Santana at Red Rocks

Santana
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Denver, CO
May 27, 2026 

Santana, the man, the band. The line between the two has always been blurry. Now, it seems, it has been completely erased. Carlos Santana brought his ten-piece band to Red Rocks in late May as part of the "Oneness Tour." Wednesday's show, the first of a two-night stand, displayed a band in fine form, a cohesive, seamless unit. Oneness. And it was delightful.

Santana, the band, had just concluded an eight-day run in Las Vegas three days before this Red Rocks show. That was a follow-up to another eight-day Vegas run in late January with an ambitious touring schedule in between. Practice makes perfect. Throughout the two-hour and fifteen-minute show, the band moved immediately from song to song and deftly inserted quotes from familiar songs drawn mostly, but not exclusively, from the classic-rock canon.

Santana, the band, has always been percussion-centric. Wednesday night, that was more apparent than ever. The band employs three full-time percussionists, not counting the trap drums. On top of this, other musicians would often pick up maracas, a tambourine or other hand-held rhythmic devices, frequently bringing the number of percussionists to six or seven. But the single biggest factor that turned the deep-groove, heavy rhythm into a veritable tsunami engulfing the audience was Cindy Blackman Santana on the trap drums.

The woman is a powerhouse, a dynamo, and a flamboyant one at that. All night long, she pounded on her drum kit, beating it relentlessly, and urgently propelling the music to seldom heard heights of rhythmic raptures. She wore a vest, showing off her arms with their well-defined musculature. With regular workouts like this, body fat on this woman does not stand a chance. Blackman Santana qualified for Medicare a year ago, although it looks like she will not be making any claims anytime soon. Despite her senior citizen status, on Wednesday night, she put on a performance that men or women decades younger would have trouble emulating. And, to put a very fine point on the level of Blackman Santana's chops, her energetic drum solo did not roll around until over two hours into the show.

Carlos and Blackman Santana tied the knot in 2010 and she has been the band's touring drummer since 2016. She has appeared on several Santana albums as well. She originally trained as a jazz drummer and took lessons from one of Dave Brubeck's drummers, Alan Dawson. For a time, Tony Williams was a mentor. In the jazz realm, she has played with Wallace Roney, Mike Stern, Russell Gunn, Kenny Garrett and many more. But she has also spent time with rock-influenced acts as well, most notably as Lenny Kravitz's touring drummer for 18 years starting in the early '90s.

Another significant factor in the persistent rhythm attack was bassist Benny Rietveld. He, too, sports some jazz credentials, having toured with Miles Davis in 1988. He also spent some time with Richie Cole, Barney Kessel, the Crusaders and others. Wednesday night, during "Everybody's Everything," Rietveld came down from his normal perch on the percussion riser for some face-to-face jamming with the leader. In unison, they slid into the The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction." Then, Rietveld strolled to the front of the stage for a solo featuring a lengthy quote of "Norwegian Wood" and then a little Black Sabbath. Throughout the evening, he stood next to or in front of Blackman Santana's drum kit and locked into her polyrhythmic beats.

The introduction set the tone for the evening. Archival film of African drumming and dancing rituals, interspersed with Native American drumming, was projected on the video screens around the stage with pre-recorded drums as the soundtrack. Eventually, the musicians on stage took over and kept the groove front and center all evening.

The set list drew from a wide range of Santana's work over the decades, with the albums Abraxas (Columbia, 1970) and Supernatural (Arista, 1999) the most heavily represented. But the set list also included a surprising number of covers. One of the more creative covers was a tag-team version of "Inner City Blues" and "Come Together." One song started, then was replaced by the other, only to be superseded moments later by the first and so on in an unbroken, cohesive arrangement.

A couple of other covers showed up with one of the night's guest musicians. Blackman Santana's sister, Tracy, appeared about halfway through the set to sing a couple of songs with the band. The first was a song she wrote entitled "Beams of Light," a spiritual ballad. The second was the Motown classic, "Dancin' in the Streets." Another offbeat cover was a tune by guitarist Sonny Sharrock. In one of several monologues during the evening, Carlos Santana talked about guitarists and he explained that Sonny Sharrock is one of his favorites. Sharrock (1940—1994) was primarily a jazz guitarist, but he was also interested in free jazz and experimental rock. The Santana band covered Sharrock's song "Dick Dogs" with the help of another guest, keyboardist Dave Snider, who had been in Sharrock's band in the '80s and '90s.

The band leader used extended quotes to acknowledge one of his heroes: John Coltrane. In 1972, Carlos teamed up with John McLaughlin for Love, Devotion and Surrender (Columbia, 1972), which included a nearly eight-minute version of "A Love Supreme." Wednesday night, the group also played "Incident at Neshabur," which Carlos Santana used it as a vehicle to play pieces of "Afro Blue," "My Favorite Things" and "Chim Chim Cheree," three songs famously recorded by Coltrane during the last 10 years of his life.

At 78 years of age, Carlos, like many of us moving to the shorter end of the human lifespan, does not get around quite as spryly as he used to. He is not immobile, but he is obviously more comfortable if he does not have to stand up for an entire 135-minute show. Consequently, he had a couple of chairs at different places on the stage where he could spend most of his time. Seated versus standing did not inhibit his guitar playing a single smidgin. He periodically moved around the stage, sometimes coming out to the front of the stage, sometimes getting close to one of his bandmates, or switching chairs. As he has for decades, his guitar playing ran the entire emotional gamut, from soft and tender and heartfelt, to driving, pyrotechnical riffs.

The show was nearly half over before Carlos took a microphone to speak to the audience. He acknowledged the grandeur of enveloping red rock formations and commented on how Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana. He complained that much of what is written about him on Facebook is inaccurate. He wanted to make clear that he loves God, he loves the planet and he loves people, anything else on the internet is probably wrong. Classic hippie sentiments to pair with the classic rock.

Set List

Prerecorded drum intro with Aboriginal dancing videos; Soul Sacrifice; Jin-go-lo-ba; Evil Ways/Do It Again; Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen; Oye Como Va; Maria Maria; Foo Foo; Everybody's Everything/Satisfaction/bass solo; Samba Pa Ti; She's Not There; Incident at Neshabur/Afro Blue/ My Favorite Things /Chim Chim Cherre (Coltrane tribute); Beams of Light; Dancin' in the Streets; Inner City Blues/Come Together; Dick Dogs; I Hope You're Feeling Better; (De Le) Yaleo; Put Your Lights On; Corazon Espinado; Toussaint L'Overture/While My Guitar Gently Weeps; Blackman drum solo; Smooth.