Santana
August 15, 2017
Merriweather Post Pavillion – Columbia, MD
Honestly there is no need for someone to open for the legendary Carlos Santana & his band. The rain cleared up and it made out to be such a perfect day for some good music and good vibes. Promptly at eight pm Carlos Santana’s band took the stage opening up with O Paradiso. Instantly the connection between the crowd and the musicians on stage clicked.
It was quite a shock to me how diverse the crowd was, not only the generation that grew up in the Santana era was in attendance, but also a younger crowd. Some people must have been raising us millennialist right, good music choice. The production of this tour was absolutely beautiful and brilliantly put together. The lighting really set the mood to each song played on their setlist. To name a few of those songs played were hits such as Maria Maria, Black Magic Woman, and Are You Ready.
Santana and crew did have a few tricks up their sleeves as they threw in a good handful of cover songs such as The Young Rascals’ Groovin, Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground and a few others. A total of seventeen songs kept the night alive hit after hit, feeding into the energy given by the crowd. After such an amazing set they most certainly played an encore of four songs including Soul Sacrifice, Smooth, a cover of The Chambers Brothers’ Love, Peace & Happiness as well as The Highest Good.
Review by: Alyssa Howell
