So I would call that more of a "Randy Bachman Show" than a #BTO show. Good, but Randy is in full-on self-indulgence mode these days, I'd say, and hey, with a family like his, why wouldn't you.

Both opening acts were on point, despite lacking their most important members.

Although Darby Mills is still around, and still looks and sounds as hot and sexy as ever, they have a young lady who, from the distance of a skybox that I was invited to watch from, I thought was her for the first minute or two, cause she sounds that much like her.

Whatever sequence of events made them forsake one of Canada's greatest Rock Chicks for a duplicate, they oughta find a way to patch that up, unless maybe Darby doesn't do the road anymore, cause that can take a lot out of anyone. I just poked at a search of the band and I see that their current singer had left and then came back last year. There's been some stuff that's happened with this band.

Favorite moment of their set was when they pulled out Brian MacLeod's red Strat for Don't It Make Ya Feel, and then hearing that guitar sound, which is pretty much the elemental electric guitar sound that I was programmed with at a very young age - every time that song comes on, the sound of the guitar astounds me, round and rich and raw, and they got it on stage last night.

Next up was April Wine, a mainly Canadian success, but they were YUGE here in the 70s/80s. Their main dude, Myles Goodwyn, died last year, but just like Dusty Hill, he wanted the band to go on, and they hired a sharp young gun who does the job very well.

In what may well be happening all over the #ClassicRock circuit these days, they also pulled out Goodwyn's old guitar for a song or two. I don't buy into concepts like "mojo" but I do appreciate reverence for a fallen comrade's axe. If you're wondering, you will get good value for your entertainment dollar, if you check out an April Wine show these days.

The Randy Bachman set - this was not really BTO at all - was a mixed and disappointing bag. For one thing, there was no T there, just some young feller who did an admirable job of delivering his working class anthems in a suitably rough voice. We were entertained.

But I did mainly show up to see Charles Frederick Turner, not Bachman, whom I actually don't particularly like that much. His guitar playing is tasty as heck, yes, but there is a bit of the Gene Simmons to him and Burton alike that, once I got past the "local rock stars" hero worship of my childhood, has always rubbed me the wrong way.

In fact, if I had not been sitting in a skybox that my BiL had graciously invited us to join them in for the show, I almost yelled a Fuck You at him at one point. He wrote a hit called "Looking Out For Number One" which is exactly what it sounds like, an admonition to take care of yourself first and foremost.

It came off like musical career advice in the 70s, and was never a favorite because of its Breau-influenced jazziness, which was not my thing back in the 80s when I found their Greatest Hits in my dad's record collection.

As we listened to that album on the way to the show, I grooved on the song, cause Breauish jazzy stuff is definitely my jam these days. But as the lyrics rolled through I thought to myself, this is not the sort of attitude that we need in our society right now.

So when the time came to play it, Randy pretty much went off about how this song is "just what we need right now!" and said to go say I Love You in the mirror ten times and a bunch more boomer bullshit, and tried to tack on "and take care of everyone else too" at the end, as though that was somehow part of the song's message - it is not, and while I'm sure it pleased a lot of the old people that filled the arena, no, "Looking out for number one" is absolutely not anything that we need right now.

Said that I'll say this: CF Turner is no Burton Cummings, he is in fact the direct opposite of a Burton Cummings, he is in fact the Anti-Cummings. He is a shaggy majestic Rock'n'Roll Yeti with the voice of an angry bear.

It would follow, then, that the Fake Fred who occupied Turner's spot on the stage last night would also not be much of a Burton Cummings. And so, the divergence into a bunch of Guess Who material with a guy who sounds like CF Turner on vocals, well, that was forgivable, but ill-advised.

He didn't do a bad job of it actually, when I say his voice is rough, it's also properly harmonious at all times, he's very good. But the shit rocked when it needed to roll, you know what I mean?

They also eliminated New Mother Nature from No Sugar Tonight, which is exactly like removing the second movement from Layla. You just don't fuckin do it unless you're an asshole. It's the payoff for putting up with all that random guitar noise.

Let me bring it back, though, to the fact that it was mostly a very good set, with very little to complain about in terms of musicianship. Again, this was not at all a BTO show, it was a Randy Bachman show, with his son Tal very capably handling second lead guitar duties, and Koko Bachman, a force of nature if ever I saw one, on drums (also married to Tal); a family band, and very much a family show.

But on that topic, my guess is that we'll see Tal and Koko alongside Randy for as long as he's still with us, but I'm gonna be extremely interested in what they do moving forward, other than the nostalgia circuit. He is a hell of a guitarist, and Koko is rolling thunder in a very tiny package, and they both have many great and productive years ahead of them.

They did play Tal's hit from a couple decades ago, but he seemed almost embarrassed about it - not the song itself, just that it was getting played at a nominally BTO show. It's a fine composition, but it's not a BTO tune.

And neither was the twenty-odd minute medley of random FM radio material that had nothing whatsoever to do with Randy Bachman, #Winnipeg or anything, in the encore, before finally and mercifully playing Taking Care Of Business and releasing us to our long drive home.

"You Shook Me All Night Long," Randy? C'mon man.