Last week, Loudwire shared the news of Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine cutting their co-headlining Poisoned Ascendancy tour short (for reasons we’ll get to below). While that’s certainly disappointing, newly posted footage of both bands – alongside crew and firefighters – rescuing abandoned kittens from a diesel generator will surely put a smile on your face.
Trivium + BFMV Rescuing the Kittens
Yesterday (May 17), Trivium posted a video to their social media pages with the following combined caption/comment: “WATCH UNTIL THE END! Band and crew from both Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine helped save 4 kittens from a massive diesel generator! What do you say? FREE MERCH FOR THESE KITTENS?!?!”
In the clip – which was taken during their stop at the Coca-Cola Roxy in Atlanta, Georgia on May 14 – The Bangles’ “Manic Monday” plays over footage of several people gathered around the generator and surrounding area trying to help.
Specifically, they peer into the sewer drain where “the mother was seen hiding,” and they try to “lure her out with tuna and water.” You can also see Trivium bassist Paolo Gregoletto calling the Cobb County Fire Department, specifying that “there’s at least one or two more cats inside.” Meanwhile, they kept the three rescued kittens safe in a box in the shade as the firefighters worked to get the remaining one out of the generator.
Along the way, they pull out a “fire hazard” (which seems to be a pile of cardboard boxes), and a crew member named Glen climbs into the generator to find a kitten who’d gone silent for a few minutes beforehand. As a reward, a firefighter named – or nicknamed – Scooter gets Glena red helmet, who then takes a photo with the firefighters.
You can watch the full clip below
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Why Trivium + BFMV Ended Co-Headlining Poisoned Ascendancy Tour
Again, this was a bright spot in an otherwise cloudy past few days for both bands, as Loudwire reported on May 12 that Bullet For My Valentine “apparently pulled out of additional legs” of their international co-headlining tour. You see, the tour – which, as its name suggests, commemorated the 20th anniversaries of both Trivium’s second LP (2005’s Ascendancy) and BFMV’s debut LP (2005’s The Poison) – began in January 2025 and was set to go until the end of the year..
In a livestream posted to Reddit, Gregoletto said that Bullet For My Valentine frontman Matt Tuck “didn’t want to do it, after we had planned it, after stuff was already in the works – don’t know why.” Gregoletto added: “I think it would have been amazing. . . . I think the two records pair very well together. And I think it would have been nice to give everyone around the world a chance to see the two together.”
As Loudwire wrote at the time, Gregoletto also “posted a video on Trivium’s official TikTok with him flashing a thumbs up and a caption that reads, ‘When you make your first TikTok live and piss off the other bands you are on tour with …’ He also added the hashtag ‘#JusticeForSouthAmerica.’” Elsewhere, the band told one TikTok user that Tuck is “the sole decision maker of the band and he has no respect for us or our crew.”
That said, Trivium frontman Matt Heafy quickly shared a statement of gratitude for his bandmates and Trivium’s fans, writing that he “loved every show, every day, every minute” of the tour while sharing how the tour helped him overcome “the darkness and negativity [he] had written about on Ascendancy 20 years back.” He also called Trivium and BFMV “the most perfectly paired bands that I could ever imagine,” and near the end, he humbly expresses: “Thank you all for allowing me to do this.”
On May 14, Loudwire reported on Bullet For My Valentine’s statement regarding the tour cancellation.
In it, they wrote that they want to “divert [their] full attention to towards the next chapter of Bullet For My Valentine” amidst clarifying that they have “nothing but respect and admiration” for Trivium. Part of their plan is to “get back in the studio later this summer and finish what [they] promise you is [their] best album to date,” as well as “make plans for the 2026 & 2027 touring circles, hitting every corner.”
As of now, the Poisoned Ascendancy tour is set to end tonight (May 18) at the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Trivium + BFMV’s Separate Upcoming Shows
The Poisoned Ascendancy tour may be over, but both Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine are still playing their own shows over the next few months. You can see Trivium’s upcoming dates (and grab tickets) here, just as you can view BFMV’s upcoming shows (and purchase tickets) here.
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Gallery Credit: Bryan Rolli