Thousands enjoy Santana and The Doobie Brothers at SPAC
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The sounds of Santana and The Doobie Brothers could be heard on Friday night as the two acts stopped in the Spa City on their Supernatural Now tour.
A half- century after Carlos Santana’s legendary performance at Woodstock, he and his band returned to upstate New York for a show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Thousands of fans flocked to the summertime venue to see the two touring bands on Travers Weekend, one of the busiest times of the year in Saratoga Springs.
To start the evening, The Doobie Brothers played a fun-filled set featuring the group’s greatest hits, including 1970s tunes “Jesus Is Just Alright,” “Takin’ It to the Streets,” “Listen to the Music,” “Black Water,” “China Grove” and “Long Train Runnin’.”
This string of singalongs got the crowd feeling good before the night’s headlining act: Santana.
The 72-year- old Mexican-American guitarist, a 10-time Grammy winner and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, certainly gave Friday’s audience a special evening.
After starting with a Woodstock-inspired intro, the Latin rock band’s twohour set brought showgoers on the journey of Santana’s long and diverse career.
With a mix of English and Spanish singing, the group played a variety of genres such as rock, jazz, pop, calypso, and even some hip hop and rap throughout the two-hour set.
Among Santana’s bandmates were his wife, Cindy Blackman Santana, on the drums and his son, Salvador Santana, who played keyboard and did a bit of rapping.
While the main attraction for attendees was certainly seeing Santana playing his guitar solos live, the bandleader did a good job of sharing the spotlight with his fellow talented musicians.
For a portion of the set, Santana brought out jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette, who has worked with lots of jazz greats including Miles Davis.
The Doobie Brothers also came back on stage to jam with Santana for a unique version of “Some Kind of Wonderful.”
Along with performing early crowd favorites like “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman,” Santana played collaborative songs “Maria Maria,” “Smooth” and “Put Your Lights On” off of his album Supernatural, celebrating its 20th anniversary year.
Santana created quite the career- spanning, multicultural, cross- genre fiesta for SPAC concertgoers on Friday, but by the end of the night, he was promoting peace just like it was 1969 at Woodstock.
He closed out the set with a couple of hippie-era numbers, “Love, Peace and Happiness” by The Chambers Brothers and The Youngbloods’ “Get Together” - leaving the audience with the message: “Come on people now/Smile on your brother/Everybody get together/ Try to love one another right now.”