Review by Val Tapia
Photos by Corey Kelly
A classic rock tour package on a hot Monday night can often feel like a predictable nostalgia machine, but The Guess Who’s stop at Arizona Financial Theatre proved to be a slightly refreshing subversion of expectations.
Drawing a surprisingly robust 4200 fans to the 5000-capacity venue, the foundational duo of Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman didn’t just deliver a standard greatest hits set on autopilot. They performed an 18-song, 105-minute set that relied predominantly on the enduring weight of their catalog. As opposed to modern arena flash.
The band kept that momentum moving by showcasing significant musical confidence, choosing to open with two fairly obscure songs, Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon and Proper Stranger, respectively. It was an intentional pacing choice that forced the boomer-heavy audience to engage with the musicianship, rather than just waiting for the hooks.
While the stage production offered nothing truly unique– largely relying on vintage clips of the band in its heyday projected on screen– the core of any serious critique for artists in their 70s must center on execution. Age dictates adaptation, and the band managed these constraints fairly well.
Cummings’ delivery of the songs remained solid, though the set featured clear, and perhaps pragmatic, concessions to time. Both These Eyes and American Woman were performed in lower keys. The latter also contained snippets of The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues. Yes good readers, Undun, Clap For The Wolfman, Laughing and No Time were also in the set.
While the downtuning “method” preserved Cummings’ tonal control and prevented vocal strain, it ultimately took away from those two classic songs. Fairly or unfairly, the altered tuning lacked the bright, urgent timbre of the original studio recordings. As a result, they simply didn’t sound right.
Guitarist Randy Bachman remained seated throughout the performance, but his physical confinement did not diminish his sonic footprint. The inclusion of three Bachman-Turner Overdrive tunes, Let It Ride and You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet specifically, provided a slightly “harder-rocking” counterweight to The Guess Who’s psych-pop leanings. To the audience’s screaming delight I should add.
With a solid front-of-house mix, the show moved with deliberate momentum, striking a solid balance between historic reverence and live authority.
Opener (and former Eagles guitarist) Don Felder hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. sharp and performed a 9-song, 50-minute set that commenced with Already Gone followed by One Of These Nights. His set contained, predictably, mostly songs from the Eagles.
However, he did play a recent solo song called I Like The Things You Do, and for the movie buffs in the audience, he trotted out Heavy Metal as a high-octane surprise I suppose. Yes, the title song from the 1981 animated cult flick.
But the showstopper of Felder’s set was his take on Steve Young’s Seven Bridges Road, which of course the Eagles recorded as well. In short order, his band delivered a flawless and tight version that by far eclipses the way the current Eagles lineup performs it.
I’ll take it even further. If Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey would’ve seen Felder’s version, their jaws would’ve been on the floor. Guaranteed. Yes, it was that good.
In closing, it must be said. No matter how loudly other media outlets echo the marketing copy, make no mistake. The Guess Who’s Takin’ It Back trek is not a “reunion tour”. With only Bachman and Cummings at the helm, backed entirely by Cummings’ recent solo band, the fans are witnessing a new incarnation of The Guess Who. Or a realignment of the band, take your pick.
That being said, the emotional core of this configuration remains relatively authentic. Cummings himself didn’t mince words either, actively reassuring the audience that the “fake band” is finally “no longer out there”. It was a declaration that triggered a thunderous, validating roar all around the venue.
While framing this as a pristine, historical resurrection is vastly inaccurate, it is a vitalized, legally ‘triumphant” new chapter that honors the catalog far better than the trademark-squatting iteration that preceded it.
Be that as it may, the definitive lineup of The Guess Who will always be Bachman, Cummings, Kale and Peterson, respectively. No matter what any court or lawyer has to say about it.
The final verdict? Four out of five stars.
