Doobie Brothers and Santana
18th April 2017
Vector Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Megs Moss.
It may be a Tuesday night in the city of Auckland, but many of the patrons are still riding high from the good vibes of a long weekend and are ready to let loose. Once again Vector (or is it Spark!?) sees another gigantic double header in the form of The Doobie Brothers and the guitar god himself, Carlos Santana.
First up for the night are the incomparable The Doobie Brothers. Arriving on stage to a simple set up (there really is some elegance in allowing the music to speak for itself) the solid front line of the four guitarists stepped forward and without a word jumped straight into their opening song ’Jesus is Just Alright’. The sheer energy immediately infected the audience, causing pockets of the crowd to rise to their feet. The Doobie Brothers have such a phenomenal back catalogue of music that choosing a set list for each show must be rather a headache. Originally formed in 1969, the band has seen a raft of line-up changes over the years with different vocalists taking the band down veritable changes in the style of music. Tonight sees two of the founding members – Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons team up with some other rather familiar faces to deliver some good old rock music seasoned with a dash of the blues and a pinch of psychedelic for good measure.
Straight into the second track of the night ‘Rockin down the Highway’ and we see the first of keyboardist Bill Payne – yes THE Bill Payne, founding member of another infamous American rock band Little Feat. His fingers dance along the keys with little effort, yet they fill the space around him with ribbons of sound. He is considered by many (including Elton John) to be one of the finest American piano rock artists today and it is easy to see why. Johnston steps forward and addresses the audience with a drawling accent; “It’s great to back in Auckland again. Y’all come down to have some fun?” The exuberant cheering causing Johnston to grin from ear to ear; in fact the more the crowd got into the music the more animated Johnston became throughout the evening.
Vocally Johnston absolutely shines, however Simmons and John Cowan on bass are certainly not to be written off; in fact having the vocal duties shared between the three adds a whole new element to the show. But it is during ‘Eyes of Silver’ that another member of the band steps forward and steals the limelight. Marc Russo has to be one of the best saxophone players to have ever graced the walls of Vector Arena. His funky solo had the entire front row on its feet, his effortless playing a sight to behold. Making up the rest of the band is Ed Toth on drums and multi-instrumentalist John McFee who not only provides some wondrous violin work but a blistering harmonica solo on one of the biggest hits of the night, that of ‘Long Train Running’ which had the entire arena sing the chorus in unison.
‘Clear as The Driven Snow’ as Johnston introduced it was a journey down the psychedelic highway. Beginning with light guitar work, the sound builds upon itself, riding waves of multi-coloured lights that break and wash over the audience. The Doobie Brothers set positively flew by and before we knew it we had sadly arrived at the end. ‘China Grove’ had everyone on their feet, even the hardiest of concert goers unable to resist the urge to have a wee shuffle. A two song encore saw the band return and deliver their ultimate set closer ‘Listen to The Music’, the familiar opening guitar riff eliciting cheers from the fans as everyone joined in on the chorus. Absolute perfection!
After the usual mad dash for the bathrooms and drinks line, the audience settled back in and waited for the man himself to arrive. The stage had been rearranged and an impressive drum kit took centre, flanked by a large set of congas on the right and a smaller drum kit to the left. A backdrop of a large centre screen with smaller ‘strip’ side screens would later provide some wonderful visual images as well as allowing the people at the back of the arena close ups of the finger work of the man himself.
And speaking of that man; from the shadows of the side stage Carlos Santana stepped forward wearing a pristine white suit and his trademark fedora hat. His signature cherry red PRS guitar slung across his him. Images from Santana playing at Woodstock are playing on the big screen, and frankly the man doesn’t look that much older than the film version of himself! Born in Mexico in 1947, Carlos Santana would learn to play the violin at age five and the guitar at eight thanks to his mariachi musician father. After later moving to San Francisco to join his family he was accepted into college but chose not to attend, instead working as a dishwasher and busker while trying to make his break as a professional musician. Following the formation of the ‘Santana Blues Band’ (they quickly adopted the name Santana for short) and their epic performance at Woodstock in 1969 they were signed to Columbia records and the rest as they say is history.
Within seconds of the band beginning to play, Vector is transformed into a Spanish fiesta; the combination of the heavy percussion backline and the Spanish vocals of both Ray Greene and Andy Vargas intertwining with the keyboard playing of David K. Mathews. Santana made guitar playing look like one of the simplest tasks in the world. Besides removing his jacket a few songs in, the man barely broke a sweat. He is the absolute master of incorporating recognisable riffs into his own Spanish fusion – within the first few songs we hear snippets of The Doors and the haunting lines from The Beatles ‘While my guitar gently weeps’.
While the majority of Santana’s set is instrumental it is cleverly interspersed with some of his classics which allow his vocalists Greene and Vargas to shine and once again get the audience ramped up. Vargas has been with Santana since the year 2000 and is a wonderful addition to the line-up. With his impressive vocal range he can not only do justice to some of the more well-known duets originally featuring famous artists such as Rob Thomas, but he absolutely brings the house down with his native Spanish. Santana addresses the audience a few songs into the set, thanking everyone for being there and telling us how much both him and his band enjoy New Zealand. “It’s good to get away from all the bullshit in America right now” – the audience cheers – “Yeah you’re lucky you don’t have Donald Duck for a President”
In particular Santana makes special mention of the Maori people of New Zealand, stating that he admires their spirituality and promising that he has a surprise for them later in the set. There is a slight lull in energy after this as Santana takes us through some of the quieter songs; however we are soon brought back up with the cover of Babatunde Olatunji’s ‘Jingo’ (Paoli Mejias on the congas transforming into a beast with flailing arms) followed close behind with the Willie Bobo song ‘Evil Ways’ which sees even Santana himself wiggle his hips around the stage. The only blemish on what was a perfect night of music came during their cover of ‘Love Supreme’ when Santana decided to address the audience and speak of how we are all just “beams of light from the heart of God”, and how if we were not then we were nothing but “wretched sinners”. While many of the fans were obviously in agreement there was also a noticeable rumbling through the audience. Santana picked up on this and noted that many would not agree with what he was saying but that he stood by his musings. While everyone loves a good peace and harmony message – most do not want to feel that they are being preached to.
The surprise that had been referred to earlier came in the form of the bands cover of the famous Enya song ‘Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)’ featuring some beautiful black and white footage of early Maori Hakas and Waka Sailing, a charming tribute to the people of New Zealand. Heading into the end of just over a two hour set we are regaled with an outstanding drum solo from Cindy Blackman (wife of Santana), who throughout the set has been an absolute powerhouse; the admiration for his wife evident on Santana’s face. An encore of the popular hit ‘Smooth’ once again featuring Vargas on vocals and we are serenaded off into the night with The Chambers Brothers cover of ‘Love, Peace and Happiness’ sung by Greene whose gospel overtones inject the song with love and vitality.
An overall deeply satisfying night of music.
Doobie Brothers:
Santana:
Were you there at Vector Arena for this magnificent double header? Or have you seen Doobie Brothers or Santana live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Doobie Brothers Setlist:
- Jesus Is Just Alright [Art Reynolds – Cover]
- Rockin’ Down The Highway
- Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) [Kim Weston – Cover]
- Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
- Spirit
- Sweet Maxine
- Eyes Of Silver
- Clear As The Driven Snow
- Takin It To The Streets
- The Doctor
- Black Water
- Long Train Running
- China Grove
- Without You [encore]
- Listen To The Music [encore]
Santana Setlist:
- Soul Sacrifice
- Are You Ready People
- Toussaint L’Overture
- Maria Maria
- Foo Foo
- Corazon Espinado
- Incident At Neshabur / Europa
- Jingo (Babatunde Olatunji – Cover)
- Evil Ways (Willie Bobo – Cover)
- A Love Supreme (John Coltrane – Cover)
- Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) (Enya – Cover)
- Rain
- Kate
- La Jean
- Right On
- Umi Says
- Black Magic Woman
- Gypsy Queen
- Oye Como Va (Tito Puente – Cover)
- O Paradiso [encore]
- Smooth [encore]
- Love, Peace and Happiness (The Chambers Brothers – Cover) [encore]
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