Carlos Santana performing at The Joint.
I went to see Carlos Santana at The Joint, inside the Hard Rock’s Casino, last Wednesday. This is a concert that took me only about forty years to get to. Seriously, forty years. Where have I been? Where has Santana been? I suppose the good part of all this is: I saw Carlos Santana perform!
Given that I’m, well, “romance challenged” lately, I was my friend Judy’s date. And her husband was both of our dates. Judy and her mechanic husband are great. How 1970s of us.
Judy, Jay and I met up and started walking to The Joint. I figured it was a good opportunity to get some free mechanic advice. The bloggermobile has been a little under the weather lately. Well, a lot under the weather. I wasn’t able to get the shifter into gear without about ten pumps of the clutch. This makes city driving a little difficult.
Jay is one of those snazzy auto mechanics, not what you’d call a grease-monkey at all. He works on some fancy, privately owned cars in Las Vegas. I figured he’d tell it to me straight. And he did.
“What do you drive,” he asked.
“An Eclipse,” I replied.
“An Eclipse?!” he laughed. “That’s a stripper car!”
“WHAT?”
“That’s the car all the strippers drive,” He laughed some more.
“I don’t want a stripper car!” I exclaimed.
Ya know, this might explain some things. Jay seemed to think everyone should know this bit of Las Vegas trivia, but I didn’t. Sometimes when I drive home late from The Vegas Strip, young guys pull up next to me and wave and flirt. Even older guys do. I always thought that was odd. I mean, I’m not at all young. So… guys pull up next to me in the dark and flirt because they think I’m a stripper? Good grief. I don’t want this car anymore.
He suggested I’m sporting a clutch fluid leak in the former bloggermobile, now strippermobile as it turns out. I was taking it in to a mechanic by my office the next morning and he told me what to expect.
While we got in our last cigarettes before the show, I was still trying to get my own date for that extra ticket I was holding. I saw a very tall Japanese guy standing next to us at the ash tray. He really was tall. He was probably 6’2” at least. So I asked him if he was alone. It is a good thing he didn’t speak but a couple of words of English, because that really didn’t come out right.
After a lot of hand motions and all, I gave up. He said yes to my question, but I’m thinking he hadn’t a clue as to what I was saying. He probably figured I was some old hooker or something trying to pick him up for one last hurrah.
I gave up on the getting a date idea. Judy didn’t though. As we walked to the box office, she started yelling in the crowd, “Single man over fifty! We got your ticket right here!” She yelled that a few times, but nobody came running, so I pocketed the ticket for memories sake.
Judy to the left, me to the right. The photo was overexposed just enough to hide our wrinkles and we like it that way.
Our seats were in this comfy suite upstairs. Of course, cameras were not allowed in the venue. Isn’t that always the way? So I took photos with my smartphone. We were in a small group of Tweeters. Not, tweekers, tweeters. We all follow each other on Twitter. We were there to enjoy the concert and everyone one of us was tweeting our followers who wanted to be there, but couldn’t.
Carlos Santana took the stage a little after 8pm and rocked out! What a musician. His music was the same as it always was, but it has evolved some over the past many decades. I think it is very Caribbean, but African, sort of jazz but not really, and rock but not really. There is nobody like Carlos Santana!
Supernatural Santana
The music was absolutely perfect and in time with some of the African dancers they had up on the huge screen. It was all in sync. So many bongos and so much drumming! Something that I never realized until I was watching the band play, Carlos Santana doesn’t sing. I didn’t know that. He had a couple of guys there who took turns singing. They were awesome, but it appeared they hadn’t sung with the musicians much before. That seemed a tiny bit off, but it totally didn’t matter.
Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits was an incredible ride through all the songs you remember and some new stuff too. They did “Evil Ways,” “Maria Maria,” “Black Magic Woman,” and “Oye Como Va.” Of course, there was also the obligatory drum solo, much to the delight of everyone seated in front of the stage. They jumped to their feet and gave a standing ovation.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Carlos Santana’s music. He seems to appeal to everyone. As a teen I would lie on the floor with my 8-Track stereo speakers, one on each ear and listen to his tapes over and over. I never lost my love for his songs and his sound.
After the show, which was two hours long, I ran out to smoke before jumping into my strippermobile to pump the clutch a whole lotta times to get home. Jay was right, by the way, it was a leak. Well, beyond leaking, it had gone dry. I had the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder replaced the next day. Now I have easy Las Vegas driving once again.
Supernatural Santana was a very colorful show.
Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits
This performance at The Joint is extremely loud, so you might want to invest in some ear plugs. Judy game me some to put in before the show started and it was still an outstanding experience. I hope it isn’t another many decades before I see him again.
Jan. 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15 and 16, 2011.
Additional performances:
April 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 29 and 30. May 1st, 2011.
Show Time: 8 p.m at The Joint, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
www.thejointlasvegas.com / www.hardrockhotel.com
Tickets: Tickets start at $51 and can be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at Ticketmaster.com or charge-by-phone at 800.745.3000. For groups of 20 or more, call the Hard Rock Box Office at 702.693.5233.
Website: www.supernaturalsantana.com