Carlos Santana has heard a rumor. He is endorsing this rumor, and it’s a stunner.
“There’s a rumor floating around that, you know, powers would be are aligning Stevie Wonder and Santana to do a tour together to bring about tangible change,” the Woodstock legend says in an interview in a conference room of his Las Vegas headquarters. “We are among the very few who are blatantly focusing on peace, love, joy and harmony.”
The speculation is rooted in online Facebook posts announcing a Santana/Wonder co-headlining “Legends Reunited World Tour ‘26.” These “announcements” look very AI-generated.
But the real Santana, he loves the idea. When asked what bands today were best promoting peace and love, he said, “Two bands, Stevie Wonder and Santana.”
However, he’s booked
The current reality is, the 78-year-old “Evil Ways” hitmaker is busy through the end of this year. Santana is back with his residency production at House of Blues, with dates Sunday, Wednesday through Friday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. He returns for eight shows in May, and another eight in November.
Santana is also on tour — one that is verified and confirmed — with the Doobie Brothers for 28 dates beginning in June and ending before his November dates at House of Blues (details forthcoming).
“The last time we did that was in 2019, and now Michael McDonald is back in the band,” Santana says. “We just want to bring happiness, unity. I really believe that it’s important to continue to share with people our resonance sounds, the vibration that brings people into a place where they believe that it’s possible to make a difference on this planet.”
Weir ‘wasn’t fake’
Santana was reverential in his memory of Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir, who died of cancer Jan. 9 at age 78.
“We witnessed a completion of a collective dream and goal that Jerry Garcia and Bobby Weir created and started. It was the atmosphere and congregation of peace and love,” Santana says.”But it wasn’t cynical. It wasn’t fake or phony. It was very genuine and solid. I was very, very uplifted and inspired to see how many people globally, you know, came out to honor Bobby, great artists, from Bob Dylan to Paul McCartney.”
Santana recently recounted a story of headlining for the Dead at the Ice Palace at Commercial in March 1969, months before both bands played Woodstock. Somebody from the Dead (Santana suspects it was Garcia) “dosed” him with LSD after his performance. “They got me good. I didn’t realize it, but after the show they put something on my Coca-Cola can. Man, it took me three days to land.”
He’s into the Power
I asked Santana of his thoughts of the Power of 3, the rock trio of guitar great Orianthi, bass virtuoso Rhonda Smith and his powerhouse-drummer wife, Cindy Blackman Santana. The band premiered formally last year, and is backed by ever-rocking Raiders owner Mark Davis.
“I have learned a lot from Cindy, because she has what I call devotion, dedication, discipline and diet. She’s like Usain Bolt, because she has a world-class athlete’s kind of discipline,” Santana says. “When I’m around Cindy, Orianthi and Rhonda, they inspire me because, you know, Rhonda played with everybody from Prince to Jeff Beck. Cindy has played with everybody from Wayne Shorter to Lenny Kravitz to Santana.”
And Orianthi …
“She is the future of guitar players, because she understands the scope of playing a solo,” says Santana, recalling a jam session with Orianthi and Dave Navarro. “I saw Orianthi take a solo, and Dave Navarro was looking at me. And I went, ‘It ain’t me.’”.
Latin album in the offing
Santana has collaborated with Grupo Frontera, the top-selling six-member Latin group from Edinburg, Texas on the single “Me Retiro.” The collective bands debuted the song in May.
That track, along with “Velas,” a collab with incoming Sphere headliner Carin León, are the first two songs on an upcoming Mexican-themed album on Sony Latin. Recording continues after Santana closes out his current run at House of Blues.
Naturally (or supernaturally), Santana has epic plans for his Latin music endeavors. “Each song is being released as a single, then we go to the next one, and the next one,” Santana says. “We want to create a Latin Woodstock, from Tijuana all the way to Brazil, in all countries, and invite seven bands to join us.”
Some regions of this planet have not been exposed to the Woodstock spirit.
“In Latin America, they’ve only seen Woodstock on a video or a movie,” says Santana, who plays a lengthy clip of his own Woodstock appearance (“Soul Sacrifice,” specifically) at House of Blues. “They never had their own Woodstock. I think it’s important to bring to Latin America that element of what Woodstock stood for.”
Cool Hang Alert
The music of “Stranger Things” kicks off the 2026 schedule for Mark Shunock’s Mondays Dark at The Space. Show is at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.); The Way Foundation is a Las Vegas nonprofit dedicated to healing and restoring families, supporting underprivileged youth, homeless teens, and those in recovery.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.