On the 53rd anniversary week of his career-making performance at Woodstock, Carlos Santana was back at the original site of the 1969 festival, the muddy field of happenstance hippie production transformed into the remarkably well-oiled and gorgeously appointed concert venue/museum now known as Bethel Woods. Once again, the Latin blues and jazz-inflected guitarist demonstrated that his passion for music, and his mission to use it to impart a message of love, peace and unity has not cooled one degree.
I have had the pleasure of seeing Santana live on at least five occasions. The first two were in the early and mid-‘70s respectively, shortly before and then after his embrace of guru Sri Chimnoy and his legendary guitar battles with another Chimnoy acolyte, jazz fusion great John McLaughlin. My third live experience was when he was even deeper into his jazz phase, a 1988 performance at the Saratoga Jazz Festival with a band co-led by Miles Davis and Weather Report saxman Wayne Shorter. The fourth was also at Bethel Woods, in the summer before Covid-19 descended to darken stages and our lives. Each and every time, Santana would rise to the occasion and spit with his guitar “sapphire bullets of pure love,” quoting McLaughlin. As always, he was again backed by an ace band that served up the crowd-pleasing hits and a few surprises.
The show Sunday, August 21 at Bethel Woods was made even better by the staggering 90-minute plus opening set by Earth, Wind & Fire. Though they are enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and have earned a boatload of Grammy Awards and other honors, Earth Wind & Fire just don’t seem to get the respect they truly deserve. They are one of the most successful acts in history, selling over 90 million albums, with a litany of Billboard charting singles that betters most acts of their era. These are songs that have lived on as samples powering hits by new generations of artists, from Drake to A Tribe Called Quest to Bjork. Even without the presence of their founder and leader, the late Maurice White, the 12-piece band put on a staggeringly energetic and hit-packed show. The focal points are the three founding members still performing today – the always smiling bassist Verdine White, percussionist and vocalist Ralph Johnson and the extraordinary lead vocalist Phillip Bailey.
They hit the ground running at Bethel with an uninterrupted string of eight high-energy hits including “Shining Star,” “Getaway,” “Serpentine Fire,” “Sing A Song” and “Got to Get You Into My Life.”
The most striking aspect of an EW&F performance is the undiminished state of Phillip Bailey’s soaring falsetto voice. Even at 71, Bailey hits all the high notes, probably the highest of high notes in all of music, at least since they stopped cranking out operatic castratos in the 17th Century! His son, Phillip Bailey Jr., shares both the lead duties and otherworldly vocal instrument of his father.
The entire band is as tight “as a mosquitoes’ tweeter” to quote another great musician, Nina Simone. The whole affair seems largely directed by the powerful centerstage presence and thumping bass of Verdine White. The band then cooled things down by serving up some of their hit ballads including “Head to the Sky,” “That’s the Way of the World” and “After The Love Has Gone,” before upshifting to more high-energy favorites – “Boogie Wonderland,” “Let’s Groove” and the set closer “September.”
Santana’s performance began with a throwback to Woodstock ’69, with video of the famous rain chant segueing into a shortened but nonetheless powerful performance of “Soul Sacrifice,” one driven by Santana’s super talented drummer wife Cindy Blackman. The band then performed more early classics, “Jingo,” “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” and “Oye Como Va.” With his jazz improviser’s heart, Carlos evolved his approach to these well-worn songs, providing bluesy B.B. King-like lines darting around the vocals, a quote from Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” in “Evil Ways” and Wes Montgomery-like octave runs on “Black Magic Woman.”
Santana then shifted the mood with his fantastic ballad, “Europa.” It boasted a delightfully hesitant rendering of the soaring melody and unexpected avenues in his solo, when he rolled the treble off his guitar giving it what Clapton called “the woman tone.” On this and every number, Santana was supported by a first-rate row of players including longtime bassist and former Miles Davis sideman Benny Rietveld, keyboardist David K. Mathews, percussionists Karl Perazzo and Paoli Mejias and vocalists Andy Vargas and Ray Greene.
After “Europa,” Carlos went into a long rap about Woodstock ’69. He humorously reminisced about praying to God to help him keep it together during the performance, one he played while high on L.S.D. given to him by Jerry Garcia, with a guitar whose neck was turning into a snake! Making jest of the old adage that “if you were high at Woodstock, you probably wouldn’t remember it,” he said: “If you were as high as I was, you would never forget it!” He added: “What I think we need is more of that Woodstock spirit in the world today, something to help get rid of the fear and division that is destroying society.”
Santana really hit his electric stride on “(De La) Yaleo” from his career-revitalizing disc Supernatural and the lovely acoustic ballad from the same album, “Put Your Lights On,” the latter sung here admirably by the band’s second guitarist Tommy Anthony, who swapped in for Carlos on several numbers. Santana again saluted Woodstock ’69, with video clips from the fest of now deceased performers like Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Joe Cocker, Richie Havens, Alvin Lee and organizer Michael Lang, during a soulful reading of the Youngbloods’ hit, “Get Together.”
The band finished out their lengthy set with some the latter-day highpoints from Santana’s discography, including “Corazon Espinado,” “Maria, Maria” and “Smooth.” After a fiery drum solo from Blackman and an introduction of Michael Carrabello, the original Santana conguero who is now back touring with the band, they closed out the evening with a seamless medley including bits of the James Bond Theme, The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues,” The Chambers Brothers “Love Peace & Happiness” and Sly’s “I Want To Take You Higher.” In keeping with the spiritual nature of this and every Santana concert I have attended, he ended with a positive message, urging the audience to take on a new job: “We all need to become weapons. Weapons of mass compassion.”
Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and publicist living in New York City and the Hudson Valley,. He is
President of Cataldi PR and leader of the band Spaghetti Eastern Music and member of the duos Guitars A Go and Vapor Vespers.
