Legacy Tours: “Guess Who” is Missing from Classic Bands

Truth in advertising? Fans of “Yes” must have been surprised at Art Park last summer when a Jon Anderson impersonator Jon Davidson (Top) sang at the “Yes” concert instead of original lead singer Jon Anderson (above).

They come every summer. Greeted by a sprawl of lawn chairs, a smattering of discarded beer cans, and reminiscing fans willing to settle for less if it costs less, they bear the monikers of some of the most recognized names in rock n' roll. The Guess Who. Yes. Three Dog Night.

These nostalgia-inducing legacy acts, often brought in for free public shows at taxpayers' expense, still entertain many. Yet these shells of former glory, generally containing only one or two original band members, carry the name of greatness while lacking the lineup their name promises.

What are the Four Tops without the legendary pipes of Levi Stubbs? How can the Doors exist devoid of Jim Morrison's cryptic croon? Nonetheless, these bands continue to make the most of reputations established by others. Younger vocalists mimic lost stars, transforming historic bands into acts that pay tribute to themselves.

Bands like the Four Tops, the Doors (now thankfully called Manzarek-Krieger for legal purposes), Sublime, or Lynyrd Skynyrd understandably recreated themselves as zombie acts only after being marred by death.

Though they lacked the courage to reboot as new entities, as each of the Beatles did through their solo careers, as New Order managed to do following the fall of Joy Division, and as Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl sought to when he established the Foo Fighters, there is something wistful about the way these groups carry on. Many legacy acts, however, steal credit from the living.

The near-cover band still known as the “Guess Who,”regular visitors to Western New York, serve as a troubling example of this national phenomenon. While original lead singer Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman continue to perform individually, legally unable to use the “Guess Who” name, bassist Jim Kale successfully obtained registered rights to the moniker after the band broke up in 1975. Virtually hijacking a defunct group, Kale declared the Guess Who to be his own corporation.

Though the actual Guess Who dissolved long ago, Kale and drummer Garry Peterson drag the band's ghost across the continent, through fairground appearances, casino lounge performances, and “free” outdoor concerts. If the Guess Who advertised was the Guess Who of Cummings and Bachman fame, not only would the band be the Guess Who proper instead of merely a “Guess Who Experience,” the group would also likely be able to book more valuable, higher grossing shows.

Longstanding rock artists like the Rolling Stones continue to generate massive revenue when they perform Bruce Springsteen and his E-Street Band and U2 have remained relevant and comparatively fresh throughout their decades-spanning careers. The legacy acts that haunt Artpark's summer shows and various taxpayer-funded concert events, however, seem dishonest and quietly sad, offering only diminished returns as they cling to names that once meant so much more.

For lower rates, you can now book Three Dog Night without Chuck Negron; Yes without Jon Anderson; Foreigner without Lou Gramm; and the Temptations featuring only one original vocalist. The excitement and energy once generated by these names, however, has dulled and nearly disappeared. The greats of yesteryear have been de-clawed and devalued, reduced to making novelty showings clouded by a certain desperation.

More tragic than infuriating, the annual presence of legacy acts in the region, like bad sequels in popular film franchises that use new actors to portray favorite characters, only remind us of greatness that has since faded. In some cases, the greatness could resurface if band members were capable of reconciling. What we are left with now though, oceans away from the initial creativity that propelled them, are aging groups fronted by youthful imitators, straining to recapture magic that will never return.