Randy Bachman & The Heavy Blues Band - The Concert Hall, NYC, 4.25.15
by Bruce Alexander
Posted: Apr 2015
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- photo by Bruce Alexander
Randy Bachman, a founding member of both The Guess Who and Bachman -Turner Overdrive was out with his great new band that contains two talented and attractive young women. Anna Ruddick, bass, was dressed in psychedelic striped bell bottoms and a fringe vest. Dale Anne Brendon, drums, rocked away behind the skins in a black tank top. The drums obscured the rest of her attire.
Bachman, a very talented guitarist, took care of that. He mainly played a classic sunburst Gibson Les Paul.
Bachman’s new record, titled “Heavy Blues”, is the impetus behind the touring, and there was plenty of blues played. It sounded great acoustically at The Concert Hall, a church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that’s a wonderful venue to hear and see performances.
The band opened with a track from the new record, called “Wild Texas Ride.” They followed that with The Guess Who classic “No Sugar Tonight.” They also played the Guess Who’s first hit, “Shaking All Over.” Bachman explained that his inspiration for it came from listening to Johnny Kidd & The Pirates before The Guess Who even formed. The next song was a huge hit for The Guess Who, that being “No Time,” one of my personal faves. They proceeded to play the BTO tune “Blue Collar,” which Bachman dedicated to all the hard workers. “Roll On Down The Highway” and “Looking Out For Number One,” both by BTO as well, sounded great with his new band .
The title song of Bachman’s new record fit in with all his well known songs. The band ended their first set with BTO’s big hit “Let It Ride.”
The band came back after a short intermission and broke into “Hey You” by BTO. Bachman explained that their next song, “Undone,” by The Guess Who, was written about a messed up girl that Bachman said he was involved with. It yielded a big hit for them, and is one of their best tunes. The band played it in a much more bluesy fashion than it was executed originally, and it sounded fab.
As to be expected, they also played the BTO classic “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” which got the crowd on their feet and cheering. Their closing song was The Guess Who’s “American Woman,” a smash for them.
They did an encore, that being the BTO hit “Taking Care Of Business,” which they did in a Texas blues style as a dedication to the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bachman explained that Vaughan was going to record this song with an extra third verse but that he died before he was able to do so. This was followed by the Roy Buchanan song “The Messiah Will Come” as a final song. A fitting ending to a night of old school, spirited Canadian rock and roll with blues thrown in for good measure!