Carlos Santana seeks a 'higher realm' for summer tour, Milwaukee show, with Earth, Wind & Fire
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Editor's Note: After this story was published, Carlos Santana passed out during a show near Detroit on July 5 due to "heat exhaustion and dehydration." On July 8, Santana postponed its shows scheduled for July 8 to 16 so Carlos Santana "gets rest to recuperate fully," on advice of his doctor. That includes a Milwaukee show at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater that had been scheduled for July 10.
To Carlos Santana, playing a concert these days means more than just another gig.
Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic robbed the world of live music, Santana, 74, told the Journal Sentinel that performing now is "a blessing and an opportunity to go even deeper into our heart and higher in our mind."
The band that bears his name is experiencing those blessings now on its Miraculous Supernatural 2022 tour, a run with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Earth, Wind & Fire that stops at Milwaukee's American Family Insurance Amphitheater.
Because of the pandemic, the show is happening two years later than initially planned. It will be Santana's first Milwaukee concert in eight years.
"When you play music, people on a molecular level, they are reminded that you are not a wretched sinner," Santana said. "You are like a beam of light. Everyone is on this planet. … You are here to bring hope and courage. You are not here to walk around like a victim with a chip on his shoulder."
It sure hasn't felt like there's been a lot of hope and courage during these past few years. But performing live, Santana, at their best, can conjure a sort of euphoric utopia.
At that last Milwaukee show eight years ago at the Riverside Theater, I watched two complete strangers bond over the music and dance together, and another fan make the sign of the cross and passionately sing as the band took him to a higher plain for "Maria Maria." A super fan next to me was so thrilled with the show he repeatedly slugged me in the shoulder while Carlos Santana, through dazzling guitar mastery, led an intoxicating sonic brew of blues, psychedelic rock and Latin music — all while cooly smacking gum.
The show ended up on my list of top concerts for 2014, and Earth, Wind & Fire has shown it's equally infectious at its Milwaukee shows.
The two bands sharing a bill together should be an exuberant, healing affair at a time people desperately need it, Santana suggested.
"Suffering ends when you make a conscious choice to focus mainly on the highest good of all people, when you say to yourself as I open my eyes and before my feet touch the ground, to concentrate on gratitude, thankfulness and deep appreciation," Santana said. "Those three things are your armor to protect yourself from yourself.
"Nobody can mess with you more than your own ego, your own negative voice. You have to learn how to put your ego in its place."
Beyond seeking personal enlightenment, Santana is still driven by artistic improvement. With induction in the Rock Hall, 10 Grammys, 3 Latin Grammys and ranking No. 20 on Rolling Stone's greatest guitarists of all time list, Santana has earned the right to retire or to merely milk his catalog on the road.
But Santana still makes bold albums, including 2019's widely praised "Africa Speaks," with producer Rick Rubin, which honored musical styles that originated from the continent. Last fall, the band released its 26th album, "Blessings and Miracles," boasting guests including Chris Stapleton, Metallica's Kirk Hammett and the late Chick Corea.
"If you want to stay young and vibrant, you hang around with the unknown and unpredictability," Santana said, adding that the setlist in Milwaukee will visit music from "yesterday, today and tomorrow."
"We transform the listener to a place where there is no conflict between you and your next breath," Santana said. "If you want to be entertained, go to the circus and watch a bear ride a motorcycle or something. If you want to move to a higher realm ... you come to see Earth, Wind and Fire and Santana.
"If anything, we have come out of this pandemic more luminous, more radiant, more resplendent."
RELATED: These are all the arena, amphitheater and stadium concerts happening in Milwaukee in 2022
If you go
Who: Santana with Earth, Wind & Fire
When: TBD. Originally scheduled for July 10, a new date has yet to be announced.
Where: American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Maier Festival Park, 200 N. Harbor Drive
How much?: $42.57 to $422.48 at the box office and amfamamp.com.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Santana seeks 'higher realm' in Milwaukee with Earth, Wind & Fire
