Carlos Santana is back where he likes to be in the fall: on a Las Vegas stage with the greatest hits and no set list to argue about. Santana’s residency, ‘An Intimate Evening with Santana: Greatest Hits Live,’ is in the middle of an eight-show September run at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay, with dates on September 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 26, and 27, all at 8 p.m., according to the band’s official site and JamBase. This is the 14th year of the residency at the venue, per both sources. Santana was born July 20, 1947, in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico, according to Wikipedia, which makes him 79.
The Vegas run caps a busy year. Santana spent the summer on the Oneness Tour with The Doobie Brothers, which opened June 13 in Tinley Park, Illinois, and ran through the end of August, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. The residency dates were added in May once the tour was set, and JamBase reports tickets start at $99.50 plus fees. For fans who came up on the first two albums, the show leans on the songs that made the name: ‘Black Magic Woman,’ ‘Oye Como Va,’ ‘Evil Ways,’ and ‘Smooth,’ the Rob Thomas collaboration that won Record of the Year in 2000 when ‘Supernatural’ took home nine Grammys, per Wikipedia.
Carlos Santana returns to Las Vegas
Santana’s story still starts on a farm in Bethel, New York, on August 16, 1969. His band was unknown outside San Francisco when it played Woodstock, and the eleven-minute ‘Soul Sacrifice’ turned them into stars before the first album was even in stores, according to Wikipedia. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted that original lineup in 1998. He married drummer Cindy Blackman in 2010 after proposing to her on stage, and she often plays drums in his band. Santana has had health scares on the road, including a collapse from heat exhaustion at a 2022 show, per Wikipedia, so a residency close to home makes sense at 79. It also happens to be the best seat in the house.