Santana Concerts Setlist

Santana is an American Latin rock band. They were formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The founder was guitarist and vocalist Carlos Santana (born in 1947 in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico), after whom the band is named after.

Santana moved from Mexico to San Francisco in the US in 1966. There, he emerged himself in the rising hippie counterculture, especially popular in that part of the country. Within a year, he formed a band around himself. He recruited bassist Sergio "Gus" Rodriguez, drummer Danny Haro, and percussionist Michael Carabello to form their line-up. In 1967, the fresh band auditioned for a concert promoter for a spot on the ticket with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Charles Lloyd Quartet at The Fillmore Auditorium. They got the gig, and got to perform their very first live Santana concert show at a major venue. They were introduced as “the Santana Blues Band” then. The band added second guitarist and vocalist Tom Fraser and organist Gregg Rolie to their roster, as they became a regular act at The Fillmore. However, they were fired after some of the band members showed up late for a major concert.

This didn’t deter Santana, though. They secured a record deal with the major label Columbia Records in 1968. Their debut album, the self-titled record “Santana” came out in August 1969. The band also performed a very successful Santana concert show at the very first Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York in the same month as the release of their debut album. This greatly helped their first record’s popularity, which ended up peaking at the #4 spot on the Billboard 200 chart. The next Santana album, “Abraxas” from September 1970, didn’t stop until it hit #1 on the charts.

Astonishingly, after over half a century, guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana’s rock band is still together and active. They have put out a total of 26 studio albums during their long career spanning many decades. The best selling one among them is “Shaman” from October 2002, which sold around 5 million copies worldwide. Meanwhile, the latest new Santana album came out in October 2021, with the title “Blessings and Miracles”.

Evidently, over that many years, there have been quite a few changes in the band’s line up. Currently, it’s made up of their namesake frontman, guitarist and vocalist Carlos Santana, bassist Benny Rietveld, percussionist Karl Perazzo, vocalist Andy Vargas, rhythm guitarist Tommy Anthony, keyboardist David K. Mathews, second percussionist Paoli Mejías, drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, and vocalist Ray Greene. Their biggest hits to date are “Black Magic Woman” (1970), “Maria Maria” (1999) featuring The Product G&B, “Smooth” (also 1999), featuring Rob Thomas, and “Into the Night” (2007) featuring Chad Kroeger.