Friday evening was a memorable one in Forest Hills Stadium, with Carlos Santana playing to a predominantly Latin audience, which is a change from his hippie days in the ’60s. Many of the fans of his early music were there as well. The venue was ideal for this part of the Corazón Tour, which is named after his first Spanish language album Corazón. Forest Hills Stadium was full of happy fans who were on their feet for most of the set. The staff, including security, was very helpful and even seemed to be enjoying the spirit of the music.

Santana is famous for fusing rock and Latin American music and blues. He has been cited as being one of the greatest guitarists of all time and has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards. Understandably, the event had a major Latin feel, and included all of the favorites that a fan would want to hear. The set started out with “Soul Sacrifice,” “Saidera,” and “Love Makes the World Go Round,” then Carlos’ son, Salvador Santana and Alex Nester joined the group on vocals for “Freedom In Your Mind,” “Maria Maria” and “Foo Foo.”

Keyboardist David K. Mathews joined the group on stage and had some interesting interactions with Carlos on guitar. Salvador joined his dad onstage again to perform three songs off of his second album Fantasy Reality. Continuing to play a mix of new and classic hits, the group created an incredible level of energy that had the audience dancing and singing. After almost two hours of playing, the group walked off stage to the sound of thunderous applause that brought them back out to conclude the set with the group’s mega-hits, including “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va.”

The sounds of Santana’s singing guitar gladdened the hearts of his fans of all ages, and treated all of us to a magical experience.

– Stanley Abraham

Photos by Arnie Goodman

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