Santana Live: Turns Saratoga into summer street party

SARATOGA SPRINGS - They were young and giddy and grooving in their hip-huggers while watching the video screens on the summer lawn.
They were corporate types, fixed in pavilion seats, who creased a new wrinkle or two into their starched white collars.

Carlos Santana came to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Sunday night and inspired more than 9,000 fans to boogie down and to shake it up.

Santana and his 10-member ensemble performed a handful of classic gems - from the noisy opening of "Jingo" to the memory-inspiring "(I Ain't Got) Nobody to Depend On." But it was a pair of more recent tunes, "Foo Foo" and "Maria Maria," that stole the show and exhibited the man's musical relevance in a career that is in its fourth decade.
He was born on July 20, 1947, in Mexico, the son of a mariachi violinist, and a descendant of four generations of professional musicians. His first instrument was the violin.
By early 1968, Santana’s similarly named band was performing as an opening act on stages in San Francisco.
Shortly after Woodstock, in the summer of 1969, a self-titled debut was released and yielded the hit “Evil Ways.” A second record, “Abraxas,” followed and sold four million copies, buoyed by popular cover versions of Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman.”

A lot has changed in the 30 years since Carlos Santana first appeared at SPAC in the summer of 1973, but the soaring guitar and maniacal, frenzied beats - due in no small part to master drummer Dennis Chambers - are a continual inspiration.

As Chambers kicked off the set behind a yellow Pearl kit atop the drum riser, Carlos Santana entered the stage wearing a pair of black-framed Aristotle Onassis-type glasses and a cool summer shirt with intricate patterns that |mimicked the zagging graphics of the stage design and backdrop.

Identical in lineup to the band that performed on the same stage last August, the group nonetheless performed a mostly inspired set graced with new tunes.

In the anthemic ballad "Victory is Won" - the first of a many from the most recent CD, "Shaman" - Carlos Santana used a bottleneck slide. The guitar screamed high above the fiery rhythms of the band, then oozed a soft and sensual spirituality that ebbed and flowed, like a heartbeat, throughout.

Particularly joyous was the raucous street party jamboree "Foo Foo," a stop-and-start frenzy that was like a colorful tornado ripping through the barren prairies, leaving a cool blossoming garden in its wake.

The best the evening offered was "Maria Maria," a song issued on Santana's 1999 multi-Grammy-winning release "Supernatural." Following a sultry flamenco lead-in, the song was hot and sassy, pure sweat delivered with a melting and intense sonic desire.

Opening act Angelique Kidjo, an energetic ball of fire from West Africa, led her seven-member ensemble with crowd sing-alongs, rapid-fire rhythms and tense ballads.

Kidjo joined Santana onstage for a pair of songs, including "Adouma," which she wrote and Santana recorded on "Shaman."

by Thomas Dimopoulos
The Saratogian, June 24, 2003.