Two of the architects behind one of rock’s most successful Canadian bands are returning to American stages this summer after reclaiming the rights to their band name following a lengthy legal battle.
Rock legends Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman announced a new U.S. tour celebrating the music of their classic band following their successful effort to regain control of the name in 2024. The tour marks the first major American outing for the musicians under the band’s banner in more than two decades.
The “Takin’ It Back” tour will begin June 25 in Shakopee, Minnesota, and will travel through major markets across the country, including Chicago, Detroit-area Clarkston, Boston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, before wrapping up in late August in Vancouver, British Columbia. Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder will open the shows.
The U.S. dates follow an earlier leg of the tour across Canada beginning in late May.
The announcement comes after Cummings and Bachman regained the legal rights to the band’s name following years of disputes over touring versions of the group. After the original band broke up in 1975, former bassist Jim Kale launched a separate lineup that continued performing under the name for decades.
Cummings and Bachman finally secured control of the name in 2024 after a prolonged legal fight.
The pair recently reunited onstage under the banner for the first time in 23 years during a Jan. 31 performance at the OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The show featured classic hits as well as several songs from Bachman’s later band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, along with a solo selection from Cummings.
Formed in 1965 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the group became one of the most successful rock acts of its era before disbanding in 1975. The band produced 14 Top 40 singles in the United States, including “American Woman,” “These Eyes,” “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature,” and “No Time.”
The band’s 1970 album American Woman reached No. 9 on the U.S. charts and topped the Canadian charts. The title track made history as the first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 by a Canadian band.
The group’s popularity during the early 1970s earned them the nickname “the Canadian Beatles.” The band’s influence extended into later decades as well, including a renewed burst of attention when Lenny Kravitz recorded a hit cover of “American Woman” in 1999 for the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
After leaving the band, Bachman went on to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive, while Cummings launched a successful solo career.
Now reunited, the two musicians say the tour will celebrate the songs that helped define a generation of rock music.
Source: Yahoo!