Even if you're blind, tone deaf and dumb, it's easy to tell if you're at a classic rock event - when the band announces, "We're going to do one from the new album now," the crowd doesn't cheer.

 They go for a beer instead.

 Ask the Stampeders, which re-formed in 1992 after a hiatus of nearly 15 years. An invitation to perform at the home-town Calgary Stampede was the catalyst and the band's been touring ever since. It's nothing like the gruelling 250 dates a year of the past (not to mention being in the studio every nine months to record another album), but the old chemistry is back, says band founder Rich Dodson.

 "You forget how much you missed it," says the 52-year-old guitarist. "It's just like old times. But it's so much easier now. We don't have two five ton trucks and 10 roadies and all that cumbersomeness of the past. Right now it's one big holiday."

 Famous primarily for the 1971 smash hit Sweet City Woman, the band plays Sherwood Park's Festival Place tonight. You want the oldies? You're going to get them.

 Dodson, on the phone from a relative's house in Regina, says he knows the value of classic rock memories for an audience that grew up on his music. Even so, playing songs from the Stampeders' latest album, Sure Beats Working - did you even know they had a new album? - is a necessity.

 "We just do them," he says. "Otherwise we'd go crazy. They go over good, actually. We'll do our new songs and actually sell CDs from the merch table afterwards."

 Of course, the crowd response is nothing compared to when the band says, "Here's an old one you may remember." That goes double for a band like the Rolling Stones.

 "I've seen the Stones twice," Dodson says, "and a few of their new tunes I couldn't identify. I probably hadn't bought their new album, but I still tried to get into it. I don't know. I still like the old stuff - maybe because I've heard it more or maybe I can identify with it in some way, shape or form, or it takes me somewhere, or maybe the tracks were just better."

 Or all of the above.

 For Dodson, who wrote most of the Stampeders' hits, Sweet City Woman is both a gold mine and a millstone around his neck. He was nearly able to retire from the royalties, and in fact spent much of the '80s behind the scenes, producing bands in his Toronto studio at his leisure. But now that he's hit the road again, he has to play the song whether he wants to or not. Fans would riot if he didn't.

 "Oh, I don't mind playing it," he says. "And hopefully someone's going to cover it, maybe Nashville or some rapper. But that track has done me very well. At the time, the record company said, 'Wow, this song is going to change your life. How does it feel?' I just thought, eh, I got a million of 'em. It's a classic."

 As for the future, the band, with Kim Berly and Ronnie King, is back in the studio again in December.

 "I think the band right now is getting reacquainted with itself musically and trying to rediscover its identity and who we are and where we are," Dodson says.

 "I'd like to make some new music. I'd love to have hit records again."

 Tickets to the Stampeders are $16.50 for adults ($18 for cabaret) and available at Festival Place (449-FEST).