Bob Mackin
The Guess Who on Aug. 23, 2026. (Mackin)
It was the second night of the PNE Fair and the penultimate night of their 2026 comeback tour, so The Guess Who gave the 10,000 fans that packed the Freedom Mobile Arch something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
First. Something old. The combined age of the Winnipeg-born Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman is 160. What I really mean by old, is classic. The rock radio staples in the 18-song set (including one of Cummings’ solo hits and three from Bachman-Turner Overdrive) stand the test of time. Millions of records, cassettes, eight tracks and CDs sold. Now being rediscovered in the streaming era. With nifty some stories behind them.
Cummings recalled the life changing “These Eyes,” which came about while he “sat at my mother’s piano.”
Bachman set-up “Laughing” by pointing out how it was conceived in the most-unlikely of places: the Horseshoe Bay terminal. “We wrote this song waiting for the BC Ferry over to Nanaimo”
Something new: the venue. All $183 million of it, between the livestock barns and the Playland amusement park. Vancouver is finally part of the continent’s summer shed circuit.
This concert was just under four years since Bachman Cummings (they couldn’t legally use the Guess Who name at the time) delivered a 15-song set at the old roofless amphitheatre on Sept. 3, 2022.
For trivia fans, Bachman-Turner Overdrive rocked the Pacific Coliseum on Aug. 20, 2024.
Something borrowed: Original bassist Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson are both retired. So, the Carpet Frogs, Cummings’ backing band, filled out the lineup.
The opposite of borrowed? Takin’ It Back, the title of the tour (which ends in Victoria on Aug. 25), a reference to Bachman and Cummings regaining the Guess Who name in 2024 after settling out of court with Kale and Peterson. When he won the battle, Cummings famously called the cover band that toured under the name a “fake band… using the real records to promote their shows.”
Something blue: Cummings channeled Jim Morrison with a snippet of the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” at the intro of “American Woman.”
Throughout the night, Cummings moved effortlessly between piano, guitar, flute and tambourine. He also played air guitar behind Bachman as he belted out those famous “American Woman” licks. A 56-year-old Vietnam-era anthem, taking on new meaning due to the trade war.
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