The Guess Who will perform at the PNE Summer Night Concerts series. Photo by Mike Hough /Laura Ballance PR

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Burton Cummings doesn’t mince words talking about what the Takin’ It Back Tour means for the musical legacy of The Guess Who.

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For the first time in 23 years, he and Randy Bachman are touring together under the band name they made famous. The tour follows the settlement in 2024 of a lengthy trademark lawsuit between them and original members Jim Cale and Garry Peterson around who had the rights to use the name.

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“We’re here to remind people who the ones who made the music really were, and that fake Guess Who band is out of the way for good,” said Cummings. “The crowd response has been overwhelming. It’s like a, ‘Welcome back. We’re so glad to hear the real guys again’ kind of vibe.”

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At one point, Cummings even pulled his performance rights catalogue from BMI licensing, which meant the Kale and Peterson version of the band could no longer include such classic tracks as American Woman and These Eyes during its sets. Fans can rest assured that those songs, and many more from across the band’s history, will be blasting off the stage when the group plays the PNE Summer Night Concerts this month.

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“The guys let me decide on the set list and I struggled over it for awhile, because I wanted to tell the story of the real band,” said Cummings. “So our first big record, These Eyes, comes early on in the show to emphasize the musical history that we made.”

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By the time it officially disbanded in 1975, The Guess Who left behind a legacy that included 11 studio albums. The most successful of these was 1970’s American Woman, which reached the No. 1 spot on both the Canadian and U.S. charts. The band charted a total of 14 top-40 singles in those two markets, as well.

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Bachman, who left the band in 1970, and Cummings would both go on to solo careers, reuniting periodically over the following decades. The current lineup of the band includes the two primary songwriters as well as drummer Sean Fitzsimons, bassist Jeff Jones, percussionist and vocalist Nick Sinopoli, and guitarists Tim Bovaconti and Joe Augello.

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“We’ve got a really rocking band with three lead guitar players,” said Cummings. “It’s a really powerful presentation, so we can add-in some of Randy’s BTO tunes like Let It Ride and Takin’ Care of Business. Unlike our last reunion, which wasn’t well rehearsed, this is reinvigorating The Guess Who legacy.”

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Reviews of the Takin’ It Back Tour have honed in on how great Cummings is singing. The 78-year-old has seemingly lost none of his power as a vocalist, which is rare in rock music. He says it’s all about keeping your instrument fit.

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“Nobody is ever going to say I lived the life of a Buddhist monk, but through all of it, I took my vitamins and exercised my voice,” he said. “I’ve been singing since I was in church choir as a child into lead roles in HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury, and on to bands. The right way to treat my voice is to use it, so I do.” 

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Cummings says he chose to skip adding his solo career highlights to the tour. With the noted exception of his barrelhouse boogie fan favourite My Own Way To Rock, he really wants this tour to be about the songs of The Guess Who.

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“You know, before These Eyes, we had released at least nine singles that all did absolutely nothing, but we just stubbornly kept on trying,” he said. “After These Eyes, we had a constant succession of hits between 1969 to 1975. Looking back, I’m surprised by how quickly they came, one after the other.”

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Diehard fans of the band can expect all kinds of deep cuts, many of which the group hasn’t performed since they were released.

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“We do Proper Stranger, which was the flip side to the No Time single, and Wednesday In Your Garden from Wheatfield Soul and others,” he said. “Every night, you can expect a few surprises like that.”