Carlos Santana to Perform Alongside Rob Thomas at “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert”

There’s more than a walk in the (Central) park in Carlos Santana’s future…

Amid concern over the Delta coronavirus variant, a mega-concert in Central Park to celebrate New York City’s reopening will go forward as planned next month, with performers including the 74-year-old Mexican-American guitarist/musician.

Carlos Santana

Santana, considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, will perform alongside Rob Thomas. The pair teamed up in 1999 for Smooth“, a dynamic cha-cha stop-start number co-written and sung by Thomas of Matchbox Twenty and laced throughout with Santana’s guitar fills and runs. “Smooth” spent twelve weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming in the process the last No. 1 single of the 1990s.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined music industry legend Clive Davis, who is co-producing the concert, for a press conference to unveil the details of what de Blasio promised will be a “historic,” “blockbuster” event. Officially titled “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert,” the event is set for August 21 at 5:00 p.m., it will be broadcast live globally on CNN and 80% of tickets will be free.

While de Blasio initially proposed having vaccinated and unvaccinated sections, he said that attendees will be required to present proof of vaccination.

“New York City is back,” de Blasio said. “You can see it, you can feel it, and it’s time to celebrate on the Great Lawn.”

The lineup, which includes many New York natives, so far spans Jon BatisteAndrea Bocelli, Kane Brown, LL Cool J, Elvis Costello, Earth, Wind & Fire joined by Lucky Daye and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Cynthia Erivo, Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Hudson, Wyclef Jean, Journey, The Killers, Gayle King, Don Lemon, Barry Manilow, The New York Philharmonic, Polo G, Carlos Santana joined by Rob Thomas, Paul Simon and Patti Smith duetting with Bruce Springsteen.

“As a born, bred and true New Yorker, I well know how resilient we are and how New York always comes back,” Davis said. “I cannot think of a more appropriate way to celebrate this than an unforgettable concert in the most special venue in the world: the Great Lawn at Central Park. My team, along with our partners at Live Nation, has been hard at work for weeks curating what I submit to you will be a once-in a lifetime event […] It will celebrate a spectacular range of musical genres, styles and eras while including some of the most iconic artists in the history of modern music.”

Davis, who was raised in Brooklyn, is co-producing alongside Live Nation. Restauranteur Danny Meyer, the recently-appointed chairman of the New York City Economic Development Corporation board of directors, is also involved, as is Universal Hip-Hop Museum executive director Rocky Bucano.

“We’re so honored to be part of this event,” added Live Nation regional president Geoff Gordon. “I too have goosebumps after hearing that, even though we’ve been involved in lining this up. Live music has the unique ability to bring us all together, which is really what we’re doing. There’s nothing like a live music experience.”

Tickets for the concert go on sale on Monday, August 2 at 10:00 a.m. EST on the new NYC Homecoming Week website, and the Great Lawn has a capacity of 60,000. The 20% of tickets not designated as free are VIP tickets available for purchase. De Blasio said that event workers will be checking for proof of vaccination as attendees enter, with more details to come. Asked by a reporter whether the vaccination requirement means the concert is for attendees aged 12 and over only, de Blasio said, “right now, that’s a fair assumption.”

The event will cap off a reopening celebration dubbed NYC Homecoming Week, during which the City of New York will host concerts in each of the five boroughs starting August 14, leading up to the Great Lawn spectacle on the 21st. The lead-up concerts will be held Aug. 16 at Orchard Beach in The Bronx; Aug. 17 at Richmond County Bank Park in Staten Island; Aug. 19 at Brooklyn Army Terminal in Brooklyn; and Aug. 20 at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens.

Santana to Perform National Anthem at Game 2 of the NBA Finals

Carlos Santana is heading back to the hardwoods…

The 68-year-old Mexican musician and his wife Cindy Blackman Santana will once again perform the “Star-Spangled Banner” at Game 2 on Sunday night.

Carlos-Santana-and-Cindy-Blackman

The global rock star has sold more than 100 million records over his 40-year tenure thanks to Latin-infused hits like “Oye Como Va,” “Maria Maria” and “Smooth.”

In April, he released Santana IV, which saw the reunion of his band’s original ’70s lineup, comprised of Santana, Gregg Rolie on keyboards, Neal Schon on guitar, Michael Carabello on percussion and Michael Shrieve on drums.

Santana IV also debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.

His wife, Cindy Blackman, is an American jazz and rock drummer, who also joined her husband in performing the national anthem at last year’s NBA Finals.

After the Golden State Warriors claimed victory in Game 1, the hometown team will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers for round 2 at Oakland’s Oracle Arena on Sunday, June 5.

The game airs at 8:00 pm ET on ABC.

Santana’s “Smooth” Named the Top-Ranking Track of the First 20 Years of Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs Chart

Carlos Santana has smoothed his way into the history books…

The 68-year-old Mexican musician, considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, has the top-ranking track of the first 20 years of Billboard‘s Adult Pop Songs radio airplay chart.

Carlos Santana

Santana’s single “Smooth,” featuring Rob Thomas, is the ranking’s top all-time track, thanks largely to its record 25 weeks at No. 1 in 1999-2000.

The song placed as the second-biggest title of the Billboard Hot 100‘s first 57 years, as ranked in November 2015. Chubby Checker‘s iconic “The Twist” took the top spot.

The Nielsen Music-based Adult Pop Songs chart, measuring songs’ weekly plays on adult top 40, or hot AC, radio in the U.S., premiered in the Billboard magazine dated March 16, 1996.

The top all-time Adult Pop Songs titles and artists rankings are based on actual performance on the weekly Adult Pop Songs chart, from its launch through the survey dated March 12, 2016. Titles are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates over various periods. Artists are ranked based on the combined point totals, as outlined above, of all their Adult Pop Songs chart entries.)

Here’s a look at the top 10 songs on the Adult Pop Songs Greatest of All Time chart are:

1, “Smooth,” Santana featuring Rob Thomas
2, “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” Train
3, “Wherever You Will Go,” The Calling
4, “How to Save A Life,” The Fray
5, “Counting Stars,” OneRepublic
6, “Unwell,” Matchbox Twenty
7, “I’m Yours,” Jason Mraz
8, “You And Me,” Lifehouse
​9, “All For You,” Sister Hazel
10, “Hanging By A Moment,” Lifehouse

Santana to Release Live CD/DVD Package for His Hit Spanish Project “Corazón”

Santana is bringing his corazón to live…

Following the success of his first-ever all Spanish-language album Corazón, the 67-year-old Mexican musician and 10-time Grammy-winner is set to release a live CD/DVD package titled Corazón, Live From Mexico: Live It to Believe It.

Santana

From RCA Records/Sony Latin Iberia, the package will be released on September 9 and include a live CD and DVD, plus a documentary film shot in different Mexican locales.

The track listing for Corazón Live From Mexico includes many of the artists featured in Santana’s original Corazón, including Juanes, Gloria Estefan, Miguel, Romeo Santos, Lila Downs, Diego Torres and Niña Pastori.

But it has also been expanded considerably to include new versions of his standards like “Black Magic Woman” and “Smooth” and collabs like “Corazón Espinado,” featuring Fher Olvera (lead singer of Maná) and Cindy Blackman Santana.

The set will be available for digital download and in three different physical packages: DVD, DVD/CD and Blu-Ray/CD.

Corazón debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in April and spent six weeks at the top of the chart. It’s currently No. 6 on the chart and was the third top-selling Latin album for the first six months of the year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

But the upcoming live version was conceived from the onset as part of the overall Corazón project. The album, with all its featured artists, was recorded in the studio and released last April, but a live component was always part of the proposal.

With sponsorship from Mexico’s Tourism Board, the live show was taped in December 2013 in Santana’s home state of Gaudalajara, a documentary was filmed in different locales and a special aired on HBO Latino both in the U.S. and Latin America in the spring.

Corazón was a seminal project on many fronts. The HBO airing marked the first time ever that HBO Latino (which operates in the U.S.) and HBO Latin America joined forces to premiere a concert event.