Our hearts are broken over the sudden and shocking death of Power Trip frontman Riley Gale, but we'd like to take a moment to celebrate his life and the many contributions he's made to the heavy music community over the years. As excellent as Power Trip's studio albums were -- and they were excellent, we named 2017's Nightmare Logic the 57th best album of the 2010s -- Power Trip were out of this world on stage, and it was always a treat to see them over the years. We're honored to have been able to see some truly wild Power Trip sets at shows we presented, like at Red 7 and Cheer Up Charlies in Austin and at the now-closed Palisades in Brooklyn, and we've always loved seeing them pack other small rooms like Brooklyn's Saint Vitus Bar and the now-closed Acheron or steal the show opening for bands like Exodus, Obituary, Lamb of God, Anthrax, and Cannibal Corpse.
We have too many great Power Trip memories from over the years to count, plus we're fortunate enough to be able to listen to Power Trip tear it up on their Live in Seattle 05.28.2018 album, and watch the tons of great live videos that exist of them on YouTube. We could spend all day or week or year going through them all, but here's five great ones that show off how much of an unfuckwithable force Power Trip were on stage.
Power Trip @ The Electric Factory in Philly - 8/10/2012
"If you were a hardcore kid in 2011/2012/2013 you remember Power Trip comin up and absolutely ripping apart every gig and melting everyone’s brain and being one of the best HC bands of our generation," NYHC band Combust wrote. We couldn't say it better ourselves, and here's an awesome hate5six video that proves it. Filmed when Power Trip only had two EPs, a demo, and some songs on compilations to their name, Power Trip turned the Philly crowd into a sea of constantly moving bodies. Even watching it on a screen, you can feel how much of a fucking madhouse it must have been.
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Power Trip @ Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn - 1/15/2014
Here's one of the many times Power Trip came to our home turf and tore it up at Saint Vitus. Their debut album Manifest Decimation was six months old at this one, and they kicked things off with a few from that album, and immediately had the place going nuts. Not even some broken guitar strings and slight technical difficulties could put a stop to the fury.
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Power Trip @ The Regent Theater in LA - 6/2/2018
This video, filmed when Power Trip were supporting Nightmare Logic on a headlining tour with Sheer Mag and Red Death, has the added benefit of being filmed from an aerial view, giving you the whole picture of the absolute insanity of a Power Trip set. We love being up close and personal with the band, but when you take a step back and look at it like this, it's clear that they're colossal.
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Power Trip @ Bloodstock 2018
Speaking of Power Trip being colossal, we're used to seeing them in small clubs, but they knew how to command a gigantic outdoor festival crowd just as well as their '80s thrash forebears do, and this video from UK festival Bloodstock proves it. We wrote about this video recently and asked: How is this not the biggest band in the world?
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Power Trip @ Elsewhere in Brooklyn - 11/21/2019
Power Trip's very last trip to Brooklyn... this hurts. If you knew Power Trip, you COULDN'T WAIT to see them live again, and with a new album planned for this year (will it still see the light of day?), we never would've guessed their two Elsewhere shows with High On Fire last year would've been NYC's last chance. They sped through fan faves from both full-lengths and their ass-whipping 2018 single "Hornet's Nest" (which was sold as a tour-only flexi on this run) and this video reminds us that -- 12 years into their career -- Power Trip were only getting more and more vicious.
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We miss you, Riley. Read tributes from Converge, Code Orange, Deafheaven, Touche Amore, Ice-T, Lamb of God's Randy Blythe, Hatebreed, Thursday, La Dispute, Overkill, Kreator, Harms Way, Fucked Up, Trash Talk, Coheed & Cambria, and so many others here.
