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The iconic, 10-time Grammy-winning guitarist is set to return to the road after more than a year off — and the good times begin in New Jersey.
Santana’s 15-date “Blessings and Miracles” tour kicks off Sept. 11 at the Borgata Hotel, Casino and Spa’s Event Center in Atlantic City.
“We’re really, really, really excited,” Santana said. “It feels like somebody grabbed your head and put it inside a swimming pool and you’ve been holding your breath, and now you’re able to come out for some air.”
The launch of the tour will follow the resumption of Santana’s long-running residency at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, which has new dates starting Aug. 25.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The audience listens to Carlos Santana performing at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
Carlos Santana performs at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
The Doobie Brothers perform at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woodstock Festival at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 17, 2019.
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Next summer is booked up for him, too, thanks to a 30-date Miraculous Supernatural 2022 Tour with Earth, Wind and Fire hitting the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel on Aug. 14 and the BB&T Pavilion in Camden on Aug. 18.
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Santana, and his audience, are ready to welcome back live music in a big way.
“That’s because it’s a spirit,” Santana said. “It’s not a profession, it’s not a job, it’s not a this or that. It’s a way of life, and it’s a way of life where spirit is able to elevate the listener to a place beyond fear.
“The two things that are really, really bad for people are not feeling worthy and being with fear … And so when musicians play, they elevate people into a place like liberators, like letting the hamster out of that cage.”
Simply ‘Splendiferous’
Before he gets back on stage, Santana is giving fans a fresh look at his work over the last two decades with the just-announced compilation, “Splendiferous Santana,” a playlist available for streaming starting Friday, July 2.
Picking up after Santana’s 1998 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the titanic success of his nine-Grammy-winning, 30-million-copies-selling 1999 LP “Supernatural,” “Splendiferous Santana” is a comprehensive, 30-track set to bring listeners up to date, with the newest songs drawn from his 2019 “Africa Speaks” album.
While Santana’s half-century and counting of material has plenty of depth and breadth, he explained the through line that unites it all.
“The connection’s always been, since the beginning, since the very first Santana album (in 1969) until I do the last one and I check out, it’s always about African music,” he said. “It’s always the components, ingredients and nutrients (and) rhythms of African music. And that’s what Santana is: melody, rhythm and songs. (It’s) electric guitar, Hammond organ, congas, timbales, drums, songs.”
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Santana also tells us he’s “just about finished” with a new album, “Blessings and Miracles.”
“We’re putting the final touches on it, and I’m so happy to tell you that I haven’t felt this kind of bubbles in my stomach and in my heart and in my mind, effervescent, since ‘Supernatural,’ ” Santana said. “Because the music that is being presented to me, I can tell you in all honesty that it’s been orchestrated outside of me doing it. It’s been (a situation where) I just wake up and walk into a room and I say, ‘OK.’ ”
Santana’s collaborators this time around are set to include fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Steve Winwood of Traffic and Kirk Hammett of Metallica, as well as Mark Osegueda of metal outfit Death Angel. Country singer/songwriter Chris Stapleton wrote a new song for the album.
“We covered a lot of ground,” Santana said of “Blessings and Miracles,” adding that he feels “really grateful because we’re consistent with our portfolio and Rolodex being really wide and expansive. I’m not a one-trick pony, you know.”
He even reunites with Rob Thomas, singer of the “Supernatural” smash single “Smooth,” for “Move.” “It’s delicious, it’s incredible,” Santana said of the collaboration.
“Miracles and blessings just keep coming in,” Santana said — hence the name of the upcoming album and tour. “They’re outside of the realm of possibilities. You can’t bottle them up or encapsulate them. It’s like the wind, you can’t grab it but you can feel it.”
But, he said another title would have been appropriate, too: ” ‘Priceless’ — because you can’t buy how God orchestrates people to bring you like (concert promoter) Bill Graham and (music executive) Clive Davis and (jazz legend) Miles Davis.
“All my life, I’ve been been brought into a position, a place, where I get to learn from everyone from Jerry Garcia (of the Grateful Dead) to (guitarist) John McLaughlin. And for me, it’s just about staying with a mind open, like a 7-year-old. Just know that you still have purity and innocence, you still know how to go into the unknown and unpredictability. And, more important, you can be 73 years old and still be relevant. How about that?”
Alex Biese has been writing about art, entertainment, culture and news on a local and national level for more than 15 years.
Gregg Allman, seen here in 1978, founded the Allman Brothers Band with his sibling Duane Allman, who tragically died in a motorcycle accident in 1971. The band found success in his memory over the course of the ensuing decade.
The Bee Gees, from left, Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb, were disco kings in the ’70s, shaping the decade’s sound particularly with their “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack in 1977.
Rock band Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler, left, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward) are credited with pioneering the heavy metal sound.
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Coming off the release of his “Space Oddity” album at the end of 1969, David Bowie rose to icon status in the ’70s, cementing his reputation as one of the most brilliant personalities in rock history.
Bowie’s ’70s output ranks him among the decade’s most prolific and accomplished figures. He cycled from glam rock to R&B/soul to toying with electronic music and krautrock influences as he ended the decade with his acclaimed Berlin trilogy of albums.
Donna Summer, seen here during a 1977 press conference, ruled disco in the ’70s well into the next decade, with her voice defining how generations of listeners heard the genre.
Founded as the Chicago Transit Authority, rockers Chicago (seen here in 1998) are known for their large, rotating lineup, their genre fusions of rock music with jazz and classical, their early political leanings and their legacy of huge soft-rock hits.
George Clinton (seen here in 1997) is the distinctive frontman of the Parliament and Funkadelic outfits, with his work shaping the decade’s legacy of funk and soul.
Already a founding father of ’60s rock as the member of the Yardbirds and Cream, Eric Clapton grew into his status as one of the genre’s all-time best guitarists over the course of his solo efforts in the ’70s, with “Layla” enduring as one of the decade’s defining songs.
The Eagles (Don Henley, left, Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey and Don Felder) were the very definition of easy-listening rock in the ’70s.
Mick Fleetwood, left Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham joined forces as Fleetwood Mac to make some of the ’70s most enduring rock music.
Already an established force in the ’60s, Aretha Franklin continued to build on her success as a virtuosic R&B artist in the ’70s.
Released in 1970, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” transformed the artist’s already-successful run in the ’60s into a career-making decade for the soul icon.
Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” album and his subsequent soul singles established him as one of the ’70s’ defining voices.
The Isley Brothers (Ernie, left, Ronald and Marvin) fused disco and rock to establish a legacy as among the decade’s smoothest operators.
The Jackson 5 kicked off their ’70s run with “I Want You Back” topping the charts in January 1970. The group (Tito, left, Marlon, Michael, Jackie and Jermaine) would continue to rule Motown for the next several years.
An established success thanks to the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson’s 1979 release “Off the Wall” would set him up for a legendary ’80s run.
After the Beatles disbanded in 1969-1970, John Lennon would emerge as one of the decade’s defining cultural figures as he pursued his storied solo career.
Lynyrd Skynyrd defined Southern rock in the ’70s before several of the band’s members, including frontman Ronnie Van Zant, died in a plane crash in 1977.
After the Beatles split, Paul McCartney would further his reputation as the band’s pop-music genius with his solo work and his efforts with Wings.
The Ramones (Johnny, left Joey, Marky and Dee Dee Ramone) helped define punk in the ’70s.
No conversation about ’70s rock is complete without Pink Floyd, among the genre’s all-time most inventive and influential groups who released an ambitious run of concept albums over the course of the decade.
Dolly Parton, seen here with Porter Wagoner in 1972, became a reigning monarch of country music in the ’70s.
After splitting with the Supremes in 1970, Diana Ross kicked off her successful solo run that year with the No. 1 hit “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” A decade of successes followed.
Bruce Springsteen, seen here in 1975, broke through in the ’70s with his “Born to Run” album and his live appearances with the E Street Band that preceded another decade of successes in the ’80s.
Donald Fagen, left and Walter Becker comprised Steely Dan, whose genre-fusing rock would establish them as two of the more sophisticated fathers of ’70s rock.
Stevie Wonder was a creative force of nature in the ’70s, including the release of one of his crowning musical achievements, 1976’s “Songs in the Key of Life.”
Neil Young, seen here in 1976, established himself as perhaps the ’70s’ most influential folk-music figure with his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young as well as his brilliant solo releases.
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This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: ‘I’m not a one-trick pony’: Carlos Santana discusses new music and return to the road
