Article written by Debbie Irene Ide
Saturday night May 6th Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy award winner Carlos Santana took the Dos Equis Pavilion stage and led the audience on another journey of musical delight.
Expertly supported by his star-studded band that included Bassist Benny Rietveld (Miles Davis, Sheila E), Percussionist Karl Perazzo (Mariah Carey, Tito Puente), keyboardist David K. Mathews (Tower of Power, Etta James), Paoli Mejias on percussion, Andy Vargas teamed up with Ray Greene on vocals and of course, Carlos’ lovely wife Cindy Blackman Santana (Lenny Kravitz, Pharoah Sanders) Killin it on the drums.
The show started with the opening act Arc Angels featuring Charlie Sexton playing their timeless hits like “Living in a Dream” from the album of the same title released in 2005.
Carlos opened his set with “Soul Sacrifice” to the video montage of various African and Latin cultures dancing and singing, showing the diverse roots of his group.
Santana’s music is an artistic blend of Latin styled jazz, African percussion, Rock, and Blues.
The band immediately segued into their famous cover of “Jin Go Lo Ba” and I noticed immediately that what I thought wasn’t going to be a packed house, turned into a standing room only event.
“Evil Ways” and “Black Magic Woman” blended into a high energy version of “Oye Como Va” with the entire audience already on their feet singing and dancing.
Orianthi, an Australian guitarist known for touring with Alice Cooper and working with Michael Jackson, joined Santana on stage for “Put Your Lights On”, “Corazon Espinado”, and “Maria Maria” from the 1999 Supernatural album which topped the charts at number one in 11 countries including the United States going 15x platinum.
Carlos took a moment to let us know how grateful he was for us and reminded us that they are there to encourage us to shine our light and celebrate our divinity. Carlos played his namesake Paul Reed Smith’s gold top guitar all evening as we savored his signature heartfelt tone.
The evening finished up with a fantastic rendition of “Smooth” made famous in 1999, at the time featuring Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20 on vocals.
Carlos Santana and his team of talented musicians never fail to create a high vibe moment for their audience and leave us feeling like we’ve just experienced a piece of heaven as we float out the door of the venue.
It is always an honor to see this show and to experience this high level of loving energy so if you haven’t seen Santana live, you need to put it on your bucket list!
