Santana: 9 July 2010 – Illinois

Legendary Grammy-award winning guitarist Carlos Santana performed recently at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater in Tinley Park, IL as part of the first leg of his Universal Tone Tour. Opening up the performance was Steve Winwood, whose career as a musician is still going at over 40 years now. Steve performed a variety of songs from his large catalog, and saved the most recognizable “Higher Love” and “Roll With It” for the end of his set.

Santana always manages to have a huge presence on stage, despite the fact that his touring band line-up currently numbers in at 10 members, which change fairly frequently. Santana made his way around the stage effortlessly shifting from one guitar solo to another. The biggest surprise of the evening came during the fourth song of the set, “Corazon Espinado”, during which drummer Cindy Blackman joined Santana on stage for a drum solo. After the song, Santana proposed to Cindy on stage, to which she accepted and with an on-stage kiss left the audience cheering for the couple.