DVD Review: The Guess Who Running Back Thru Canada (2004)

I recently saw former Guess Who stars Bachman-Cummings perform in concert, and it prompted me to purchase a DVD reunion concert of the Guess Who filmed prior to guitarist Randy Bachman and lead vocalist/keyboardist Burton Cummings permanent departure from the band in 2003.

The Guess Who, featuring Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, were the very first Canadian rock group to make it big south of the border. Being a homegrown group, I must admit a particular fondness for this fine prairie band.

The concert was shot in their hometown of Winnipeg as part of their successful Running Back Through Canada 2000 reunion tour. It was originally filmed as part of a televised special for the CBC. The DVD includes the original 15 song CBC special plus six bonus tracks and some behind the scenes footage.

The film opens to the strains of their intro number Running Back to Saskatoon, playing underneath a video montage of the crowd filing to their seats, Burton Cummings looking very apprehensive, and panoramic shots of an ominous lightning filled sky.

The weather was to play a huge part in this concert and figures heavily into what makes this a particularly special event.

Except for a few added pounds, the band looks and sounds great (Bachman has since lost 150 lbs). The group's lineup include Bachman, Cummings, Gary Peterson on drums, Bill Wallace on bass, and Donnie McDougall on guitar.

Conspicuous by his absence was original Guess Who bassist Jim Kale who through a legal glitch acquired legal rights to the band name and now performs without Bachman or Cummings in the US, using the name "The Guess Who" with a rotating crop of hired sidemen.

The sound for the DVD has been remastered in Dolby 5.1 Surround and can also be played in Dolby 2.0 - Stereo.

The band is as tight as I've ever heard them. Bachman and Cummings both have a twinkle in their eye and are obviously enjoying the opportunity to play to a packed hometown crowd.

Throughout the concert, the spotlight focuses primarily on Randy and Burton as they strut their stuff on Guess Who classics such as These Eyes, American Woman, Laughing, Undun, Share the Land, Clap for the Wolfman and No Time.

They also feature Bachman singing lead vocals on few Bachman Turner Overdrive songs including Let It Ride and Taking Care of Business.

Although all the performances are strong, I do have a few quibbles. They use the original CBC edit in which they often cut away from the concert to do brief behind the scenes interviews with band members. Although it's interesting to hear what band members have to say, I think that they should have edited these scenes out and, instead offered them as a DVD bonus selection. Also, the bonus songs tracks, most, if not all which were from the Winnipeg concert, should have been edited back in, so the concert could have been offered in its entirety.

Compared to Randy and Burton's current solo effort, I'd say the Bachman - Cummings band is every bit as good, if not better, than the original Guess Who, and light years better than Kale's version, with one notable exception - the drummer. As this DVD proves, original Guess Who drummer Gary Peterson is truly phenomenal. Cummings comments during his intro to their 2^nd selection Rain Dance, claiming that Gary Peterson is, "one of the finest drummers that Canada has ever produced" is no brag - it is a fact.

Although the concert's sound and production values were state of the art, nature itself provides a better lightshow than could ever possibly be managed through artificial means. Beginning ironically at about the time they start to perform No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, the camera begins to catch glimpses of chain lightning lighting up the night sky. The wind begins blowing furiously and rain starts to pelt the stage and audience.

Though inwardly the band members must have been extremely concerned, they never show it onstage and they soldier on for another 2 numbers despite the encroaching storm

Neither the audience nor the band would budge.

Finally, the Guess Who management determines that the band members' personal safety was in jeopardy, and the band announced that they are taking a ten-minute break. The "short" intermission turns out to be more than an hour. But the crowd, looking like a bunch of drowned rats, stay on, and the band, true to their word, finally return - a testament to the band's dedication to Winnipeg, and Winnipeg's dedication to the band.

The Guess Who returns and continues to play up a storm. While introducing their 1970 No 1 North American smash hit, American Woman, Burton Cummings observes, "Only in Winnipeg would the crowd stay - we love you!"

Neither wind, nor rain, nor thunder, nor lightning could keep the Guess Who or their fans from staying the duration - a classic concert from a class band.

Rob Rheubottom