Randy Bachman, left, and Burton Cummings perform as the Guess Who in Moncton last week.Corey Kelly/Supplied
Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are touring together as the Guess Who for the first time in 23 years. On stage with five backing musicians, the two core members ran through a jukebox of hits written and recorded by the Winnipeg natives, with a mustached Cummings introducing the well-known material.
“That’s Randy and you know I’m Burton,” said Cummings on Saturday at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. “Because we’re the guys on the big truck outside.”
One can’t be too sure these days. For years, a pseudo-Guess Who toured and recorded without Cummings and Bachman, now 78 and 82, respectively. The restored Guess Who is authentic at last, but the live music landscape is littered with acts composed of musicians with dubious connections to the original band.
Classic rockers Foreigner and Canada’s Trooper, for example, tour with no original members. Fifties R&B crooners the Platters and the Coasters operate like sports franchises, with younger members replacing departing veterans over the years as if they were the Toronto Blue Jays. Sports fans root for uniforms; music fans cheer for golden-oldie songs.
Among those presented by the Guess Who were These Eyes (“We’re going to do a song that changed our lives”), No Time (“Hope you like this folks, because this is Guess Who rock ’n’ roll”), Star Baby (“If it’s not your favourite Guess Who song, it’s only two minutes and 57 seconds”), American Woman (“Rock ’n’ roll is here to stay”), Share the Land (“A song I wrote back in the hippie days, I think it still makes sense lyrically”) and Undun (“We’re here to stir up some memories”).
On the stage backdrop in a groovy font was a psychedelic-coloured banner, “The Guess Who.” It was gigantic, and why not? Cummings and Bachman fought long, hard and litigiously to reclaim the name.
For decades, original bassist Jim Kale held the trademark. He and original drummer Garry Peterson toured and recorded as a U.S.-based Guess Who with anonymous musicians. When Bachman and Cummings re-joined the band for the Running Back Through Canada tour in the early 2000s, Kale didn’t participate but charged a 20-per-cent share of the proceeds for the use of the name.
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In 2024, Bachman and Cummings reached a legal settlement to reacquire the Guess Who trademark. Hence the name of the current string of dates in North American: Takin’ It Back Tour.
Bachman called the Kale-led Guess Who a “clone band” who hurt the fans. “We would get emails from people saying, ‘We went to see you, and you weren’t there. What’s going on? This is a ripoff,’ ” the guitarist told The Globe and Mail recently.
As for Cummings, the singer-keyboardist took specific exception to Thunder Bay-born singer Derek Sharp, who fronted the replacement Guess Who for years. “I didn’t want this young, blond clown running around thinking that these are his songs,” Cummings said last fall. “It’s the legacy. We just wanted to stop the fake Guess Who.”
A band’s name is worth its weight in gold records. Foreigner sells tickets because its brand and setlist is strong. Fans of Chicago, touring with Styx this summer, pay to hear If You Leave Me Now even though the song’s original singer Peter Cetera left the band in 1985. For many concertgoers, the lure of familiar songs trumps the cult of famous, recognizable performers.
“These groups have established big memories with people, and people are looking back to come back to that,” said Canadian music manager and former booking agent Sam Feldman. “As long as there is a market, the brand will live on.”
But is selling New Coke as Coca-Cola Classic a misuse of fans’ memories or an appropriated nostalgia? Feldman doesn’t think so, if what is on the label is clear. “I think artists are obligated to let people know exactly what the show is and who is in the band.”
Canadian hard-rock trio Triumph did just that when it announced its current reunion tour. After fans expressed confusion over who would be performing, the band spelled out on its website that guitarist/singer Rik Emmett and drummer/singer Gill Moore would be on stage every night with three other musicians, and that original bassist Mike Levine (who is experiencing health issues) would be on hand for select performances.
“Some of the confusion was self-induced,” Moore told The Globe. “Two or three years ago I told an interviewer about an idea I had for a virtual Triumph show. But that’s not what we’re doing, and I think we cleared it up.”
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April Wine is opening for Triumph on the tour. Guitarist Brian Greenway is the lone musician left from the Roller band’s classic lineup. Before frontman and chief songwriter Myles Goodwyn died at 75 in 2023, he was already retired and had sanctioned the band to tour without him.
Likewise, when Trooper founding members Ra McGuire and Brian Smith retired from raising a little hell in 2021, they gave their blessing for the newer bandmates to continue under the Trooper name.
In 1977, the band had a hit with We’re Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time), written by McGuire and Smith, and produced by Bachman. The title expresses the sentiments of the classic-rock generation who want to keep things going as long as possible.
On June 27, the Canadian jazzy rock ensemble Lighthouse performs at Toronto’s Concert Hall, the same venue where the One Fine Morning band played for the first time in 1969. Keyboardist Paul Hoffert is the sole active Lighthouse musician left who was on stage that night, 57 years ago.
He and his band-manager wife Brenda Hoffert received offers over years for the rights to the Lighthouse name but never considered taking the money because they felt it would be “selling out.” But now?
“I have no idea,” he said. “But I don’t blame anyone who has done it. And if we were broke and needed the money, you never know − it’s a business.”