Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Treasure Island Amphitheater – Welch, MN – Saturday, July 19, 2025

Roll On Down The Highway 2025 Tour featuring Jefferson Starship, Marshall Tucker Band and Bachman-Turner Overdrive at the Treasure Island Amphitheater in Welch, MN on Saturday, July 19, 2025

Review and photos by Jim Zons

One of my favorite things to do on a hot summer night is to bask in classic rock music at an outdoor venue, so I was pretty excited to catch the “Roll On Down The Highway Tour” when it rolled into the Treasure Island Casino Amphitheater in Welch, MN on a warm summer evening this past Saturday night with three classic rock bands from the 1970s.

First up: Jefferson Starship. Jefferson Starship was formed in 1974 by former members of Jefferson Airplane and has had a rotating cast of performers over the years. The current lineup features original member David Freiberg on vocals and guitar (he’ll be celebrating his 87th birthday in August!), Donny Baldwin on drums, Chris Smith on keys and bass, Jude Gold on lead guitar, and Cathy Richardson belting out the vocals and playing rhythm guitar. I’ve now seen this lineup of Jefferson Starship several times, and I gotta say, they don’t disappoint! Since they were the evening’s first band, they had a pretty short 30 minute set – not long enough in my opinion.  Just enough time for some classics like “Find Your Way Back,” “Miracles,” “We Built This City” and of course a couple of Jefferson Airplane’s classics: “White Rabbit” and “Somebody To Love.”

Next up: the Marshall Tucker Band.  The Marshall Tucker Band has been around since 1972, and today, the only original member still with the band is lead singer Doug Gray. I actually saw the band perform at Summer Jam in Eau Claire, Wisconsin just a few weeks ago, and I was surprised to hear a few songs that they didn’t feature in their set list less than a month ago! Once again, I was floored to hear a rock band featuring a flute solo on almost every song!  The Marshall Tucker Band was the original southern rock band (even before Skynyrd) and it was great to hear classics like “Heard It In A Love Song,” “Fire On The Mountain,” and ”Can’t You See,” and at one point, Jude Gold and Cathy Richardson from Starship joined the band for one song.

Finally, it was time for the main event:  Bachman-Turner Overdrive.  BTO was founded in 1973 by brothers Randy, Robbie and Tim Bachman, and Fred Turner. Today’s lineup is a bit of a family affair, with Randy’s son Tal on guitar, vocals and keyboards, and Tal’s wife KoKo on drums, in addition to Mick Dall-Vee on bass and Brent Howard Knudsen on guitar and vocals. The evening started out with what I would consider some deeper BTO cuts (only because I wasn’t very familiar with them, at all!) Then the band went into a medley of hits from The Guess Who (Randy Bachman was part of The Guess Who in the 1960s and was instrumental in their success) including “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” “Undone,” “No Sugar Tonight,” and “No Time Left for You.” After that, it was a mix of BTO hits, more Guess Who (“American Woman”) and one surprise tossed in; Randy’s son Tal’s own 1990s hit “She’s So High.”  For an encore, they performed a fun mix of cover tunes from Free, Steve Miller, AC/DC, Rolling Stones, T. Rex and Bob Seger, before ending the evening with their monster hit “Takin’ Care of Business.”  If you love classic rock and roll music from the 1970s, don’t miss this tour when it comes to an amphitheater near you!