Santana and Steve Winwood 6/30/10 Xcel Energy Center
by Scott Lyson
Santana knows how to pick opening acts. I’m not a huge fan of Santana’s but when he came to town two years ago, I made sure to grab a ticket as the Derek Trucks Band would be opening. At that performance at the Xcel, Santana delivered an okay show, not really inspiring me to check out any of his albums, save for the song “Incident at Neshabur.” Derek Trucks was solid and, for me, stole the show. For this Universal Tone tour Santana is having Steve Winwood open the show with a 70-min set, and that was enough for me to check out the show yet again.
Both artists were invited to play at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago four days previous, but only Winwood made an appearance. Winwood had played with Clapton’s band, but at the Xcel he played with his usual band. Winwood started behind his organ playing “I’m A Man” and “Hungry Man” from his latest release ‘Nine Lives.’ Then Winwood threw on a strat and played the single from the ‘Nine Lives’ album, a great slow-burning and eerie guitar song in “Dirty City.” Next came the classic Blind Faith song “Can’t Find My Way Home.” Winwood intro’d the song by calling it a ‘newer’ tune he’d been playing with Eric. This performance was slightly inferior to the arrangements that he’s been playing with Clapton in recent years, but Winwood seemed rested and ready to tour, giving a strong soulful performance. An epic version of “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” saw Winwood back behind the organ. There was a fantastic guitar solo and a couple of excellent sax solos from the band as Winwood led the ten minute tune. After that two members of the band left the stage, as the saxophonist stepped behind Winwood’s organ, drummer staying put, and as Winwood grabbed an axe and went on to deliver the best performance of the Traffic tune “Dear Mr. Fantasy” I’ve ever heard. A true power trio, all three musicians completely locked into the performance, and Winwood proved why he stole the show from the Crossroads Guitar Festival three years ago. The rest of the band returned and delivered a far more satisfying version of “Gimme Some Lovin’” than the 2008 performance delivered when they opened for Tom Petty. This really made up for the fact that “Lovin’” was missing from Winwood and Clapton’s set at Crossroads. The crowd was pumped and couldn’t wait for Santana to hit the stage.
Santana and his big band came out firing on all cylinders with “Yaleo” and continued to jam out on some of his more well known hits without slowing down. “Jingo” was vastly superior from the previous time he performed it, and every member of the band was unleashing groovy solos and being quite visibly excited to be back on tour. After a tremendous string of incendiary performances things slowed down a bit, but not for long. Santana, who chatted quite a bit last time, kept his chatter to around four minutes. He preached on peace and love and referenced Marvin Gaye and John Lennon, even including a brief Bible lecture. There were some cheers, there were some boos, but the lectures ended quickly enough and the two-hour jam session continued. There were plenty of dancing numbers and the two vocalists were having a blast running around the stage firing up the crowd. Santana would wander around too directing the band, and at one point when the percussionist failed at catching his sticks after launching them into the ceiling, Santana would walk over and give him a hand. Things hit another level when the band launched into the Cream classic “Sunshine Of Your Love,” which should appear on Santana’s upcoming release of classic rock covers. “Sunshine” was followed by “Smooth” (including a passage of the Pink Panther theme) which ended the main set. The set seemed to move much too quickly and I was surprised it ended so soon. The video screens turned on and showed Woodstock footage and Santana and company finished off the night with “Soul Sacrifice,” “Into The Night,” and “Love, Peace & Happiness.”
Santana left a lot to be desired the last time I saw him, but he completely blew me away this time around. There were plenty of great guitar jams, and familiar pop hits all mixed together for a great night of music. I’m not too keen on the studio version of “Black Magic Woman,” however, the way Santana and his band jammed on it was spectacular. There were organ solos, drum solos, horn solos, a brief bass solo, but they all came at appropriate times and Santana delivered plenty of sweet licks to ensure I’ll be catching him again. It sounded like Winwood would come on stage and play a couple numbers, but it was not to be on this opening night, and that is the only complaint I would have about this evening. Santana and Winwood delivered on their promise of unleashing a night of universally pleasing music.
4.5 out of 5 stars
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