Santana O2 Arena London 22-06-08

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   The O2 Arena, built within the "white elephant" originally known as the Millennium Dome, is currently being vaunted as the best concert arena in the world, and having visited the place last Sunday evening I would dispute this claim - the Albert Hall is still the best to my knowledge,  there are still many problems I found with regard to the actual hall acoustics and peripheral arrangements, which I won't go into too deeply yet! 

As expected Carlos and his band, his "family",  were amazing - the huge stage suited him, as he was able to spread his vast drums, singers, brass players and keyboards out to his obvious satisfaction, and allowing him to roam the whole stage with ease, even stepping onto a speaker cabinet at one point! 

To my great joy much of his set covered his early material, the sound was LOUD - I arrived late and walked into this huge wall of sound, the band were in full tilt, and following a typically moody solo Carlos delivered his usual spiritual peace and love sermon ( he's such a lovely guy! ), the set included songs mostly from the first two albums, and a few songs from "Supernatural" - he dedicated the next song, "Maria Maria" to the ladies in the audience, much to their delight,  saying " god has given you many things you can share with us..."   - steady on Carlos, they love ya! 

I was very luck seatwise,  sitting above and to the left of the stage fairly high up, I would recommend field glasses for future visits, as the screens within the auditorium were so small as to be practically useless, the backstage projection was obscured by lighting rigs, and the echoes and clicks resounding around the arena became irritating, the bass fighting to find a way out. The seats were far too small, the aisles too steep and narrow - the place was so hot and airless I was constantly interrupted by people going backwards and forwards  to the bar and, subsequently, to the toilets - I was planning on buying a drink at the end of the gig, but I was disappointed to find the bars and stalls all closed up for the night...

The big feature of the whole show, besides Carlos' wonderfully fluid playing of course, were the drums which dominated the stage - a full drum kit in the centre flanked by timbales, congas, tom toms, bongos played by one drummer and two percussionists, these getting most of my attention and working very closely with Carlos' guitar, flanked by these unfortunately the conventional drum kit seemed  rather ordinary, and this was compounded for me by a rather tedious "stadium" style solo. 

The old songs, so they say, are the best - and it is here where the band really got going once the rap stuff and swinging sisters had been and gone - "Se A Cabo", "Black Magic Woman", interspersed with some amazing playing from Carlos - soaring notes, a few Hendrix riffs,  also highlighting solos from his various players and percussionists, "Smooth" a huge highlight, the show ending with the amazing "Soul Sacrifice".

An amazing show, I would be very keen to see Santana again (but not there) - I spilled out into the night with bruised elbows, those hot Latin beats ringing in my ears, gasping for a drink when I bumped into a mate who offered me a lift home - but an hour later due to traffic "arrangements" we were still sitting in the car park, and the last train had gone....

Edited by mystic fred - June 25 2008 at 06:50

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mystic fred Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: March 13 2006 Location: Londinium Status: Offline Points: 4252	Topic: Santana O2 Arena London 22-06-08 Posted: June 25 2008 at 02:26
	The O2 Arena, built within the "white elephant" originally known as the Millennium Dome, is currently being vaunted as the best concert arena in the world, and having visited the place last Sunday evening I would dispute this claim - the Albert Hall is still the best to my knowledge, there are still many problems I found with regard to the actual hall acoustics and peripheral arrangements, which I won't go into too deeply yet! As expected Carlos and his band, his "family", were amazing - the huge stage suited him, as he was able to spread his vast drums, singers, brass players and keyboards out to his obvious satisfaction, and allowing him to roam the whole stage with ease, even stepping onto a speaker cabinet at one point! To my great joy much of his set covered his early material, the sound was LOUD - I arrived late and walked into this huge wall of sound, the band were in full tilt, and following a typically moody solo Carlos delivered his usual spiritual peace and love sermon ( he's such a lovely guy! ), the set included songs mostly from the first two albums, and a few songs from "Supernatural" - he dedicated the next song, "Maria Maria" to the ladies in the audience, much to their delight, saying " god has given you many things you can share with us..." - steady on Carlos, they love ya! I was very luck seatwise, sitting above and to the left of the stage fairly high up, I would recommend field glasses for future visits, as the screens within the auditorium were so small as to be practically useless, the backstage projection was obscured by lighting rigs, and the echoes and clicks resounding around the arena became irritating, the bass fighting to find a way out. The seats were far too small, the aisles too steep and narrow - the place was so hot and airless I was constantly interrupted by people going backwards and forwards to the bar and, subsequently, to the toilets - I was planning on buying a drink at the end of the gig, but I was disappointed to find the bars and stalls all closed up for the night... The big feature of the whole show, besides Carlos' wonderfully fluid playing of course, were the drums which dominated the stage - a full drum kit in the centre flanked by timbales, congas, tom toms, bongos played by one drummer and two percussionists, these getting most of my attention and working very closely with Carlos' guitar, flanked by these unfortunately the conventional drum kit seemed rather ordinary, and this was compounded for me by a rather tedious "stadium" style solo. The old songs, so they say, are the best - and it is here where the band really got going once the rap stuff and swinging sisters had been and gone - "Se A Cabo", "Black Magic Woman", interspersed with some amazing playing from Carlos - soaring notes, a few Hendrix riffs, also highlighting solos from his various players and percussionists, "Smooth" a huge highlight, the show ending with the amazing "Soul Sacrifice". An amazing show, I would be very keen to see Santana again (but not there) - I spilled out into the night with bruised elbows, those hot Latin beats ringing in my ears, gasping for a drink when I bumped into a mate who offered me a lift home - but an hour later due to traffic "arrangements" we were still sitting in the car park, and the last train had gone.... Edited by mystic fred - June 25 2008 at 06:50
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chopper Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 13 2005 Location: Essex, UK Status: Offline Points: 20030	Posted: June 25 2008 at 05:52
	Nice review Steve. I saw Santana many years ago in France and they do put on a good show. Your comments about the O2 reinforce my opinion of big venues - I'm going to stick to small ones from now on. I'm not sure that the RAH is much better either.