Wednesday 11 March 2020

Santana in Athens 2009


This was going to be a very busy and long week. And then some. After having seen Tiesto the previous Saturday, I was going to see Santana on Wednesday, then fly to London on Saturday to see Oasis, then fly back to Athens again to see Paul Weller, for the second time that year, in Athens. And the weekend after that I would be departing for my tour of Italy with Bruce Springsteen!
It all started according to plan, so on Wednesday evening I went to the Athens Olympic Stadium to see Santana. They weren't expected to fill the stadium so the stage was placed horizontally, at its side, so that the tickets that were put up for sale were for the opposite side of the stadium, approximately one half of it. 

However, it turned out that the organizers had grossly underestimated the number of people who wanted to see Santana and as a result the concert was quickly sold out and people were begging for tickets. That reminded me of the time when I was working in Tampa, FL in the USA back in 2000. The only major band to play in Tampa during that summer were Santana and that was sold out as well.
Anyway, most of the old classics we expected were played (with the exception of Europa), but some people felt that they overdid it with the latin section and were bored. 






There was a nice surprise in store however when they paid tribute to the recently departed Michael Jackson with an instrumental version of "She's Out Of My Life"


All in all it was a great. latin-flavored, summer night!


SETLIST:
01. Soul Sacrifice
02. Into The Night
03. Life Is For Living
04. Incident At Neshabur
05. Maria Maria
06. Foo Foo
07. Love Of My Life
08. Batuka
09. No One To Depend On
10. She's Not There
11. Evil Ways
12. A Love Supreme
13. Hot Pants
14. She's Out Of My Life
15. Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
16. Oye Como Va
17. Smooth / Dame Tu Amor
Encore:
18. Corazón Espinado
19. Jingo


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