Trivium’s Matt Heafy Fills in for Randy Blythe, Adds Clean Vocals to Lamb of God
Following the band's announcement that lead vocalist Randy Blythe would miss the show due to COVID, Lamb of God still played their "Metal Tour of the Year" concert on Tuesday (April 19) in Grand Rapids, Mich., with Chimaira vocalist Mark Hunter filling in for Blythe on most of the songs.
However, frontman Matt Heafy, of the supporting act Trivium, also covered the Lamb of God vocalist spot for a couple of tunes on Tuesday, as Blabbermouth reported and Setlist.fm can attest, giving those numbers ("512," "Ghost Walking") an unusual dose of clean vocals in place of Blythe's growl. Anders Friden, of supporting act In Flames, took the lead on one other Lamb of God song ("Resurrection Man").
Multiple concertgoers shared footage of the performances afterwards. See some of those videos down toward the bottom of this post.
Supplying his own video from Tuesday's set, Heafy remarked, "LAMB OF GOD… WITH CLEAN VOCALS (insert a screaming face and explosion YouTube clickbait thumbnail)??? Heal up Randy. I am honored to do this! Thank you for entrusting me."
The "Metal Tour of the Year," with Megadeth and Lamb of God as co-headliners, set out on its inaugural run last year. Earlier this month, Lamb of God re-did Megadeth's "Wake Up Dead" with Megadeth's Dave Mustaine to kick off the 2022 leg. See the remaining 2022 dates here.