If you like the Latin beats of Santana you really should see Oye Santana live

Oye Santana at Arlington Arts, Snelsmore on Friday, March 17. Review by BRIAN HARRINGTON

SANTANA arguably did more to bring Latin rhythms to a wider audience than anyone else, particularly via their massively successful appearance at the Woodstock festival in August 1969.

From the moment Oye Santana stepped onstage with a dramatically lit set-piece and struck-up the opening bars of Jingo they lived up to their billing as the best Santana tribute in the world and had the near capacity audience eating from the palms of their hands.

They are musically superb, but they hold the visual attention too. Charismatic vocalist Hector Gomez never stops moving. Their enthusiasm and passion is obvious.

This tour was originally intended as a 10th anniversary celebration, but the pandemic led to cancellations and rescheduling so, as lead guitarist Milan Webb quipped, it has become more of an 11th anniversary. Oye Santana will be heading next to Portugal, a mark of their international reputation.

The first set featured a couple of unusual, but excellent choices, it was great to hear Love Of My Life and Hope You’re Feeling Better, alongside classic tracks like Africa Bamba and Guajira, but the biggest surprise was perhaps a stunning rendition of the George Harrison track While My Guitar Gently Weeps, which Santana covered in 2010.

The second set was a real celebration, opening with Samba Pa Ti and morphing in to a clever blend of Black Magic Woman and Gypsy Queen.

Evil Ways, Santana’s second single from 1969, was phenomenal, as were Soul Sacrifice and Oye Como Va.

The much-demanded encore track was predictably She’s Not There, the song written by Rod Argent with British band The Zombies, but covered by Santana back in 1977.

If you like the Latin beats of Santana you really should see Oye Santana live. They are quite simply brilliant and capture all the exuberance and joy of Latin America.

It was definitely carnival time at Arlington tonight.