Carlos Santana - Music - http://maxpages.com/chartmusic/Carlos_Santana

Santana has been in the business for over 30 years...he walked away with 9 Grammies earlier this year and has hooked up with some top artists from across the music spectrum on his current album 'Supernatural'...but can he kick it live?

Latin, Blues, African, Jazz, Rock and more...he's got a touch of them all on his new album 'Supernatural'. By working with the likes of Rob Thomas, Everlast, Lauryn Hill, Eric Clapton, and Wyclef Jean he has bought his talent to the masses, and the masses have shown their appreciation not only by buying the album, but by their enthusiasm at his performances.

He has sold in excess of 40 million albums, so we sent someone down to his gig to find out why!

A sweaty haze hovered above the crowd at Wembley Arena, waiting to be eclipsed by the sexy Latino rhythms that oozed from the guitar legend that is Carlos Santana.

Just when support band Toure Kundus' African bongos were starting to get a bit monotonous, they were suddenly interrupted by an electric Carlos Santana guitar solo. The latecomers, hanging out in the bar waiting for the main attraction, missed out on his surreptitious opener. Never a man to let a jamming opportunity slip from his fingertips, he sneaked out of the shadows and proceeded to out do the energetic tribal dancers with one strum of the strings.

When he turned up later for his own set, the crowd were up out of their seats in a nano-second, roaring appreciatively. After an extended instrumental (a taste of things to come!) he launched into the first three cuts from his mega-selling album 'Supernatural'. First up was the lively latino number '(de la) Yaleo', followed by a slowy 'Love of My Life' and then the even slower 'Put Your Lights on'

Obviously appreciative of his amazing talent on display, but not really in the mood to party, Santana still needed to entice the fans out of their seats. Hoisting the big guns out of reserve, he launched into the crowd pleasing 'Maria Maria'. The whole place errupted with fans waving and jigging about all over the place. Which was nothing compared to the reaction that the next song 'Smooth' got...

Complete with a special guest appearance from Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 fame, 'Smooth' worked the audience into a frenzy. Ladies started shaking their booty and guys attempted to dance as best they could (which still was't very good). Flailing arms abound and shimmying hips a-plenty, Wembley was now officially on fire!

With the audience satiated, Santana's band then took it in turns to do lengthy musical solos, including an awesome bass version of John Lennon's 'Imagine'. Self indulgent musical solo's tend to loose live audiences in a quagmire of muso-snobbery, but not this lot. They readily lapped up the rest of the night's offerings including some more tracks from 'Supernatural' , the classic 'Black Magic Woman', and epic versions of 'Oyo Como Va' and 'Jingo'to bring the night to it's meltdown climax.

By this point the crowd were enjoying themselves so much that the only thing that stopped Santana playing through the night was Wembley Council. As the audience moved towards the exit, it really did feel as if the party had just begun.

That was Santanas' last gig in the UK...the tour continues, but unfortunately unless you are in the States or Canada you won't be able to catch up with him.
Santana has been in the business for over 30 years...he walked away with 9 Grammies earlier this year and has hooked up with some top artists from across the music spectrum on his current album 'Supernatural'...but can he kick it live?

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Page Updated Fri Apr 19, 2002 4:55pm EDT