Santana’s Miraculous Supernatural Tour hits Mountain View, CA

Man, it was a hot one June 21^st at Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheatre for Santana’s Miraculous Supernatural Tour with Earth, Wind & Fire. Temperatures were reaching triple digits across the Bay Area, but that didn’t stop Santana fans from coming out early on a Tuesday night to catch Earth, Wind & Fire! At 7:15pm sharp, the opening riff to “Shining Star” started as band members slowly came onto the stage. As soon as the iconic riff began, the crowd was out of their seats dancing with their hands in the air and clapping along. The dancing continued throughout the 90-minute set, which featured all the smash hits like “Let’s Groove Tonight”, “Boogie Wonderland” and “September”. The band was also dancing nonstop, despite the scorching weather, all dressed in unique black outfits with silver sequin accents like they just walked off the red carpet. Led by original founding members on vocals Philip Bailey and Ralph Johnson, as well as bassist Verdine White, the band sounded amazing and even featured Bailey’s own son, Philip Bailey Jr., as one of the percussionists and vocalists. 

After Earth, Wind & Fire’s set and the 30-minute break, it was time for guitar legend Carlos Santana!

Congas and drums kicked things off to the beat of “Soul Sacrifice” and out walked Santana with an instantly face-melting solo. Despite the sun having gone down, it was still HOT — like 90 degrees hot — and Santana was ripping away on his gold guitar right before my eyes with a Bob Marley hooded sweatshirt and one of his iconic fedoras — I couldn’t believe my eyes. The face-melting solos continued on with “Jin-Go-Lo-Ba”, where Carlos even did some maraca playing. Next vocalist, Ray Greene, took over and sang fan-favorite “Evil Ways”, which blended into “Black Magic Women/Gypsy Queen”. Carlos Santana drummer and also wife, Cindy Blackman Santana, was killing it on drum solos throughout the night; you could see the chemistry between husband and wife. Other band members for Santana were Andy Vargas on vocals, Benny Rietveld on bass, David K Matthew on keyboards, Karl Perazzo on percussion and Tommy Anthony on guitar and vocals.

Throughout the show, each of the band members had standout solos and moments to shine. Other songs played during the set were as follows: “Oye Como Va”, “Samba Pa Ti”, “Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile)”, “Are You Ready” (The Chamber Brothers cover), “I Love Music”, “She’s Not There”, “The Game of Love”, “Joy”, “Corazon espinado”, “Maria Maria” and “Foo Foo”. For the encore, they played “Put Your Headlights On”, “Toussaint L’Ouverture”, “Hang ‘em High”, “Smooth” and finally, “Roadhouse Blues / Love, Peace and Happiness”. All in all, this was a very memorable and nostalgic night from 70s funk superstars Earth, Wind & Fire to legendary guitar hero Carlos Santana with his hits spanning from the psychedelic days of Woodstock and his 90s hit album Supernatural. This show was rescheduled from 2020 and it was well worth the wait. If you can get tickets to this tour, I highly recommend grabbing them while you still can!

Photography by Katey Schoenberger

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