Latin Legend Santana Thrilled at Wiener Stadthalle
The Santana band almost overwhelmed the fans in the sold-out Vienna Stadthalle on Monday evening: Following the legendary "Woodstock Chant" on the screen, came the hits Soul Sacrifice, Jingo, Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman - almost breathlessly, without even a second's pause; not even any opportunity for the audience to cheer at the end of the numbers. It wasn't until "Maria Maria" that they eased off the gas. And with the following "Oye Como Va", the master himself was finally fully present.
Stage Comeback After Health Break
Speaking of which: Carlos Santana will turn 78 in July. And just over two months ago, he had to be hospitalized in San Antonio due to Covid and also cancel concerts. Now he's playing again, thank God - but the energy loss has obviously left its mark: The Latin rock superstar shuffles across the stage with short, laborious steps, mostly sitting on a stool during the concert. However, in many numbers, you can see/hear that this doesn't really affect his guitar playing. But in some phases of the evening, not only did the overdriven amplifier system disturb the concert enjoyment, but also the impression that a certain naturalness and harmony of the band, which has been playing together for years, was missing.
Classics in Rapid Fire at Santana's Vienna Concert
With two excellent percussionists and Carlos' wife Cindy Blackman-Santana on the drums, there was fundamentally more than enough rhythm power on stage. But it only worked overall with selected songs: Besides "Oye Como Va", especially with "(Da Le) Yaleo" and particularly at the finale of the regular set, "Corazon Espinado". There, the good old Santana world was perfectly in order.
As the first encore, the master had thought of "Toussaint L'Ouverture" - a grandiose play with well-hidden short passages from "Love Supreme" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", but above all, an almost never-ending drum solo by Cindy - which was impressive in terms of effort, but not so much in finesse and/or groove. Finally, there was the century hit "Smooth" from the Grammy record album "Supernatural" (1999) - and that was actually very, very decent, even the vocals by Andy Varga. So we conclude leniently positive - in the end, everything was once again: "Smooth".
(By Werner Müllner/APA)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.