Carlos Santana Cancels 6 Concerts As He Continues to Recover
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Carlos Santana (Photo ©Jay Blakesberg; used with permission)
Carlos Santana has postponed more tour dates in order to “recuperate fully” from the serious heat exhaustion and dehydration that he suffered while on stage on July 5, 2022, during a concert performance at an outdoor amphitheater in a Detroit, Mich., suburb. The 74-year-old guitar legend was on the Pine Knob Music Theatre stage in Clarkston when he suddenly stopped playing. A Detroit News staffer was among the attendees, tweeting that Santana had “passed out.” In a fan video, shot moments after he collapsed, audience members could be heard shouting, “get him some cold water,” before EMT staff arrived.
Other first-hand reports showed Santana waving to the audience as he was taken from the stage on a stretcher. (See it below.)
The Santana concerts through July 16 have been postponed. Live Nation will announce the rescheduled dates. “Carlos is doing well and is anxious to be back on stage soon. He just needs rest,” said his manager, Michael Vrionis, in the July 8 announcement. “Santana profoundly regrets these postponements of his upcoming performances; but his health is our number one concern. He is looking forward to seeing all of his fans very soon.”
Several hours after the incident on July 5, a note, presumably from Santana himself, was posted on his Facebook page.
“to one and all
thank you for your precious prayers
Cindy and I we are good just taking it easy
forgot to eat and drink water
so i dehydrated and passed out
blessings and miracles to you all.”
Watch a fan video taken moments of Santana collapsed
The concert was part of a major summer tour with Earth, Wind & Fire that had been delayed for two years due to the pandemic.
Santana was taken to the emergency department at McLaren Clarkston for observation.
On July 6, Santana’s wife Cindy Blackman Santana wrote, “Carlos & I thank you so much for your prayers, love, care & concern for him! Please know that he’s resting and doing very well! He was diagnosed with heat exhaustion & dehydration… it was 100 degrees on stage and 114 under the lights so that coupled with not enough water is what caused the issue. He’ll be as good as new soon!”
The episode follows a prior significant health scare for Santana. He returned to the concert stage earlier this year following what was initially described as an “unscheduled heart procedure” in late November 2021. In January, the groundbreaking guitarist, who expanded rock music with Latin, jazz and Afro-Cuban styles with such songs as “Evil Ways,” “Soul Sacrifice,” “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman,” resumed his residency at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.
Carlos Santana waved to clapping fans as he was helped off the stage pic.twitter.com/YA55N4QCZe
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 6, 2022
On Dec. 1, the star released a video to acknowledge rumors that had been appearing on social media in the previous few days to announce that he had cancelled all of his December 2021 dates.
Santana, who turns 75 on July 20, had performed Monday night from Las Vegas for a CNN special, The Fourth in America.
On Nov. 27, Santana’s wife, Cindy, took him to the hospital. “It was 2:30 in the morning,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in an interview that appeared on Jan. 25. “And I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. So I said to Cindy, ‘I think we need to go to a hospital, something doesn’t feel right.’ I hardly finished saying it, and we were in the car on the way to the hospital.”
It turns out that he had severely blocked arteries. “Sure enough, we caught it just in time. I think it was 94 percent blockage in one artery.” Two others were partially blocked.
Choosing his words carefully in the Dec. 1 video message, Santana said, “I had this thing happening in my chest. When we went there, we found out that we needed to take care of it. So, I am. I’m going to be taking time out for a little bit to make sure that I replenish and I rest, and catch up with my health so that when I play for you, I play like I’m used to. Thank you for your caring.”
His most recent album, Blessings and Miracles, was released on Oct. 15, and featured a collaboration with Steve Winwood, as well as a reunion with Rob Thomas who sang on the 1999 Santana smash, “Smooth.”
Related: Our Album Rewind of 1970’s Abraxas
Santana’s Supernatural album is his most successful commercially. The 1999 release included the hit “Smooth” (with vocals by Rob Thomas), which spent 12 weeks on top of the U.S. pop singles chart. The follow-up, “Maria Maria,” also reached #1, the band’s only two chart-toppers of their lengthy career. Their success made Supernatural a runaway smash with worldwide sales of a reported 30 million copies, earning eight Grammy Awards in the process, including the prestigious Album of the Year.
Santana’s 2022 tour with Earth, Wind & Fire was originally planned for 2020 prior to the pandemic. The next concert is scheduled for Aug. 4 in Burgettstown, Penn. Tickets for the tour are available here and here.
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Watch Santana perform on June 21, 2022
Related: Our interview with Carlos Santana
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