Not all that long ago, a year and twenty days from June 22nd to be exact, the latest version of the first multiple hit band founded by Winnipeg native Randy Bachman played the Osage Casino Skyline Event Center. Speaking of The Guess Who, it may as well have been the same logo adorning the stage as the current lineup of Bachman-Turner Overdrive played nearly half a dozen songs originally credited to them. It is hard to insinuate scandal of any degree when the guy who wrote most of them performed each one letter perfect as we remember. That “we” I speak of was a gathering of local Gearheads, mostly aged 60 and older, who have been jamming to BTO’s sounds since their founding in 1973 along with The Guess Who’s since years before then. With the Cove at River Spirit Casino playing host, we all enjoyed a Saturday night extravaganza in the first person of those intoxicating tunes emanating from their original source.
It truly is a statement to the timelessness of music when the writer and composer of so many great rock songs, now in his 80s, can still display the stamina to reproduce the songs as closely as they sounded in the studio versions. Randy Bachman is that guy. Partnering with bass player Fred Turner all those years ago has proved to be a gift that keeps on giving to their fans. It counts for a lot that their music is our music and for any audience to hear this band play a full hour and half set with the same quality in reproducing the same sounds as we all heard in our youth defines exhilaration. The takeaway from all this is a boosted sense of hope that we might be able to age as gracefully.
The newest addition to the band is Randy’s son, Tal. Before coming onboard last year, Tal was an accomplished musician in his own right. His one lone hit, She’s so High, was included in the show’s set list. Seeing and hearing the next generation of talent ensures a degree of comfort in knowing the creative well is by no means dry. Indeed, the fruit does not fall far from the tree.
Cursory history lessons are always a treat when a songwriter explains the background of how a song came to be. Randy indulged us in some genuine storytelling in between numbers. From how the name “Guess Who” became the name of Canada’s most recognized 1960s rock group to the inspiration for the song No Sugar Tonight. Particularly enthralling was his tale of the procurement and transport of fellow Canadian Neil Young’s 70th birthday present. Long story short, Randy and his music mentors draw a lot of water among the listeners up north.
In addition to Tal, the other new members are Brent Dalla-Vee on bass and vocals, Brent Knudsen on rhythm guitar and Marc LeFrance on drums. The set began at 8:06 PM and ran until 9:40 PM. They led off with that BTO classic, Roll on down the Highway. Other classics included You ain’t seen nothing yet, Let it Ride, interspersed with Guess Who cuts like These Eyes, Undun and No Time. A special backscreen video accompanied the song, American Woman. Perhaps appropriately, Randy did not delve into the backstory of that particular number. For their encore performance they played the song everyone came to hear, Takin‘ Care of Business. There was an accompanying video of the band’s visit to Graceland and a repeated fixation on Elvis’ grave, at the very foot of which were the letters, T C B. We all were left to draw our own conclusions about that message. It was definitely apparent that takin’ care of business was the order of the evening.
As of May 2024, Bachman-Turner hasn’t come close to being admitted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This appears wrong on so many levels for a band whose music withstood the test of time for 50+ years. They were admitted to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2014 but to be snubbed by the outfit in Cleveland counts as a huge bust by the gatekeepers of that esteemed institution. I will venture to guess that in another fifty years that BTO songs will remain scattered through the playlists of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of their original fans. As for us local Gearheads, none of us know how far we have to go, but BTO helped us remember how far we’ve come. My thanks to Randy and Tal and the rest of the Band for a world class show and thanks to all who helped make it happen.
