Santana

On Wednesday afternoon I made the snap, last minute decision to see Santana in concert at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia.  Despite having been aware of, and a fan of, this band since college (1886-1890) I had never gotten around to seeing them in concert. 

If you have finite time and money, do you exclusively attend concerts of bands you’ve already seen before, or do you seek out some new experiences?   For my part, 60% of the bands I saw in 2019 were ones I’d seen before, and 40% were new bands.   DesertFest NYC featured The Skull, Monolord, and Windhand – who I’d seen before – but also Elder, ASG, Danava and Weedeater, who I hadn’t.   As it was, Elder, the final headliner on Sunday night, was the band I was most interested in seeing.  This Boston, MA band wasn’t scheduled to tour anywhere close to DC, so I had to traipse all the way up to NJ/NY to see these shows.  Well worth it, as Elder were as satisfying as their studio albums would indicate. 

For that matter, have I ever NOT enjoyed a concert?  Does this happen often enough to dissuade me from seeing a band I’d never seen before?  It happened ONCE.   

The Mars Volta.   Those of us familiar with Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii movie know that the band interviews during the Dark Side of the Moon sessions, interrupting the prior jams of much earlier material at Pompeii, are oddly as entertaining as the musical performances themselves.   Gilmour’s denial of drug use on the part of the band is amusing, of course, but so is Roger’s bold but true assertion that “if people go to a show and they don’t like it, they don’t come again.”  That was the case with the only concert I really disliked and left early:  The Mars Volta, at the Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore, September 21, 2008.   Normally the band’s material is 1/3 nonstop aggression and 2/3 prog and psychedelic, an acceptable mix.  But live, the band seemed to be nonstop nonstop aggression, which I did not like.  (Even guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez admitted that no one wants to be punched in the face nonstop for 90 minutes).  Bye bye!

Here I went as a last minute decision to see a band I’d never seen before.   I got the cheapest lawn tickets they had and made no effort to reiterate my prior solicitations of companionship.    With the TV screens we could see much of what was going on stage anyway.   The grooves were infectious and the overall experience highly enjoyable.  

Che Guevara.   Before the right had Trump to idolize and ignore his numerous deficiencies, the Left had Che Guevara.   In Exposing The True Che Guevara:  And The Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him, Humberto Fontova, a Cuban immigrant who is clearly NOT a fan of his, described encountering Carlos Santana and giving him grief for wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt as so many people do, citing the man’s many atrocities under Castro’s regime.  Santana’s reaction – imagine this in Tommy Chong’s voice – “you’re getting hung up on the facts, man!”

Broken SG.   Nowadays it seems Santana plays exclusively Paul Reed Smith guitars.  But back in the day, he had a cherry red Gibson SG Special with dot inlays and P90 pickups, which he played at Woodstock.  For some reason – most likely the guitar wouldn’t stay in tune – he wanted a replacement, but wasn’t actually running the band (!), so it vetoed his demand.  So he smashed the guitar, destroying it, and then said, “THERE.  Now you have to buy me a new guitar.”

Jam Band.   If you listen to the Fillmore show from 1968, or the Woodstock performance, or the first album, it’s clear that early Santana is very similar to the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers – definitely a jam band.   In fact, Gregg Rolie and Neil Schon, better known from Journey, were in his band early on (Rolie from the beginning).   Not only that, if you listen to Journey’s first album, they’re more like a prog band and don’t sound much, if anything, like the band that gave us “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Open Arms” with later singer Steve Perry. 

This is why I needed to see him in concert.  I checked Setlist.fm and verified that live, he’s still playing his classic tunes.  Of the rest, fairly recent album Supernatural gets the most coverage, 6 songs, including “Smooth”.  The later tunes are shorter.   Live, he’s still giving some good jams. 

I’m ambivalent about otherwise talented guitarists who bury their decent guitar solos in music I really don’t care for:  Prince comes to mind, plus late model Don Felder.   His two songs on the Heavy Metal soundtrack, recorded exclusively for that album, are far superior (in my humble opinion) to any of his solo work since leaving the Eagles. 

With Santana there’s a ton of African rhythms, latin and jazz stuff which can tax my tolerance for jam band material.   But then I was hearing a strong Ray Manzarek influence with the keyboardist – and then Santana himself started off the distinctive and instantly recognizable solo intro for “Light My Fire”, followed by snippets of Stones material, and even a bit of “Day Tripper”, giving us some classic rock material amidst all the worldbeat stuff we might get from Mickey Hart.   Suffice to say he’s all over the place.  And for a guy born in 1947, he can still play guitar.  If he has any health issues I couldn’t see them from where I was in the audience. 

College Park (Origins).   Along with early Scorpions – Lonesome Crow and Fly to the Rainbow – Santana, in particular Viva Santana, was another learning experience of College Park.  Eventually that led me to Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac to seek out the original “Black Magic Woman”, and check out Live in Boston Vol 1, which also has “Green Manalishi” – better known from Judas Priest’s cover of it.  Of course, PG era FM are also a jam band – and Green was a big fan of the Dead.  “Oh Well” is probably the go-to jam song for his era of ‘Mac.

WTF?   As I expected, Santana made one “speech” exhorting the crowd to get crazy.  It was couched in metaphysical language guaranteed to confuse everyone.  I think he tries it out beforehand with the band members and roadies and if anyone can figure out what he’s trying to say, he scratches it out and starts over. 

Concessions.   By now I’ve seen enough shows that I’m not compelled to buy a t-shirt as a matter of principle.  My preference is for a shirt with tour dates on the back.   A blank back t-shirt doesn’t tell the world I purchased it at a concert.  Sadly, the best front design is not always the one with tour dates on the back, and the latter shirt may well have a dull or suboptimal design.  Sadly, that was the case here. Santana did have guitar-shaped magnet/bottle openers which were nice enough.   It won’t go any further than my fridge, which I don’t take around in public with me, but it will open bottles and stay on the fridge.  Just as well.

Parking Lot.   I had to leave early, before hearing “Smooth”, to avoid being trapped in the parking lot for eternity.  The venue, originally Nissan Pavilion, has been here since May 1997, but to date they still do not have a legitimate system to allow the parking lot to empty at the end of the show (though I did see an Uber/Lyft pickup location identified, which might actually work for people who live somewhere close to Bristow).  The only way to avoid idling with everyone else for an hour after the show is to leave before the encore.   With Alice in Chains a few weeks before, my problem was solved by Alice in Chains going on first and KORN being the final band, who I didn’t care to see, least of all to endure the parking issue. 

 

In any case, here is the Jiffy Lube Live set.  My favorites are “Evil Ways”, “Oye Como Va”, “Black Magic Woman”, and “Smooth” – though I didn’t get to hear that last tune.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/santana/2019/jiffy-lube-live-bristow-va-739ff601.html

Jam Bands II

I took another trip up to New Jersey, and the soundtrack to the second half of the journey was Dick’s Pick #4, the Grateful Dead live at the Fillmore East in February 1970.  The Allman Brothers were the opening act at that show, but their famous live album was recorded at a headlining show the year after.  Much of this set was actually from Anthem of the Sun, including a 30 minute “That’s It For the Other One”, and a 14 minute “Caution: Do Not Stop On Tracks” – plus a 30 minute version of “Dark Star”.  The GF and her son were not impressed with the remainder of the set, which I played for them later.  Panda was also relieved, rather than upset, when I told her that I had purchased one ticket, not two, to see Widespread Panic at Coney Island in September.  “Music for men”, is how a friend’s wife described this type of music – although the audience typically has a good proportion of women.  Just not from China or Russia, it seems.

I’d last addressed this issue on 11/14/2008.  Since that time I’d heard more – while still listening to the others.  Here are revised comments.

Chris Robinson Brotherhood (CRB).  Robinson is better known as the singer for the Black Crowes.  Apparently he doesn't get along with his brother Rich.  He formed this jam band which sounds - hardly surprisingly enough - remarkably like the Grateful Dead.  They have three albums, Big Moon Ritual, The Magic Door, and Phosphorescent Harvest, with a fourth that just came out, Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel. I saw them in concert recently.  If you like jam bands, you'll probably like this one.  If you don't, you won't.

Skid Row.  The Gary Moore incarnation from the late 60s and early 70s, not the Sebastian Bach version from the 80s.  In Live and On Song, they play two extended jams (including an endless drum solo), “Christian Blues Brother” and “Felicity”.

Quicksilver Messenger Service.  Has John Cippolina, who I’d heard with Man.  I listened to Happy Trails and enjoyed it.

Allman Brothers Band.  I mentioned them earlier, but hadn’t heard more than Fillmore East.  Like the Dead, they have two drummers, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe Johanson.   I chronicled them in more detail very recently.

Widespread Panic.   Based in Jawja like the Allman Brothers; they’ve been around since 1986.  John Bell is their singer-guitarist, i.e. their Jerry Garcia.  They sound very similar to the Dead and ABB. 

Phish.  Bernie Sanders fans, they’re from Vermont.  Their “Jerry” is Trey Anastasio, who played with the Dead on their most recent “farewell” tours.  These guys only have one guitarist and one drummer.  I’ve seen them twice in concert, in 2011 and 2013, both at Merriweather Post Pavilion. 

Frank Zappa.   We think of Zappa as a humorous artist, but his earlier material had some serious jamming going on.  Hot Rats is the go-to album for his jamming.  Sadly, I never got to see Zappa play while he was still alive – he played in Paris in 1984, shortly before we saw our first concert, AC/DC – but I’ve been making up for it by seeing Dweezil carry on with Zappa Plays Zappa. 

Santana.   Before he settled down to shorter, more radio-friendly songs, he was into long, spaced out jams, which he briefly revisits on his latest album, IV, with a tribute, “Fillmore East” – which clocks in at 7:44, the longest song on the album.  Neil Schon and Greg Rolie – probably more famous with Journey – return for that album.   As his later output has been substandard – aside from “Smooth” – I was pleasantly surprised at how good this album was.  Live at the Fillmore 1968 – before Woodstock, even – has a 14 minute “Soul Sacrifice” and a 30 minute “Freeway”. 

Fleetwood Mac.  Another band that jammed before they found fame.  The first three albums have Peter Green on guitar, and it was several albums later – long after Green’s departure - that Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks came around.  Green was a big fan of the Dead and loved to jam.   I got the Boston Tea Party live album, which includes both “Black Magic Woman” and “Green Manalishi”.  Fans of Santana and Judas Priest take note, neither of those songs came on the first three FM albums, so this live album was a good way to get the original versions – albeit in a live, jam band context – of those songs.