Carlos Santana
photo by Patrick O'Hagan
Carlos Santana
photo by Patrick O'Hagan
Carlos Santana
photo by Patrick O'Hagan
Carlos Santana
photo by Patrick O'Hagan
Carlos Santana
photo by Patrick O'Hagan
Benny Rietveld
photo by Patrick O'Hagan
Ray Greene and Andy Vargas
photo by Patrick O'Hagan
Iconic guitarist and band leader, Carlos Santana, brought his 2017 “Transmogrify” tour to the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville. The stop was only one of a 19-date summer tour.
This particular tour comes after Santana’s recent reunion and album last year that brought back the original lineup of the band that rocked the 1960s and 70s with a combination of rock n’ roll and Latin rhythms. Unlike the 2016 tour in support of the band’s most recent album, IV, several legendary members of the band – Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, Michael Carabello, and Michael Shrieve – were notably absent from lineup and were not included this go-around.
Carlos Santana’s wife, Cindy Blackman, joined the group behind the drum set on this tour and kept a steady beat, while Andy Vargas and Ray Greene took up the front of the stage as co-vocalists. Santana himself hung mostly in the middle of the stage leading the band and stepping up to the stage to showcase his lead guitar skills, which he still posses at age seventy.
Santana gave fans hits that ranged the decades with an twenty-plus song setlist that included hits such as “Oye Como Va,” “Maria Maria,” “Black Magic Woman,” and “Smooth.” His tour will officially concluded on September 11, after which he and the band will take up residency for a slew of performances in Las Vegas.