Carlos Santana rarely puts his own vocals into his music, choosing instead to let his guitar do most of the talking. But that doesn’t mean the 10x Grammy Award winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, and Latin-psychedelic pioneer has nothing to say. At 79, Carlos knows how to speak his mind, just as he did during Santana’s mid-August visit to the Hollywood Bowl with The Doobie Brothers on their co-headlining Oneness Tour.
Not once, but twice did the Mexican-American musician step to the mic to share his thoughts on the state of the world. The first occasion came in the middle of Santana’s set, when he spoke colorfully of “graduating from the university of donkeys and monkeys” en route to a higher consciousness that can “make a difference on this planet.” The second such speech came during the encore, when he talked about seeking peace between nuclear powers and everyone being “worthy of God’s light”—including (if not especially) all the revelers who made love in the mud and rain at Woodstock.
On both occasions, Santana cited an infection of fear that was spreading across the Earth, with the antidote already at hand. That antidote? Oneness.
Though Santana was hinting at much more than just the music he and The Doobie Brothers brought to the Hollywood Bowl, that, too, came across like medicine for the thousands of souls who filled the iconic venue on a picturesque Thursday night.
The Doobie Brothers kicked off that process of joyful healing with their catalog of pop and rock, ranging from biker to yacht. They began with the former, opening with 1972’s “Rockin’ Down the Highway.” After paying tribute to Motown, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers looked to the title track of their latest album, Walk This Road, which reunited Michael McDonald, Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons, and John McFee in the studio more than 50 years after McDonald first joined the group and remade its sound.
The singers batted vocals back and forth through their 16-song set, between Johnston’s rock-forward tenor on “Long Train Runnin’” and “China Grove,” McDonald’s sultry pipes on “Takin’ it to the Streets,” Simmons taking center stage on “Black Water” (replacing a “Mississippi moon” with a California one) and everyone joining in on “Listen to the Music.” Altogether, it made for the sort of band-wide harmony, both musical and personal, that may have been harder for The Doobie Brothers to come by in the past, but seems to reflect a greater oneness within the band nowadays.
For that to come through just down the road from Warner Bros. Studios in North Hollywood, where The Doobie Brothers recorded so many of their biggest hits, made that synergy even more special.
As for Santana, the family band featuring Carlos on guitar, his son Salvador Santana on keys, and his wife Cindy Blackman Santana on drums kept the good vibrations going with a set spanning their patriarch’s vast repertoire.
Starting off with “Soul Sacrifice” (which got Santana to Woodstock back in 1969) and “Jingo” gave Carlos ample opportunity to settle in on guitar while switching between standing axemanship and doing so from his seat. It also afforded pretty much everyone else in the band a chance to shine on their respective instruments, with Carlos switching to shaking maracas at one point.
From there, Santana had the Hollywood Bowl crowd on their feet for the band’s original hits, some of which included quotes from other songs of that era. Willie Bobo’s “Evil Ways” came with a snippet of Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” and Tito Puente’s “Oye Cómo Va” occasioned a coda from Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move,” with “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” dropped in between. Even a stretch of songs from Santana III, which turns 55 in September, began with bassist Benny Rietveld using “Everybody’s Everything” as a vehicle for invoking Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” In all, Santana’s first three albums would account for more than half of the setlist.
Related: New Santana Retrospective Transforms His Biography Into An Immersive Visual Experience
The closing third of the show, though, paid homage to Santana’s renaissance in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the release of 1999’s Supernatural. “(Da le) Yaelo” even brought Carlos to the mic for a brief bit of backing vocals, before he turned the spotlight to his wife for a voracious drum solo during the encore and “Smooth” slid in to close the show. That finale had seemingly everyone in the Hollywood Bowl dancing and singing, creating just the sort of oneness that Carlos envisioned could bring light to a world of darkness.
Santana and The Doobie Brothers have additional dates this month in Texas, Missouri, and Minnesota, interspersed by a special “Evening With” Santana at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Find Santana tickets here and Doobie Brothers tickets here.
Santana: “Jingo” | 8/13/26
Video: JORGE C-r
Santana: “Maria Maria” | 8/13/26
Video: 7sarahlove
[Editor’s note: Live For Live Music may earn a commission from tickets purchased via the links on this page.]
Credit: Source link