Santana, at 74, is quite a serene player on stage, head tilting back as he reacts to the pure notes on his custom Paul Reed Smith, often turning to his band like a jazz player to give and receive their input. He wore a shirt that pictured Jimi Hendrix; other nights he’d wear Bob Marley. He continues to exemplify the best of both men in their musical chops and uplift.
And when the crowd has received so much, so soon in the set, they were quite happy to receive his blissed-out spiritual speeches that followed in what is the show’s first break between songs. There was also a moment given to sing happy birthday to his longtime conga player Karl Perazzo, who has been with the band since the early 90s.
The band by now is quite different than it may have been in the late 60s, but still as effective, with David K. Mathews on a variety of tasty keyboards (he had replaced original Santana organist Chester Thompson in Tower of Power as well). Tommy Anthony takes the thankless job as second guitarist, and Benny Reitveld plays a bass so musical that when it came time for his solo, he got a cheer and a singalong for including “Purple Rain” so close to Prince’s hometown.
Percussion is in many ways the heart of the band, and in the current lineup, it’s also Santana’s own heart in Cindy Blackman, the onetime drummer for Lenny Kravitz who has been Santana’s wife since 2010. Her exciting drum solos were made more dynamic by innovative video that included overhead shots of her overactive work.
Andy Vargas and Ray Greene do a good job fronting the band vocally, the latter adding some saxophone from time to time as well. And they help prove there is much more to Santana than just the early hits. Indeed, a new album “Blessings and Miracles” was represented by two of the liveliest songs of the night, “Move,” and “Joy,” which he performed on the record with Chris Stapleton.
When Santana talked about reaching out to the country star to work together, it sounded odd — why aren’t artists seeking him out to collaborate first?
At any rate it aligned with his other mid-career success, teaming with people like Rob Thomas on the Grammy-winning chart-topper “Smooth” from the 12-million selling 1999 “Supernatural,” which won more Grammys (nine!) than “Thriller.”
With Santana’s presence — and the unerring grace on guitar, which doesn’t change in tone or power despite never tuning or switching up instruments — the band still excels on all fronts, particularly when it takes on new versions of old songs. Their version of the Zombies’ “She’s Not There” rocked but nobody quite expected their version of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” in the encore before tackling they moved to The Chambers Brothers’ “Love, Peace and Happiness” which escalated into Sly & the Family Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher,” and right back to Woodstock.
The setlist for Santana April 8 was:
- “Soul Sacrifice”
- “Jingo”
- “Evil Ways”
- “Black Magic Woman (Gypsy Queen)”
- “Oye Como Va”
- “Samba pa ti”
- “Everybody’s Everything”
- “She’s Not There” / “Marbles”
- “The Game of Love”
- “Joy”
- “Move”
- “(De la) Yaleo”
- “Put Your Lights On”
- “Corozón Espinado”
- “Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile)”
- “Maria Maria”
- “Foo Foo”
- “Are You Ready People”
- “Smooth”
- “Roadhouse Blues”
- “Love, Peace and Happiness” / “I Want to Take You Higher”