Santana band never gets old

by Steve Webb, The Knickerbocker News, June 29, 1981

Something about the sunshine made the rock group Santana’s fine performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center all the more appropriate. The 2½ hours of music the band performed Saturday resulted in a near-perfect evening.

Bandleader and guitarist Devadip Carlos Santana had previously disparaged his program at the Palace Theater in April as a series of lost opportunities. Whether his low opinion was deserved, he was clearly taking advantage of every opportunity this time, and the seven other musicians in his band were similarly fine-tuned for a tremendous concert.

It was the same basic program as in April, although several of the instrumentals had totally different sections in them. Basically, the band alternates during the first half between vocal songs and instrumental pieces, with an extended quartet in the instrumental “Europa” standing as an early highlight.

One unrecorded song, “Body Surfing,” had been played at the Palace, but Santana explained it more fully here as being inspired by hearing Jimmy Cliff and the late Bob Marley on the radio.

British vocalist Alex Ligertwood adds a Traffic-like appeal to Santana’s playing, probably no coincidence considering the guitarist’s use of Steve Winwood’s “Dealer” three albums ago and an exact duplicate of Winwood’a arrangement of “Well All Right” on record and in concert. Ligertwood is credible on the Santana warhorses, “Black Magic Woman” from 1970 and “Open Invitation” from 1978, among them. He is at his best on the recent hit single “Winning” and an intriguing voice-guitar argument that closed the final encore, “Transcendance.”

But in many ways the instrumentals highlighted this show, and the fact that they were so well received negates cynical opinions that rock audiences don’t ever listen to what is actually being played.

“Incident at Neshabur” was the high point of these. The piece from the 1970 album “Abraxas” started with its familiar heavy-metal riff, before easing into a bebop-like section that featured stellar piano work by Richard Baker. He and conga player Raul Rekow were the most impressive band members during the show, although all were exemplary.

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