The 1969 Woodstock Festival was a three-day pop and rock concert that will forever be remembered in human cultural history as one of the biggest events of the 20th century.
The original idea behind Woodstock was to collect enough money to build a recording studio for young musicians at Woodstock, New York. Woodstock stage was graced by some legendary rock musicians, including The Who, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.
Among those rock musicians was Carlos Santana.
Santana’s live performance is the personification of the out-of-this-world Woodstock atmosphere.
As this video shows, Santana’s performance was a definite highlight!
The band’s performance of “Soul Sacrifice” took place on Saturday, the second day of Woodstock. Santana recalls those times as a special event with a spiritual vibe that celebrated the love for life. The band members were young, enthusiastic and ready to become part of musical history. Santana was only 22 years old at the time, and he played the guitar as if it were his last time. The band members are in their special space, and they enjoy every note they play! It’s obvious that the audience loves the sound.
If there was any sacrifice, it must have been for the cause of an amazing music performance!
We can’t imagine how perfect it was to be on that stage and hear the way the music sounded bouncing up against the field of people.
It’s interesting that the Santana crew remembers being on a mescaline trip during the six-minute instrumental piece.
Santana later said that he hallucinated a lot and saw a giant snake instead of his guitar. He prayed to stay in tune and not to blow the opportunity they’ve been given—but somehow, it all worked out! They went from a band no one knew about to be on a global demand after Woodstock. Every band member was perfectly into it and it transcended to everyone present. The whole place was blasting with an incredible sound. That’s the kind of soul sacrifice we can love and appreciate.
The band stole the show with a very strong performance.
Santana hadn’t even cut a record yet and they brought on an unbelievable performance.
Many agree that this is one of the greatest live performances ever, and Woodstock was a big break for the band. That’s one of the beautiful things about Woodstock: it made the careers of a lot of bands we know and love today.
The band was in tune, the whole song was perfectly played and they got lost in their performance, gave it everything they had. That’s what makes a difference.
Santana went on to record 25 albums and sell an estimated 100 million copies worldwide.
The video of Santana’s performance at Woodstock got 45 million views, and people filled the comments section with a lot of love, admiration, and nostalgia.
The band even won six Grammy awards in one night. They broke their deal of records and had enormous success in the music industry. The line-up of Santana, Rolie, Carabello, Shrieve, Brown, and Arias was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Santana signed with Concord Records in 2018 and their latest work appeared in 2019. Their latest album is called “Africa Speaks,” and is described to be a “unique fusion of rock, Latin and jazz.” We’re excited to hear the new songs!
Check out the full performance in the link below:
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