Santana & Counting Crows

Santana & Counting Crows:  Oneness Tour 2024 Electrified the Hard Rock Live

By Debbie Brautman | Photos by Jay Skolnick

First stop of Santana’s American Oneness tour was at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida on June 14^th and South Floridians could not have been more delighted. Carlos Santana, legendary guitarist/founder of the American rock band Santana, is still going strong at 76 years old. He looked fit in his stylish tracksuit, oozing effortless coolness.  He was sporting a straw fedora hat from his very own hat company, inspired by his legendary style and benefiting his Milagro Foundation, which helps under-resourced children. Born in Mexico, Carlos is a cultural icon of Latin rock who crossed over into mainstream music without losing his identity and roots. He rose to international stardom in 1969, when he performed at Woodstock. With his unique sound, he became one of the most internationally recognized guitarists of our time.

From the second the concert started, it was a non-stop explosive performance by Carlos and his extraordinary band to a very excited and packed audience. Each band member played with perfection and complemented each other. Carlos was so proud of his wife, Cindy Blackman Santana, who was dynamite on drums. She is 64, yet incredibly energetic and youthful. She is a virtuoso drummer with heart and soul, who was Lenny Kravitz’s drummer for years. In 2010, she filled in for Santana’s drummer and the electricity onstage generated chemistry offstage – Carlos proposed to Cindy during a July concert that year. She is a powerhouse drummer and a key to the band’s energy and strength. Her spirituality is in sync with Carlos’ and their love is quite apparent.

Santana covered Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji’s “Jingo” on their first album in 1969, and it sounded fresh and new in 2024, with incredible percussion and Afro beats by Paolo Mejias. Oh, what he can do with his hands on his congos! Karl Perazzo added additional percussion for a one-two knock-out punch. The cover of Clarence “Sonny” Henry’s “Evil Ways” is always a crowd-pleaser and did not disappoint. It was as smooth as silk and sheer perfection in the band’s most capable hands. Peter Green’s “Black Magic Woman” featured gifted lead vocalist Andy Powell, who has called Carlos his musical high priest. Andy’s vocals were just beautiful and the connection with Carlos is undeniable. Many people don’t know that Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist, Peter Green, had written and performed it. That is another talent of Carlos, taking a cover and making it his own. Santana had a giant hit with Tito Puente’s “Oye Coma Va,” when Carlos electrified it with his electric guitar and cranked up version in 1970. With the first few notes, there was instant recognition as the crowd jumped to their feet.  Shots of young Carlos flashed on the screen as the energy level was off the charts with everyone dancing.

“Everybody’s Everything” was more high energy and had some cool psychedelic visuals in the background. Towards the end of the song, most of the band exited and there was intense dueling interaction between brilliant bass player Benny Rietveld and Cindy’s explosive drumming. Benny Rietveld has played with Miles Davis and has been Santana’s bassist since 1997. “Hope You’re Feeling Better” showed off this fine-tuned music machine and not only can Carlos keep up with them, he is also their fearless leader.  Their cover of The Zombie’s (Rod Argent) “She’s Not There,” from the 1960’s, sounded modern and super charged. It sure rocked. “La Flaca” and “Corazon Espinado,” sung in Spanish, captured the Spanish culture of South Florida, and the sight of the entire audience dancing away was a sheer delight. Words cannot express the joy that was in the air. All troubles were forgotten for a short while. The hip-hop beat of “Maria Maria” kept everyone on their feet and Andy was in perfect harmony with their other fine vocalist, Ray Greene. Carlos’ guitar is instantly recognizable, as it is on all these songs. Carlos’ guitar wizardry has not lost anything, and age seems to have affected him only by his sitting against the stage instead of standing. He doesn’t have the moves like Jagger, but he doesn’t need them when he has his magic fingers. “(Da Le) Yaleo” had Carlos up to the mike to sing a few Yaleos, and of course, some more amazing guitar from his heart and soul.

“Put Your Lights On” was one of the highlights and sung by the other guitar player, Tommy Anthony. He started playing in the Miami music scene in the early 80’s and was Gloria Estefan’s guitar player until she retired. He was superb and has a good voice! Not to forget David K. Matthews, who excelled on all keyboards. He had played with funk/soul group Tower of Power before moving on to be Etta James’ organist/pianist. The Latin party song “Foo Foo” was Fun Fun. This concert was exciting and fast paced. For the encore, the band performed “Soul Sacrifice” with an impressive drum solo by Cindy. Carlos exclaimed, “How ‘bout that?” Carlos let his fingers do most of the talking but he did say, “We wish for you good health, peace of mind and joy.” The last song played was their Grammy-winning song “Smooth” and they really brought down the house in ecstasy. It was a fabulous, upbeat show.

The Counting Crows opened the show and their connection with Santana seemed odd at first until lead singer Adam Duritz explained how big a Santana fan he was. When he was 14 years old, he once slept on the streets of Berkeley overnight so he would be in the first few rows of a Santana concert. Twenty years ago, Carlos had asked The Counting Crows to go on tour and they did, so when Carlos called again asking them to join this summer tour, Duritz said “F**k Yeah!” They passionately played a lot of songs off their debut album, August and Everything After, like their hits “Mr. Jones,” “Round Here,” “Omaha,” “Anna Begins,” and “Rain King.” They surprisingly did a cover of Taylor Swift’s song “The 1.” It was also apropos to play their song “Miami” in this area. Other highlights included “Goodnight Elisabeth,” “Recovering The Satellites,” and the encore of “A Long December.” The Counting Crows, as usual, were more melancholy than upbeat, but their music also touched their fans in a different way.