Carlos Santana Ain't Done Yet

When I saw that Santana was coming to Stockholm, I didn't pay too much attention. The wife got tickets to join some friends of ours, so I would be attending the show, after all.

I hadn't paid too much attention to Santana for the last couple of decades. Beside the Woodstock movie, I saw Santana during the "Abraxis" tour in Munich. We were both pretty ripped that night.

Since that night, I became less and less enamored with the recorded output. I understood the technical expertise, but I basically left him after "Lotus". And certainly, I wrote him off with the "resurrection" by Clive Davis when, after the hit "Smooth," Carlos looked like he was going to take the Sinatra train home by doing "duets" with anyone who was hot with the kids. He had that sound, that sustain that was his signature. At least we had Munich, Carlos.

He did "Smooth" last night, and "Oya comma va", "Black Magic Woman" and "Soul "Sacrifice." But it wasn't a nostalgia trip he gave us. All those songs, plus covers of AC/DC, The Doors, Cream, even Tommy James & The Shondells were delivered with a fresh approach and new slants, like "Back in Black" with a hip-hop vocal.

Tonight's performance was more a homage to Santana's influences and the songs he has dug throughout his life. He was adding quotes during his solos, like doing a few bars of "96 Tears" during the guitar solo of "Jingo" or "Ghost Riders in the Sky" during "Riders of the Storm."

His Latin roots were covered as well, with a segment that was like a party in the barrio. Songs like "Maria, Maria," "Guajira," and "Oya comma va" were played in front of a video of a Mexican neighborhood in sepia tones, giving the impression this was a remembrance of the young Carlos' roots back in the neighborhood as the effects of colored lights and pinwheels were thrown around the concert hall.

In the mid-70's, Santana got very intense into the mystic spirits of the universe. His music changed into that sphere as well, with the Coletranes (John and Alice), Hendrix and Miles becoming his muses. That showed last night with his constant use of Hendrix rifts for color, some Miles like trumpet fills and the cover of Coletrane's "A Love Supreme." During the song. Carlos took time to preach the virtues of light, love and happiness. It was difficult to argue with the message he was bringing, that the media creates fear and distrust in a "collective illusion" You can change yourself, he said, and he was an example.

The show came to a close with "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Soul Sacrifice" was, of course, the finale. The screen showed the famous Woodstock segment of the Santana Band doing their signature four decades previously, along with shots of Santana throughout the years.

Tonight's show was an excellent performance by an experienced showman, He gave the crowd exactly what they wanted, with just enough difference to make it interesting for he and his band to play. It also highlighted the difference between the studio artist and the live performer. While the recorded work is entirely based on the material, the live performance is a combination of what the artist gives and what the audience gives back. This synergy and the surprises that occur are what makes live shows the art form of music, and have been since our ancestors banged two sticks together.

It also explains the apparent ennui that comes out of the speakers when veteran artists like Elton John and Leon Russell. or any Clapton record for the last quarter century. Even the mighty E-Street Band doesn't deliver on the CD spinner. But put Bruce, Carlos and, say, Tower of Power (my next live venture) in front of an appreciative and giving audience and it's a whole other beast.

Santana surprised me last night, pleasantly so. He seems determined to connect his past with today's sound. On a raw Tuesday night in Stockholm, Carlos Santana stoked an inner mounting flame that apparently has never burned out.