Santana jams with Carabao during Bangkok stopover

A crowd peppered with ponytails, bandanas and cowboy hats filled Impact Arena last night as Carlos Santana delivered a set of soulful tunes to the countrymen and women of Thailand.

Prior to Santana’s energetic performance, local legend Carabao took the stage. As he did so, a bevy of hands shot up, flashing the popular Carabao sign – a thumb and pinky outstretched to resemble buffalo horns. These slowly turned to revolutionary fists, which struck the air along with the beat as the band played its popular “songs for life.”

Santana opened with an instrumental intro that explored different musical genres from around the world before switching gears to focus on his signature, Latin-influenced guitar solos. After Santana had played a few lesser-known songs, the crowd started getting up and dancing to the popular “Maria Maria.”

To keep the energy up, Santana called Carabao onstage for a duel performance of the song “Exodus,” by reggae legend Bob Marley. Carlos and Carabao’s guitarist performed a series of call-and-response guitar solos that provoked tremendous applause from the crowd. There were moments when a certain disconnect between the two popular singers became apparent, especially when Santana urged Carabao to take the microphone and sing a verse of “Exodus,” to which the latter replied, “I don’t know what to sing!”

After that bass-driven, reggae collaboration, Santana unleashed another crowd pleaser: a sultry musician named Cindy Blackman. During the song “Corazon Espinado”, Blackman took to the drums and performed a 10-minute solo.

Santana closed with his hit single “Smooth” before returning once more to perform “Soul Sacrifice” – a tune that had originally gained popularity at Woodstock in 1969.

The Singha-sponsored event drew an older crowd, with equal proportions of Thais and foreigners. It was clear that the foreigners in the crowd were well acquainted with Carabao. Many demonstrated their enthusiasm by belting out Thai country tunes with gusto.

As with other events put on by BEC-TERO, Santana’s show in Bangkok was well organized. Surprisingly, Carabao took the stage on time, at 8:30pm sharp, which allowed plenty of time for Santana’s two-hour set.

True to their respective styles, both bands kept the lighting and effects very simple and understated. Santana accompanied his set with a video compilation of his past concerts, as well as short clips of Latin women grooving and African tribesmen dancing to the bongo. He often paused to engage the crowd with some interesting banter.

While introducing the song “Batuka,” he said, “We are not plastic, we a not synthetic, we’re not pathetic – we are for real! For real, real. And real people always feel gooooood. Do you feel good? Well you’re gonna feel better!”

And the crowd went wild.



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