt worth it to experience them in this prime of their life.

Though it was a co-headline, there was just something so prime time about Lamb Of God closing the show. It had been awhile since I had seen the metal mainstays from “motherfucking Kentucky” so I was not sure what to expect. I knew though with ‘Laid To Rest’ being the second song on the setlist, that we were in for a RIDE. It was gritty. It was heavy. Frontman Randy Blythe was full of swagger and attitude, but never pretentious. The aura around him is still as strong, but again, he still emits the energy of a man you can sit around and have a good chat with- even when he’s commanding a room the way he does.

The peak though was by the time they hit ‘Walk With Me In Hell’. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a show where I’ve really enjoyed the audience the way I did on Sunday. There was a level of respect for each other, no main character syndrome and everybody was allowing themselves to be swept up in the energy. Before we knew it, the end was nigh. They gave us time to demand an encore, finishing with ‘Memento Mori’, ‘Sepsis’ and of course, opening a giant circle pit (that this reviewer could not help but joining) for ‘Redneck’.

In my 20 something years of going to shows, of course there have been some incredible times. This show will definitely be up there as one of the highlights. The expectations walking in were already high, but it exceeded them tenfold. You know a gig is good when you get to the end and it feels like it flew by so fast.

There was not one moment that I did not enjoy…except for maybe when it was all said and done. Even then, judging from the bodies strewn across the Adelaide Entertainment Centre theatre floor and the sweat pouring off everybody, the high of this show will certainly be felt for some time to come.

East Coast fans, it’s your turn and if you are sitting on the fence about going, then take this as a sign to go. You won’t regret it.

_{Lamb Of God & Trivium featuring Bleed From Within
Get your tickets here}