Carlos Santana was back on the stage in the Bay Area over the weekend.
The legendary guitarist, who lived in the North Bay for decades before relocating to Las Vegas, was the special guest during two concerts (Sept. 13-14) from his wife Cindy Blackman Santana’s band at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco.
Fans who attended the second night saw Carlos Santana sit in with the extraordinary all-star band — featuring all-world jazz/rock drummer Blackman Santana, Cindy Blackman, saxophonist Ravi (son of John and Alice) Coltrane saxophone, guitarist Aurélien Budynek and keyboardist Patrice Rushen — during the final portion of its nearly two-hour set.
Carlos Santana would perform about 20 minutes with the group on Sunday. He also performed with the group on Saturday.
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These gigs follow a number of health issues for the 78-year-old Woodstock veteran. He canceled some shows in 2024 due to back issues, with other gigs being nixed in 2025 due to the guitarist being hospitalized due to dehydration.
These SFJAZZ Center dates were the first concert appearances for Santana since he performed a show with the Counting Crows at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View in August 2024. That show ended up drawing headlines due Santana’s snarky comment about the crowd’s lack of energy and enthusiasm.
“It feels like we are at the old people’s home,” Santana remarked about the less-than-rambunctious response from the Shoreline audience.
Santana recently returned from a concert tour of Europe and has dates scheduled for his lengthy ongoing residency at the House of Blues in Las Vegas into at least November.
