Concert Review: Santana with the Doobie Brothers

  • Santana /the Doobie Brothers
  • Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri
  • July 11, 2019

50 years ago next month, over 400,000 people attended a little 3-day music festival known as Woodstock. One of the bands playing that weekend was led by a young man whose last name the band had adopted as theirs…Carlos Santana.

Tonight at Kansas City’s Sprint Center, the master guitarist entertained a packed house playing as powerfully as he did five decades ago, his skill and energy amazing for a man who turns 72 next week. After the show began with a video tribute to Woodstock, Mr. Santana and his highly talented group of musicians chose for their opening number “Soul Sacrifice.” The next two hours was a collection of hits (“Oye Como Va,” “Black Magic Woman”) and album cuts. As the show progressed, opening band the Doobie Brothers joined Santana on stage for a rousing medley of “She’s Not There,” “Spill the Wine” and “Shotgun.” A highlight of the medley was the Doobie’s Tom Johnson and Mr. Santana trading wicked guitar riffs.

As the show progressed, the band continued to jam, extending some songs several minutes, which the crowd, their eyes fixed on Mr. Santana’s flying fingers, ate up. Another highlight occurred when the band took a brief break, allowing drummer Cindy Blackman Santana to bring the house down with a prolonged and entertaining drum solo.

Of course, the biggest song of the night was the multiple Grammy-award winning “Smooth,” which the audience sang along to with gusto. The show ended with Mr. Santana encouraging the audience to strive for peace and harmony. After the performance he gave, how could we refuse him.

SET LIST: Soul Sacrifice, Jin-go-lo-ba, Evil Ways / A Love Supreme, (Da Le) Yaleo, Put Your Lights On, She’s Not There / Spill the Wine / Shotgun, Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen, Oye Como Va, Hope You’re Feeling Better, Love of My Life, Breaking Down the Door, In Search of Mona Lisa, Maria Maria, Foo Foo, Corazon Espinado, Toussaint L’Ouverture. ENCORE: Are You Ready, Smooth, September / Love, Peace and Happiness.

Win Opening Night Tickets to see Rod Stewart and Santana in Albany, NY [ENDED]

Media Mikes is teaming up with AEG Live to giveaway two (2) opening night tickets to ROD STEWART AND SANTANA: THE VOICE, THE GUITAR, THE SONGS North American Tour in Albany, NY.  If you would like to enter for your chance to win one of this amazing prize, please leave us a comment below or send us an email with your favorite Rod Stewart and Santana songs. This giveaway will remain open until April 11th at Noon, Eastern Time. This is open to our readers in US only. One entry per person, per household. All other entries will be considered invalid. Media Mikes will randomly select winners. Winners will be alerted via email.

Rod Stewart and Santana, two of music’s most influential hit makers and dynamic live performers, will join forces and embark on an 18-concert North American tour this summer. Kicking-off May 23 in Albany, NY, the tour unites two musical trailblazers who have helped redefine the sound of popular music for the last five decades through their combined love of rock, soul, world rhythms, funk, jazz and blues. Both Stewart and Santana are known for their high-energy, hit-packed live concerts — making the combination an incomparable experience for all music fans.

With his singular voice, narrative songwriting and passionate live performances, Rod Stewart has built one of the most successful and enduring music careers of all time. In a career spanning more than five decades, he has amassed sales of more than 150 million albums worldwide and has countless chart-topping hits and industry accolades – including two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was bestowed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen of England. In May 2013, Stewart released Time, his first rock album in a dozen years, on Capitol Records. The album features 11 original tracks and marks Rod’s return to songwriting after nearly two decades. Time entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 1, setting a new British record for the longest gap between chart-topping albums by an artist — and in the US, it marked Stewart’s highest-charting album of original material since 1979. In addition to touring, Stewart headlines one of Las Vegas’ most critically and commercially successful residencies at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

For forty years and as many albums later, Santana has sold more than 100 million records and reached more than 100 million fans at concerts worldwide. To date, Santana has won ten GRAMMY ® Awards and three Latin GRAMMY ® Awards. He won a record-tying nine GRAMMYs for a single project for 1999’s Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for “Smooth”). He has also received the Billboard Century Award (1996), was ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1998), and received the Billboard Latin Music Awards’ Lifetime Achievement honor (2009). Among many other honors, Carlos Santana has also been cited by Rolling Stone as #15 on their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Celebrating the chart debut of Guitar Heaven (Arista) in 2010, Santana joined the ranks of the Rolling Stones as the only musical act in chart history to score at least one Top 10 album in every decade beginning with the 1960s. He is also currently headlining at a multi-year residency at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. In 2013, Carlos Santana was the recipient of the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors Award. Santana’s new album CORAZÓN (RCA/Sony Latin Iberia) due out May 6, 2014 is a collaborative effort with the biggest names in Latin music.

ROD STEWART AND SANTANA: THE VOICE, THE GUITAR, THE SONGS North American Tour Itinerary 2014

May 23 – Albany Times Union Center
May 25 – Uncasville Mohegan Sun
May 27 – Pittsburgh CONSOL Energy Center
May 31 -Buffalo First Niagara Center
Jun. 3 – Louisville KFC Yum! Center
Jun. 6 – St. Louis Scottrade Center
Jun. 7 – Lincoln Pinnacle Bank Arena
Jul. 31 – Eugene Matthew Knight Arena
Aug. 2 – Vancouver Rogers Arena
Aug. 4 – Calgary Scotiabank Saddledome
Aug. 5 -Edmonton Rexall Place
Aug. 8 – Winnipeg MTS Centre
Aug. 10 – St. Paul XCEL Energy Center
Aug. 12 – Denver Pepsi Center
Aug. 14 – Kansas City Sprint Center
Aug. 16 – Rosemont Allstate Arena
Aug. 19 – Washington DC Verizon Center
Aug. 20 – Wantagh, NY Jones Beach

For additional tour/ticket info visit: http://thevoicetheguitar.com/

Blu-ray Review “Santana: Live at Montreux 2011”

Starring Carlos Santana
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Run Time: 204 minutes

Concert: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Santana has been around since 1969 and shows zero signs of slowing down. His guitar work is something of magic. This concert includes 23 of their greatest hits from then to now and also a bunch of fantastic covers. The show is over three hours and it was filmed during Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival. If all this isn’t enough the concert also features some great special guests including Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and Cindy Blackman-Santana.

Obviously, every track is notable but these are some of my favorites. Two of my favorite tracks from Santana are “Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen” and “Oye Como Va”. “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile)” is also so amazing! “Soul Sacrifice” is very notable including drum solo from Dennis Chambers. Lastly there is a really sharp cover of AC/DC’s “Back In Black”.

The Blu-ray presentation is very impressive. It was filmed in high-definition, so the video looks great and includes a great DTS-HD Master Audio track. With a concert Blu-ray, the release is based surely upon amazing sound. This one definitely kick-ass in the sound department. If a three plus hour was not enough, there are some great special features including various interviews with the band and a really cool behind the scenes look at the show. Very impressive release overall.

Track Listing:
1) Spark Of The Divine
2) SOCC
3) Back In Black
4) Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
5) Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
6) Oye Como Va
7) Maria, Maria
8) Foo Foo
9) Corazon Espinado / Guajira
10) Benny & Cindy Solo
11) Jingo
12) Carlos Speaks / Novus
13) Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile) / I Want You
14) Batuka / No One To Depend On
15) Duende / Open Invitation
16) Make Somebody Happy / Right On Be Free
17) Evil Ways / A Love Supreme
18) Sunshine Of Your Love
19) Smooth / Dame Tu Amor
20) Soul Sacrifice / Dennis Drum Solo
21) Samba Pa Ti
22) Into The Night
23) Love, Peace And Happiness / Freedom

 

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