![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_4923-1013x1800.jpeg\")
(Pic courtesy: Karen Bliss)<\/p>\nWhat to know<\/p>\n
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings performed a sold-out show at Scotiabank Arena on May 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The concert came months after the pair won a legal battle over The Guess Who name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It marked the band\u2019s first Toronto performance as The Guess Who since SARSfest in 2003.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The set featured classics including \u201cAmerican Woman,\u201d \u201cThese Eyes,\u201d \u201cNo Time\u201d and \u201cShare The Land.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bachman and Cummings received a standing ovation before playing a note.<\/p>\n
The Guess Who, the first Canadian band to ever chart on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 in the U.S. in 1969 with \u201cThese Eyes,\u201d and the first to hit No. 1 in 1970 \u201cAmerican Woman,\u201d must\u2019ve been thrilled by the response to their sold-out Toronto show at Scotiabank Arena Saturday night (May 30). <\/p>\n
It was packed to the rafters, and even side stage sections, and they got a standing ovation before even playing one note.<\/p>\n
The Guess Who, the first Canadian band to ever chart on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 in the U.S. in 1969 with \u201cThese Eyes,\u201d and the first to hit No. 1 in 1970 \u201cAmerican Woman,\u201d must\u2019ve been thrilled by the response to their sold-out Toronto show at Scotiabank Arena Saturday night (May 30). It was packed to the rafters, and even side stage sections, and they got a standing ovation before even playing one note.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg-born Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings only won their lawsuit in September 2024 to reclaim their name from other members who were touring without them for years as The Guess Who \u2014 misleading people into buying tickets to see a \u201cfake band\u201d and \u201ccover band,\u201d as Cummings said \u2014 the singer-songwriters behind such classics as the aforementioned Billboard hits, as well as \u201cLaughing,\u201d \u201cNo Time,\u201d \u201cNo Sugar Tonight,\u201d \u201cUndun,\u201d and the medley \u201cNo Sugar Tonight \/ New Mother Nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
They did not let it ride and took care of business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two have toured as \u201cBachman-Cummings,\u201d most recently in 2022, but the settlement enabled them, after 23 years, to finally hit the road as The Guess Who on the Takin\u2019 It Back Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bachman, 82, and Cummings, 78, now have a very busy summer ahead.<\/p>\n
(Pic courtesy: Karen Bliss)<\/p>\n
After making their debut return in late-January at the 5000-capacity show at OLG Stage in Niagara Falls, and two more one-offs \u2014 in February on the Rock Legends Cruise XIII, and March at Hard Rock Live Hollywood in Florida \u2014 a week into almost 40 dates, heading from Moncton, NB, where it kicked off May 26, and dipping into the US for 23 dates, bouncing back up for the odd Canadian stop. They will wrap up Aug. 25 in Victoria, BC.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Guess Who finally return as The Guess Who<\/p>\n
The Scotiabank Arena date was their first in the city as The Guess Who since July 30, 2003, for the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto benefit concert, a.k.a.\u00a0 SARSfest. Bachman and Cummings got a standing ovation as soon as they stepped on the stage, perhaps a congratulations too on winning the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The entire floor stayed on their feet, as they launched into the instrumental opener \u201c969 (The Oldest Man),\u201d featuring Cummings on flute, while the stands mostly stayed seated \u2014 likely not for lack of enthusiasm, but the audience was filled with older men and women, some appearing to be in and around Bachman and Cummings age. Even Bachman, who has had health issues in the past, and is in his eighties, stayed seated the entire concert, but still played guitar superbly (but in comfort).\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_4934-1800x1013.jpeg\")
The Guess Who at Scotiabank Arena on May 30, 2026. (Courtesy: Karen Bliss)<\/p>\n
A night of hits<\/p>\n
But there were people of all ages there to see a band whose songs we know without knowing how we know them, plus the songs they included in the set from what Cummings called Bachman\u2019s \u201cother band,\u201d Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO), which he started after he left The Guess Who,\u00a0 namely 1974\u2019s \u201cLet It Ride\u201d and \u201cYou Ain\u2019t Seen Nothing Yet,\u201d and the final song of the night, 1973\u2019s \u201cTakin\u2019 Care of Business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just two songs in, Cummings reminisced about playing Toronto for the first time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRandy and I have been coming here to the big city since 1967. When Randy and I first came to Toronto, the tallest building in town was the Royal York Hotel. You can hardly see it anymore. That\u2019s how long we\u2019ve been coming here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the hour-and-45 minute show, Cummings was the chatty one. He introduced the other players on stage, the \u201cboys in the band\u201d \u2014 drummer Sean Fitzsimons, bassist Jeff Jones, percussionist Nick Sinopoli, and guitarist Tim Bovaconti and Joe Augello, all of them contributing backing vocals \u2014 and before many of the songs, he gave us a brief intro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For example, before \u201cClap for the Wolfman,\u201d he pointed out the Midnight Special t-shirt he was wearing and said and The Guess Who appeared on the TV variety show five or six times, each time becoming better friends with host Wolfman Jack.<\/p>\n
A grateful homecoming<\/p>\n
Before \u201cLaughing,\u201d he told the story of how he and Bachman wrote it in 45-minutes on their highway bus, waiting for the ferry ride from Victoria to Vancouver, and finishing it before the ferry even left.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got a beautiful gold record for this song, too,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd who did we get the record from? Dick Clark on American Band Stand. First band from Canada that ever did that. I hope this stirs up some memories for you, because Randy and I have great memories associated with this song.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before, \u201cThese Eyes,\u201d he said, the song \u201cchanged their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it was before the first of the two-song encore,\u00a0\u201cShare The Land,\u201d that Cummings talked about Toronto again, first calling the whole night \u201csensational\u201d and thanking the audience multiple times.<\/p>\n
\u201cRandy, can back this up: When we used to come to Toronto in the early days, we were nervous. We were nervous as hell. There were bands down here with silk suits and horn sections, and that\u2019s where the term \u2018Wheatfield Soul,\u2019 came from,\u201d he said, referring to Thereferring The Guess Who\u2019s 1969 breakthrough album that contained \u201cThese Eyes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they used to look at us like we were just farm idiots, and I was always a little intimidated coming to the big city. But, boy, tonight has sure erased that,\u201d he said to cheers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for everything. Thank you for tonight. Thank you for all the years. We\u2019ve been on the radio now for almost 60 years. That\u2019s unbelievable. Thanks for buying all those 8-tracks and cassettes, folks.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then got subtly political. \u201cI wish every single one of your long life, good health, happiness, friendships, and above everything, folks, don\u2019t ever forget how lucky you are to live in a place like this,\u201d bringing it back to The Guess Who again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a crowd or an audience, a band has nothing. You\u2019re everything to us. Thank you so very, very much. We\u2019ll leave you, and we\u2019re gonna do a song I wrote back in the hippie days. I think it still makes sense, lyrically.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What to know Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings performed a sold-out show at Scotiabank Arena on May 30.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-709701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}