After a recent round on the Rock Legends Cruise, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman will be taking their recent ownership of The Guess Who on the road this spring.
The duo kicks off its Takin’ It Back Tour at home with previously announced Canadian dates that begin May 26 date in Moncton, New Brunswick. The U.S. run starts in late June, when it brings the show south of the border for two dozen concerts staring June 25 in Shakopee, Minn. The tour wraps up on Aug. 23 in Vancouver, B.C. Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder opens the headlining dates.
It marks the first time in 23 years Cummings and Bachman have toured as The Guess Who, following last year’s legal triumph over what they call “the fake Guess Who,” run for decades by bassist Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson, who cofounded the band with Bachman as Chad Allan & the Reflections during 1962 in Winnipeg.
advertisement
“It was enough already. They tarnished what we created,” Cummings, who joined in 1966, alleges to Billboard via a Zoom that also includes Bachman. “I remember I went on Facebook and talked to people … and there were a lot of remarks about the fake Guess Who, about the band going on stage and kind of dishonoring the songs. So Randy and I are out here now, honoring the history of The Guess Who.”
Bachman adds, “You can only sit around for so long and watch people tarnish something you built, something that’s intangible — that’s called a reputation. It’s with music, it’s with fans. It’s making music that is the soundtrack of our lives, and everybody who hears it and buys it falls in love with it and cherishes it. To see it stolen and not given justice and then hearing about it from your fans … was terrible. So be able to be part of that again and see the reaction of the fans, it’s really special.”
advertisement
Billboard has reached out to Kale and Peterson for comment.
Starting with “These Eyes” in 1969, The Guess Who registered 14 top 40 singles in the U.S. (and more than 30 in its homeland), hitting No. 1 in 1970 with “American Woman” and “No Sugar Tonight.” It also released two gold albums, American Woman and Share the Land, that year. Bachman left the band in 1970, going on to start Bachman-Turner Overdrive, while The Guess Who broke up in 1975. Kale began taking out his subsequent versions of the band starting in the late ’70s, trademarked the name in 1987 — much to the chagrin of Bachman and Cummings — and subsequently added Peterson as a partner. The Kale-Peterson group also released three albums, including 2023’s Plein d’Amour. But while Bachman and Cummins played under The Guess Who name during the early 2000, there were often instances where the group performed with no original members.
Cummings and Bachman sent cease-and-desist letters that were ignored, and in October 2023 they filed a $20 million lawsuit against Kale and Peterson, alleging the two were defrauding the public with promotions that “give the false impressions that [Bachman and Cummings] are performing as part of the cover band.” The matter was ultimately settled out of court after Cummings revoked permission for the Kale/Peterson Guess Who to perform any of the songs he wrote or cowrote — which happened to be nearly all of the greatest hits. During September of 2024 he and Bachman announced that they now controlled The Guess Who name and property, and last summer, they announced their intention to work under the band name, joined by members of Cummings’ solo band the Carpet Frogs.
advertisement
Prior to the Rock Legends Cruise, Cummings and Bachman performed their first return The Guess Who show on Jan. 31 in Niagara Falls, a 19-song set that combined hits with deep cuts (the show-opening “969 (The Oldest Man),” “Proper Stranger,” “Albert Flasher,” “Guns Guns Guns,” “Star Baby,” “A Wednesday in Your Garden”) and solo fare from both Cummings (“My Own Way to Rock”) and BTO’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” “Let It Ride” and “Takin’ Care of Business.”
Bachman says he ceded curation of the setlist to Cummings. “It’s a Guess Who show,” he explains, “and Burton is, and was, the voice of The Guess Who and still one of the greatest voices in music. He is the mouthpieces of The Guess Who, so I let him put together the setlist. I’m there beside him as his copilot or whatever. He had a really good idea of how to honour the stuff we did together, and it’s hit after hit after hit. If we made a setlist of the songs we left out, it’s better than most band’s set lists.”
Bachman adds, “I don’t think we ever played ‘Proper Stranger’ on stage; if we did it was maybe on a Winnipeg community club stage for 200 kids, not a big rock show.”
And Cumming notes, “There’s a new element to it. We have experience and a little more confidence now, knowing what the crowds want to hear. We’re out there honoring the music — ‘Hey, you came to see the Guess Who. Here it is …'”
Given the current political climate and President Donald Trump’s rancor toward Canada, “American Woman” — which was also a hit for Lenny Kravitz in 1999 — could potentially provide a charged moment during The Guess Who’s shows this year. But Cummings, along with Bachman, is adamant that “it was never meant to be political. We were touring the States … and I noticed the girls in the States wanted to grow up faster than the girls in Canada. They scared me. [laughs] Then that night, Randy started playing [sings the guitar riff] and I started singing and I was thinking, ‘Canadian woman, I prefer you,’ but what came out of my head was ‘American woman, stay away from me.’ And it was 1970 and the Vietnam War was at a terrible point of escalation, and the song just snowballed from there.”
advertisement
The two plan to keep The Guess Who on the road for the foreseeable future, but they say new music will have to wait. “There’s no time for that right now,” says Cummings, who released a solo album — A Few Good Moments — during 2024. “Right now, let’s get out there and rekindle the legacy that has been tarnished. New music may come later, but that’s not on our agenda right now. We’re going out to rebuild what the fake band broke down.”
To which Bachman adds, “The fans are thrilled that we are back together and the songs are being honored, and they appreciate we go to great lengths to sound like the records. We’re not doing Saturday Night Live, Bill Murray lounge version of our songs. This is the real deal.”
advertisement
General sales begin at 10 a.m. local time on Friday (March 6). More details and updates are available via The Guess Who’s website.
Here’s the Takin’ It Back Tour itinerary:
May 26 – Moncton, New Brunswick – Avenir Centre
May 27 – Halifax, Nova Scotia – Scotiabank Centre
May 29 – Laval, Quebec – Place Bell
May 30 – Toronto, Ontario – Scotiabank Arena
June 1 – Hamilton, Ontario – TD Coliseum
June 2 – London, Ontario – Canada Life Place
June 5 – Winnipeg, Manitoba – Canada Life Centre
June 6 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – SaskTel Centre
June 8 – Calgary, Alberta – Scotiabank Saddledome
June 10 – Edmonton, Alberta – Rogers Place
June 25 – Shakopee, Minn. – Mystic Lake Amphitheater
June 27 – Cincinnati – Riverbend Music Center
June 28 – Cuyahoga, Ohio – Blossom Music Center
June 30 – Chicago – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
July 1 – Grand Rapids, Mich. – Acrisure Amphitheater
July 3 – Clarkston, Mich. – Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 5 – Holmdel, N.J. – PNC Bank Arts Center
July 7 – Syracuse, N.Y. – Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview
July 8 – Gilford, N.H. – BankNH Pavilion
July 10 – Wantagh, N.Y. – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
July 11 – Atlantic City, N.J. – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City
July 14 – Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – Albany Med Health System at SPAC
July 16 – Uncasville, Conn. – Mohegan Sun Arena
July 17 – Boston – Leader Bank Pavilion
July 19 – Ottawa, Ontario – Ottawa Bluesfest
Aug. 6 – Atlanta – Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park
Aug. 8 – Houston – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
Aug. 9 – Fort Worth, Texas – Dickies Arena
Aug. 12 – Denver – Fiddlers Green Amphitheater
Aug. 14 – Salt Lake City – Maverik Center
Aug. 15 – Las Vegas – Fontainebleau Las Vegas
Aug. 17 – Phoenix – Arizona Financial Theatre
Aug. 19 – Los Angeles – Greek Theatre
Aug. 22 – Seattle – Climate Pledge Arena
Aug. 23 – Vancouver, B.C. – The Pacific National Exhibition
