Toyota Center hosted the Santana and Counting Crows’ “Oneness Tour” Saturday,
August 17, packing seats from the floor to the nosebleeds for a unique celebration of
iconic rock and roll musicians.
Counting Crows opened Saturday night with performances of “Hard Candy,” “St.
Robinson In His Cadillac Dream” and “Mr. Jones” with lead Adam Duritz providing
vocals while sitting on the stage speakers while David Immerglück transitioned between
shredding the electric guitar and strumming the mandolin.
Performances of “Color Blind,” “Omaha” and “Highlife” were up next with some
accordion work from Charlie Gillingham, electric guitar riffs from Dan Vickrey, and heavy
bass slaps from Millard Powers as the band logo transitioned into different fonts from
previous albums.
The Californian Rock band then transitioned to some slower yet mighty tunes with
“Catapult,” “Black And Blue” and “Round Here” as Duritz walked like a trapeze artist
across the speakers. David Bryson took to his acoustic guitar as the band began
harmonizing for “Rain King,” receiving a healthy amount of call and response from the
audience.
The lights of the Toyota Center projected spiral waves across the crowd as
patches of people began to stand and sing along.
The lights went out and then came back to the lead playing the piano for a cover of
Taylor Swift’s “the 1,” then swiftly transitioned into “A Long December” with support from
Gillingham and Vickrey.
Counting Crow’s set closed with “Hanginaround” and “Holiday In Spain,” featuring a
surprise appearance from Karl Perazzo of Santana playing bongos alongside Ben Mize
on drums.
The crowd roared as Druitz banged a tambourine on his chest face-to-face
with bass player Millard Powers. Perazzo’s beats played in time with Mize’s drumming
as he threw a drumstick in the air and caught it. The band played their final notes in
synch, leaving the audience with a promise that Santana would blow their minds
Santana’s set opened with old Woodstock footage as the band made their way to their
instruments for back-to-back performances of “Soul Sacrifice,” “Jingo” and “Evil Ways.”
Andy Vargas and Ray Greene provided vocals and percussion, with Greene at the front
displaying his trombone skills.
Vargas and Greene continued their vocal performances alongside Santana with “Black
Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen,” “Oye Como Va” and “Everybody’s Everything.”
The venue roared with cheers as the crowd started to get on their feet. Benny Rietfeld then
began a psychedelic bass solo accompanied by Cindy Blackman’s drums as they
played back and forth; their performance was displayed on the video board above them with
an infinite delay as they went back and forth until ending on a harmonious crescendo.
Santana then took to the microphone to express his amazement at the talent on display,
and encouraged the audience to join him for a “Collective Graduation” before going solo
for a sensational performance of “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile).” Whistles and
cheers echoed as rainbow lights fazed through the fog and washed their beams across the
crowd. The whole band then came together for “The Game of Love” and “She’s Not
There” as the whole stadium sang along.
The upbeat tracks kept coming with “Hope You’re Feeling Better” and “(Da Le) Yaleo,”
followed by a slower performance of “Put Your Lights On” by Tommy Anthony and
Santana.
As Anthony sang the audience followed the lyrics and produced thousands of
pin-point lights across the venue waving to and fro. After the audience gave their
cheers, Santana announced that there were two birthdays to celebrate, Tommy Anthony
and crew member Jason. Santana then played a rendition of the classic birthday song
while Greene and Vargas sang along.
After the festivities, they went right back into performing with “Corazon Espinado,” to
which everyone in the room started dancing to the beat. Santana thanked everyone for
coming and wished the audience good health and wealth before strumming the opening
notes to “Maria Maria,” receiving a roar from the audience ready to hear about the girl
from Spanish Harlem.
“Foo Foo” and “Are You Ready” were up next, letting the keyboard talents of David K.
Mathews shines and the Percussion skills of Paoli Mejias flourish. Cindy Blackman then
led the transition into her almost 5-minute drum solo that had the audience hollering
for more.
Santana compared solo work to an Olympic athlete as he then introduced each band
member and recalled the story of the band’s conception with a guest appearance from
Michael Carabello. After a round of applause for his arrival Santana said farewell to
Houston with a performance of “Smooth.”
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