Carlos Santana show

[santellavision]

Went to see Carlos live last night in El Paso. The Doobies opened for him. Good, solid show, I would recommend catching both bands if you can. They both brought it, tons of hits and great players. Carlos is 80 and still played well. Definitely not the Carlos of youth. He had to sit for most of the show due to age, but, I still enjoyed his moments of greatness last night.

OK, got to mention this...
When they were switching bands, Carlo's tech brought out his rig and fired it up. OMG. Now, I've seen a LOT of shows in my 67 years. I have NEVER heard a live amp that loud. Not through the PA, this was just the rig on stage. I was over 100' away and it was insane. I have to repeat, it was INSANELY loud and CLEAN. Looked like an old 100w Boogie combo on top of a 4x12 cab. I've google'd a bit and his last rig had some Blutotone and Dumble amps off-stage, So, that 4x12 cab might be a mix of amps. The Boogie was mic'd as well as the 4x12. But, the stage volume was crazy.

When the band started, he was no where near being put through the PA. It was just his rig live. We're talking a basketball size arena stage show. You could hear him direct. In fact, even the full band through the PA was not as loud has he was! Not sure who I felt bad for, the FOH mixer or the band dealing with that stage volume! One more shout out, but his wife on Drums was off-the-chart great. Wowza.

Here's a quick clip.
https://youtu.be/ZLKZdzQNEHE

Edited 23 hours ago by santellavision

[BoogieMKIIA]

Great tone, he always sounds like Carlos no matter the rig. Could've been his old Mark 1 or a Kingsnake.

Wonder how he is able to hear anything after all the years 

Edited 14 hours ago by BoogieMKIIA

[Dave Scepter]

I remember growing up as a kid in San Francisco, cutting class/getting high and stumbling upon Santana in a free impromptu street jam in Golden Gate park's clamshell venue... extremely cool experience as a kid, forever etched in my mind 😃

[specialk]

 

[mathman]

Santana was my first concert.  1975 in Mobile Alabama IIRC.  can't find that ticket stub.  

[ArnieZ]

I saw the same show in Bethel NY (ie Woodstock) The Doobies were great, my first time seeing them. Their set list was exactly what you would hope! They have not lost a step either vocally or instrumentally

Santana was great, but no where near the player he once was. Yes I am being hypercritical. The drummer ,his wife, was a force onto herself, incredible! His set list was also what you would hope for. Carlos played a single cut PRS the whole night. I wonder why the change? Having seen Carlos before I was excited to see him, but as you can tell a little disappointed. Everyone I was with thought he was great. I enjoyed the entire show tremendously, but since it was Woodstock it had to rain and the Doobies had to cut their set list short.

arniez

[kizanski]

19 hours ago, santellavision said:

I have NEVER heard a live amp that loud.

In '83 I saw the Ramones at Boston College.
Somehow, our group managed to get right up against the stage - my left hip pressed against the structure. I could almost touch Johnny's amps with my outstretched arm.

Johnny's guitar tech came out, clicked on the Marshalls, picked up the Mosrite and dimed every control.
He bashed out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 A chords, rolled the volume back down to zero and walked off to a round of applause. 

I spied the stranger to my left blowing her nose, so I bummed a tissue from her and shoved a wad of it in my left ear.
Probably the smartest, most mature thing 17 year old me ever did.

[django49]

Reminds of seeing a show at, of all places, a theater in Beverly Hills long ago. The 3 featured players were Lonnie Mack (with that crazy V) , Roy Buchanan and Dickie Betts (sans Allmans). 

Buchanan came out with his Tele and had a Twin  Reverb sitting on a folding metal chair. Pretty much did the same thing. Nothing fancy. Tele straight into the Twin. Set everything on max and started playing. In his fashion, screaming treble and feedback, much playing past the treble end of the fingerboard. That tone and volume just cut right through you! My wife and many others made a trip to the bathroom and came back with as much TP as they could...Shoved in their ears with the ends hanging out over their shoulders.