Monday Night (June 14th) we ventured out the The North Shore Center For Performing Arts in Skokie, IL, to see Burton Cummings and his band.
This was our first trip to this venue, a small but nicely designed theater that allows every seat a clear view of the stage. It was also designed perfectly for acoustics ... we're hoping to see more shows there in the future (although I will admit that it WAS a bit of a hike, traffic-wise!)
We hadn't seen Burton in a few years ... he's always been one of my favorite performers and a Burton Cummings concert ensures an evening of GREAT music, start to finish. His band, The Carpet Frogs (but renamed The Burton Cummings Band for his solo tours) may have been the tightest we've ever seen them ... spot-on performances throughout the night saluting some of the very best from Burton's well-known catalog.
Things kicked off with "Bus Rider," one of my all-time favorites. I have always maintained that this track would have guaranteed The Guess Who a two-sided hit single were it not for the use of "God Damn" in the lyrics. Still, it got things rocking right off the bat and set the stage for the other rockers to come.
Burton was dressed in a "Midnight Special" T-Shirt, as was I! We both received these shirts as gifts from East Coast Radio Programming Extraordinaire Tom Cuddy and I had a feeling he might wear his for the show so I dressed accordingly. (A shame we couldn't get a picture of the two of us together ... but this is essentially how we looked) ...
Cummings modeled his shirt in earnest while setting the stage for the group's next song, "Clap For The Wolfman," a Top Ten Hit for The Guess Who in 1974. (They appeared on the show several times ... and even hosted it a time or two. I remember an appearance back in 1973 when they performed several selections from their new LP, "Artificial Paradise." I ran out and bought it the very next day!)
My comment about "Bus Rider" being a suitable candidate for a two-sided hit becomes even more relevant since Burton then performed "Laughing" and "Undun" back-to-back. These two tracks each shared a side of The Guess Who's 1969 double whammy single Top Ten Single, their follow-up to their major breakthrough hit, "These Eyes." Truth be told, the band also earned a couple of other two-sided hits along the way ... "American Woman" and "No Sugar Tonight" (a shortened version of their LP medley of "No Sugar Tonight" and "New Mother Nature," both of which were also performed Monday evening) as well as "Albert Flasher" / "Broken," a minor two-sided hit in 1971. And let's not forget that their B-Side "Do You Miss Me Darlin'," the flip of "Hang On To Your Life," earned a spot on the group's first Greatest Hits album.
One of the highlights of the evening was their performance of Burton's 1977 solo hit "My Own Way To Rock." This thing smoked from start to finish ... and really showed off the talents of "newbie" Joe Augello on guitar ... his solos were nothing short of phenomenal. Suffice to say that Joe quickly earned his place in the spotlight with Burton's well-seasoned band.
Late in the set list Burton spotted a girl in the audience wearing a "Star Baby" T-Shirt and had her stand up. They then did the song (another one of my favorites.) "Star Baby" barely snuck into The Top 40 in Bilboard at #39 ... but here in Chicago, it was a #3 smash on both of our AM giants ... so it's always great to hear that one again!
Cummings slipped in one song from his new album "A Few Good Moments." "Blackjack Fever" tied in perfectly with some of the other gambling and casino references he made throughout the night.
In fact, it's probably the most I've ever heard him talk during a show. The band only performed twelve songs in their 90 minute set before coming back out for an encore of "Share The Land."
I had heard nothing but good reviews of Burton's new show so I couldn't wait to see it. I will confess that he shied away from a number of high notes throughout the evening ... but then came back in full force voice on all of the rockers. Start to finish, it was one of the better performances I've seen ... and I've probably seen Burton live now close to twenty times, dating back to the original Guess Who of the 1970's.
There is lots of excitement and anticipation for next year's official Guess Who reunion of Cummings and Randy Bachman, who are expected to do a 2 1/2 hour "all hits" show now that they've reclaimed the legal name of the band ... but he didn't mention any Guess Who reunion shows during Monday night's performance, probably because no official tour dates have been announced yet, other than the Rock Legends Cruise Tour, where they'll be on the bill along with THE GENE SIMMONS BAND, THE KEVIN CRONIN BAND, ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS, LOVERBOY, BLUE öYSTER CULT, URIAH HEEP, JOHN OATES, JEFFERSON STARSHIP, THE OUTLAWS, ATLANTA RHYTHM SECTION, UGLY KID JOE and half a dozen others. They set sail February 23rd (thru February 27th) and the cruise is already a complete sell out.
In the meantime, you can still see Burton Cummings in concert at any of these fine locations:
Tomorrow Night, (Thursday, July 17th, 2025), at The Lexington Opera House in Lexington, KY
Sunday, July 20th, 2025, at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines, IA
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025 at Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, SD
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025, at The Astro Theater in Omaha, NE
Saturday, July 26th, 2025, at The Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival in Salmon Arm, BC
Thursday, August 7th, 2025, at The Kitchener Blues Festival in Kitchener, ON, with special guest Shemekia Copeland
Saturday, August 9th, 2025, at The Temple Theatre in Saginaw, MI
Sunday, August 10th, 2025, at The Payne & Mencias Palladium in Carmel, IN
Wednesday, August 13th, 2025, at The Stiefel Theatre in Salina, KS
Friday, August 15th, 2025, at The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Arvada, CO
Sunday, August 17th, 2025, at The Avalon Theatre in Grand Junction, CO
Monday, August 18th, 2025, at Kenley Amphitheater in Layton, UT
Wednesday, August 20th, 2025, at The Fox Tuscon Theatre in Tucson, AZ
Friday, August 22nd, 2025, at The Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, CA
Saturday, August 23rd, 2025, at The Pearl Concert Theater in Las Vegas, NV
Tuesday, August 26th, 2025, at Humphreys Concerts By the Bay in San Diego, CA
Wednesday, August 27th, 2025, at The Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks, CA
Friday, August 29th, 2025, at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA
Saturday, August 30th, 2025, at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold, CA
Monday, September 1st, 2025, at Fan Park at ICE District in Edmonton, AB, with special guest Tom Cochrane
As well as Randy Bachman, who is performing as part of the newly reconstructed Bachman-Turner Overdrive. (In fact, we'll see them at the end of the month at an outdoor show in Elk Grove Village!)
July 18th, 2025 - Council Bluffs, IA - Stir Concert Cove-Harrah's Council Bluffs Casino & Hotel
July 19th, 2025 - Welch, MN - Treasure Island Resort and Casino
July 20th, 2025 - Fargo, ND - Scheels Arena
July 22nd, 2025 - Interlochen, MI - Kresge Auditorium
July 24th, 2025 - Appleton, WI - Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium
July 25th, 2025 - Terre Haute, IN - The Mill Terre Haute
July 26th, 2025 - Huber Heights, OH - Rose Music Center at The Heights
July 28th, 2025 - Bloomington, IL - Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts
July 29th, 2025 - Elk Grove Village, IL - The Village Green at The Charles Zettek Municipal Complex
July 31st, 2025 - Jefferson City, MO - Capital Region MU Health Care Amphitheater
August 1st, 2025 - El Reno, OK - Lucky Star Casino - Concho
August 3rd, 2025 - Amarillo, TX - Amarillo Civic Center Complex
August 15th, 2025 - West Wendover, NV - Peppermill Wendover
August 16th, 2025 - Beaver Creek, CO - Vilar Performing Arts Center
August 18th, 2025 - Boise, ID - Western Idaho Fair
August 21st, 2025 - Pala, CA - Pala Casino Spa & Resort
August 22nd, 2025 - Fort Mcdowell, AZ - We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort
August 23rd, 2025 - Albuquerque, NM - Route 66 Casino Hotel
August 26th, 2025 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre
August 27th, 2025 - Park City, KS - Park City Arena
August 28th, 2025 - Tulsa, OK - River Spirit Event Center
August 30th, 2025 - Saint Charles, MO - The Family Arena
August 31st, 2025 - Cedar Rapids, IA - Paramount Theatre
September 17th, 2025 - Puyallup, WA - Washington State Fair 2025
September 19th, 2025 - Grand Ronde, OR - Spirit Mountain Casino
September 20th, 2025 - Lincoln, CA - Thunder Valley Casino Resort
October 23rd, 2025 - Bethlehem, PA - Wind Creek Event Center
October 25th, 2025 - New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall
October 26th, 2025 - Ocean City, MD - Ocean City Performing Arts Center
October 28th, 2025 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
October 29th, 2025 - Englewood, NJ - Bergen Performing Arts Center
October 31st, 2025 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata
November 2nd, 2025 - Greensburg, PA - The Palace Theatre
November 3rd, 2025 - North Tonawanda, NY - Riviera Theatre
Burton's new LP is called "A Few Good Moments" and if offers up seventeen brand new Cummings tracks. Burton told an interesting story about the album cover:
It pictures three different time pieces ...
To the left is a clock that Burton picked up while he was out on tour many, many years ago when he was still with The Guess Who.
To the right is his grandmother's alarm clock, which she used for her entire adult life.
And in between them is a watch given to Cummings as a consolation prize when he was one of the bachelors NOT selected on TV's "The Dating Game" back in January of 1970!!! (Now how cool is that?!?!) It was all part of a "celebrity edition" of "The Dating Game" that also included three members of the 1969 Miracle New York Mets!
And you can watch that appearance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hAe5cfuqxI
We're having some issues with our Burton Cummings Interview Page from 2013 ... for some reason, this information is no longer displaying properly.
But the full interview is there and, from what I've been told, was one of his favorites to do ...
So while it may not be pretty, you can still check it out here! (kk)
