Guess Who Came to Ruth Eckerd Hall? Burton Cummings!
The great rock voice from Canada, Burton Cummings, played Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall on Friday night! The lead vocalist of The Guess Who in the 60’s and 70’s, Cummings & company brought us some of the biggest hits of the era including “American Woman” and “These Eyes”. Burton is revered with every music award given and is one of the most distinguished musicians in Canada.
Burton has not played the Tampa Bay area since 1975 at St. Pete’s Bayfront Center with the Guess Who! He and his band are currently playing shows in Florida on their way to the sold-out Rock Legends Cruise XII with a rock star lineup of artists out of Miami to the Bahamas. The Guess Who started in 1965 and in 2025 Burton’s tour is the “60th Anniversary Hits Tour”. Rock pioneer Jim Messina of Poco and Loggins & Messina fame is opening this leg of shows.
Burton and band made their way to the stage for the sold-out show around 9:15 pm opening with the Guess Who hit “Bus Rider.” Burton wore a “Doors” t-shirt with a long sleeve open black shirt over it and black jeans. The setlist is a mix of Guess Who, Burton’s solo stuff and covers by artists he and the band admire. The band is a bunch pro’s who have been with Burton over the years in Canada. He hasn’t played in the US for years due to the lawsuit over The Guess Who name which he and original member Randy Bachman won last year. Images of the both the American and Canadian flags were flashed on both sides of the venue above the stage.
“Undun” was a particular treat with Cummings briefly on flute. He stays mainly on keyboards but drifts to guitar, harmonica and tambourine. This band can harmonize and showed it off with their cover of Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” Mr. Cummings is pretty humorous between songs telling stories of years gone by. “Blackjack Fever” was a cool rocker about the gambling life. It is on his new album, “A Few Good Moments,” of which more hilarious banter ensued when he made a point of telling the audience about being excited about having the album in three colors on vinyl and thanking Taylor Swift for the multiple colors’ idea.
Of course, everyone was waiting for that iconic “American Woman” to show up and she did with an intro of The Doors “Roadhouse Blues” which segued into the classic. Lenny Kravitz did a good job with his cover of the song but the Guess Who original with Burton’s voice is incomparable, sentimental maybe because it was a song of my youth. The band keeps everything moving and the players are Jeff Jones on bass who is also a member of “Red Ryder” (Lunatic Fringe) when not touring with Burton, Tim Bovaconti on guitar, Sean Fitzsimons on the skins, Nick Sinopoli is up front on percussion and the newbie Joe Augello on guitar who joined the band last year. The encore had everyone up on their feet to the 1970 anthem “Share the Land!” Burton was gracious, humble and appreciative of the audience. At 77, he has nothing to prove and America need his music! Welcome Back! You can check out everything Burton at www.burtoncummings.com
A perfect opening act with pioneer musician Jim Messina. He is such an underrated guitarist. Of course, his popularity with Loggins & Messina made him a household name but he was part of “Buffalo Springfield” and was a founding member of “Poco.” Jim stuck to an 8 song setlist of Loggins & Messina hits including “Danny’s Song” and “Your Mama Don’t Dance.” He had a tight band with him and they will continue their solo tour after the shows with Burton. Check out his website at www.jimmessina.com
You have one more chance to catch this great show around the Suncoast in Sarasota at Van Wezel Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, February 11th, www.vanwezel.org
Vicky Sullivan Photos for The Suncoast Post