My Day wth Bachman Cummings
Trip Start
Aug 17, 2009
1
Trip End
Aug 17, 2009
Orillia, Ontario, Canada
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Since it was a work day, I arranged to visit my office in Barrie for the day. We got up early and hit the road, up the Don Valley, then across the 407 to the 400. In Barrie I got to work and Allan went on a walking tour of Barrie.
Work was fun, I had not been to our Barrie office for a couple of years, and they had moved to a new location, and I always enjoy the staff at that office.
Allan got back from his walkabout and the Barrie Photo's are his.
We took off to Orillia and went for food at the Mariposa Market, a fun store with some great food, and neat kitchen do dads. And really good fudge.
We walked down the street from the Market to the lake and Couchiching Park. This park has some memories as I remember going here with my parents and grandparents when I was a little kid. The big statue was still there.
It was warm enough that kids were swimming. And anytime you take a couple guys with Cameras and kids, there is bound to be "hey, take my picture"!!
As dusk was falling, we headed over to the Casino to be ready for the show. After losing $5 in the slots, we headed to the lounge where we were to meet some other fans we had met through MySpace. We had a coffee with them, and headed off to the auditorium.
The show was great - Lighthouse was the opening act. They did a number of their hits, including 1849, Sunny Days and One Fine Morning. The band sounded as good as ever, and the brass section really sets this band apart. Their new lead singer was great.
But really we came to see Bachman Cummings, long my favourite band.....They started off as the Guess Who, and had solo endeavours like Bachman Turner Overdrive. They came onstage to the wailing sound of Running Back to Saskatoon. The Carpet Frogs are their backing band, and this is a tight outfit!!!
The segued right into Albert Flasher before Randy took over with You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet. After Clap for the Wolfman, Randy left the stage allowing Burton and the Frogs to do the title cut from his new album, Above the Ground. Randy came back and did some jazzy Mose Allison before Burton got the crowd up dancing again with My Own Way to Rock!
They then did two, two, two songs in one - No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, a huge hit for them in the 70's.
After Randy sang Let it Ride, Burton introduced Laughing as their most important song, as it was their second number one.....and they followed this up with These Eyes, their first number one.
The band then settled into a long bluesy jam, where Burton channeled Jim Morrison, and then the blew right into American Woman! After the rockers, Hey You, Bus Rider, and Roll on Down the Highway, they moved into Burton's Break it to them Gently, which turned out to be a love song to the rock and roll hits on their teenage radios - Love this version of the song.
They ended the set with their perennial set ender, No Time
After a quick break they came back for the encore, Takin Care of Business and Share the Land!!
Even thought the casino staff was out in force, I managed to get some good pictures of the bands.
After the show we met our friends again in the lounge for coffee's before heading out for the 2 hour drive home.
A great day!!
