Carlos Santana and his band performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif. on June 21, 2022. Derek Tobias/STAFF.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — After a long residency in Las Vegas that was interrupted by both the pandemic and a tour for his new album, Blessings and Miracles, Carlos Santana and tourmates Earth, Wind and Fire descended onto the stage at Shoreline Amphitheatre on Tuesday, making good on a tour that was originally slated to commence in 2020.  

The day was a hot one. Like seven inches from the midday sun. More specifically, the mercury hit triple digits throughout the area, including the South Bay.

As the sunlight finally faded away, Santana’s band took the stage and led by his wife, Cindy Santana, on drums started pumping up the rhythm while Carlos Santana stood waiting off stage. Despite it still being nearly 90 degrees at the time, he was dressed in a hoodie picturing Bob Marley, his iconic fedora and his favorite golden guitar. As the congas kicked in, Santana attacked the opening riff of “Soul Sacrifice.”

Keeping the energy up and fans out of their seats, Santana effortlessly cruised through a cover of Babatunde Olatunji’s “Jin-go-lo-ba,” taking time in between his shredding to help out on maracas, while Ray Greene took control on vocals. After upping the pace with fan favorite “Evil Ways” and blending it into “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Coma Va,” Santana gave the band a break and slowed things down a bit for “Samba pa ti.” The lights turned a cool blue and one spotlit Santana, he proceeded to waltz around the stage as his guitar echoed through the stands.

Santana performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif. on June 21, 2022.

Santana and band jumped right into the seldom-played songs like “Life is for Living” and “The Game of Love.” Nearing the halfway point of the set, he explained how he approached Chris Stapleton about working together on “Joy.”

Carlos Santana rang up his manager and asked, “We want to do something with Chris, can you help us out?” When the manager asked what kind of music the bandleader wanted to make, he replied, “We want to play mystical medicine music to heal people from fear.” “We are so bored with fear, and joy is the opposite of fear,” Santana repeated one of his signature Santana-isms.

As the night wore on, Santana and his band would play another new song (with Rob Thomas), “Move,” which was sung expertly by Andy Vargas, as well as working in a rap segment at the end of “Maria Maria,” right before ending with “Foo Foo” and stepping away for a 10-second encore break.

Santana performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif. on June 21, 2022.

Santana peppered the encore set with more fan favorites like “Smooth” and “Toussaint L’Ouverture,” as well as unique covers of “Roadhouse Blues,” “Hang ‘em High” and a rendition of “Love, Peace and Happiness,” which begs the question: When is Santana going to do a Power of Peace tour with the Isley Brothers?

Although Earth, Wind and Fire were technically the openers, this might as well have been a co-headlining tour. EWF came blazing out of the gate, dressed to the nines in black and silver sequin outfits. Led by founding member Philip Bailey, EWF showcased their unique brand of Big Band soul music.

As the first riff from “Shining Star” came out of the speakers and the horn section rang true, Earth, Wind and Fire had the whole auditorium grooving. After rolling through “Mighty Mighty” and “Saturday Night,” EWF played the lesser-known “On Your Face.”

“How many true EWF fans do we have in the crowd tonight?” Bailey asked. “True EWF fans don’t mind hearing songs that weren’t top-10, because they were top-10 in their heart.”

For 90 minutes, Earth, Wind and Fire showed off their musical prowess in the form of killer shredding by guitarist Maurice O’Connor, sax solos by Gary Bias and the percussion passion and tambourine tossing skills of David Whitworth. Toward the middle of the set, Bailey addressed the crowd again before “Keep Your Head to the Sky,” urging everyone to hold up their phone lights up.

“The last couple years have been really rough. And we’re not through it all yet,” he said. “Every day that passes, we are one day closer to ending this all. Light up your phones. These lights will represent all the loved ones we lost during this pandemic for whatever reason, and for world peace.”

Earth, Wind and Fire closed out their set with a powerful combination of “Boogie Wonderland,” “Let’s Groove,”  “September” and “In The Stone,” which got many out of their seats and groove with the band.

Follow photographer Derek Tobias at Instagram.com/simmonstobias.