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August 24, 2024

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Randy Bachman the co-founder of Bachman Turner Overdrive and The Guess Who,  brought his latest incarnation of BTO to MGM's Center Stage for a very entertaining night of stories and classic rock.

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BTO last played in Cleveland in 1986 when they opened up for Van Halen.  That incarnation included Fred Turner, Randy and Tim Bachman, Garry Peterson and Billy Chapman.  Currently, Randy is the only original member of the group but he has surrounded himself with outstanding musicians including his son, Tal, Mick Della-Vee, Brent Howard and Marc LaFrance.

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The show started with BTO deep cuts "Take It Like A Man" and the autobiographical, "Rock Is My Life, This Is My Song."  Randy then told some stories of how he joined various bands and ended up wanting to work with Burton Cummings.  He told his dad about Burton and his dad said, "I'll call his mom, I went to school with her."  So he did and that's how The Guess Who got started.

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The band then went into several tunes from The Guess Who including "These Eyes," "No Time" and "No Sugar Tonight,"  which included Bachman telling the funny background stories of how each song came about.  As each song was played, the video screen showed great performance videos from various TV shows the band appeared on from that era.

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It was then time for some classic BTO tunes which I'm sure brought back many memories from the mostly middle aged plus audience members.  Songs like "Stay Awake All Night" and "Four Wheel Drive" were expertly played.

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Bachman then went into a lengthy guitar solo that featured him using a drum stick to do the "tapping" on the neck of the guitar.  That solo segued into the familiar crunching opening riff of "American Woman."

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It was then Bachman's son, Tal's turn to take center stage to sing his number one hit from 1999, "She's So High" which became a huge sing-a-long.

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Three classic BTO songs that hit you right in the face, closed out the show.  "Roll On Down The Highway," "Let It Ride" and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" felt like getting jabbed three times by a heavyweight boxer.  But it felt fantastic! 

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The band returned to encore with a medley of classic rock tunes that started off with BTO's "Hey You" and included songs from The Rolling Stones, T. Rex, Bob Seger and Steve Miller to name a few.

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This great night of classic rock and storytelling came to a close with a rousing rendition of "Taking Care of Business."

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This concert will no doubt be one of my top shows of the year.

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Photos and review by Greg Drugan

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