Last night I headed out to ACER Arena to catch living legend, Carlos Santana. Before entering the venue I had one big question on my mind: “How would he handle the duets?” There’s no doubt that Santana’s recent star-studded duets album are the key to his latest wave of popularity, but without the likes of Rob Thomas, Chad Kroeger, and Steve Tyler on the tour I wasn’t sure how they’d work, or indeed whether they’d make the set at all. I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
As is typical when you’re contending with Sydney traffic, we were running late and missed most of Blue King Brown’s set. I’m not sure it was a great loss though. They’re clearly accomplished musicians, but the three songs I heard tended to sound the same. I can imagine how the early part of the set sounded based on that.
Anyway, Carlos was the main event, and after a confronting look at the pain of war on the big screen, we were ready for a concert of hope. Carlos was clearly the star of the show. I’ve seen a few brilliant guitarists in my time: John Mayer, Tommy Emmanuel, Pete Townshend, and more. But as good as those guys were, Carlos is in a completely different league. The sounds he gets from that instrument are phenomenal. Dad said he heard somewhere that he has the fastest handspeed of any guitarist, and I think that could be true. Wow.
Carlos mostly lets his guitar prowess speak for himself. He’s a man of few words, but what he did say resonated. He received thunderous applause for his comment that Australia has “high moral leadership,” and his endorsement of Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generation. And we all laughed when he said we could have America’s constitution because they weren’t using it.
While Carlos was the main attraction, he was backed up by one of the greatest bands I’ve ever witnessed. Three drummers, another two guitarists, the brass stylings of a trumpet and trombone all led to one hell of a big sound. Often times I felt like I was witnessing a private jam session as these guys launched into extended solos, improvised and natural. Out front we had two stellar male vocalists in Tony Lindsay and Andy Vargas. Their rich soulful voices skillfully delivered Santana’s English and Spanish lyrics.
So back to the question of those duets. If you were a new fan and attended the show based on the strength of those songs alone I think you would have been disappointed. It took until halfway through the show for us to hear a track from Supernatural, the smouldering “Maria Maria.” We certainly weren’t let down by The Product G&B’s absence here. But it was a different matter later in the show when they took on “Smooth.” I know I may be biased as a major Rob Thomas fan, but I really missed his rock and roll rasp. The only other duet that made the cut was the new single, “Into The Night.” It was a sweeter take on this song, but I think I preferred it.
While I love those duets albums, I’m glad most of those songs didn’t make the show. Yes we had Santana, but I think without the added star power of their original singers they would have been a let down.
What we did hear was a whole lot of Santana’s earlier material, which made my dad pretty happy. It was the perfect showcase for these musicians, and ultimately the way this show should be.