Santana shows ‘left-wing, right-wing’ dimension in Strip comeback show

We were reminded of the point of a Santana show on Thursday night. The “Smooth” guitar legend is back in action, after spending time on the rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of injured reserve. He’d missed several shows Sept. 26-Oct. 6 while undergoing a minor procedure on his back.

Santana alternately stood and sat on a stool during his 90-minute comeback show. Maybe it was a 50-50 split. It felt like he spent about the same amount of time sitting as before he was forced from the stage.

He is still limited, at least for now. But he has added 16 more dates in 2025 at House of Blues, where he has been lord of the manor since 2012 and has played more than 300 shows..

As usual, the 77-year-old Woodstock alum’s hands and passion to perform are unquestioned. Santana soared through the performance, playing his gold-flaked, PRS guitar with great resonance and precision.

PRS describes the custom-designed instrument as Santana’s “workhorse,” and he rode it hard in his return. The nearly unbroken setlist was loaded, as usual, with all-time classics, with “Soul Sacrifice,” “”Jin-go-lo-ba,” “Oye Como Va,” “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy King.”

Cindy Blackman Santana returned with her fierce, five-minute drum solo, which is about the only drum solo we need anymore. She hits ’em like they owe her money.

Santana is still enforcing his relevance to younger fans, mixing his iconic music with new projects. He’s been talking up his latest album, “Sentient,” which includes mixed samples from Smokey Robinson, Run-DMC’s Daryl McDaniels, Michael Jackson and Miles Davis.

With no announced release date, “Sentient” is the follow-up to Santana’s 2021 album, “Blessings and Miracles.” The word means being capable of sensing or feeling, responsive to sensations of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting or smelling.

Santana had the feels on Thursday. He flew freely in his oration to the crowd, tangentially addressing the political divide, “I really see you and me entering a new dimension, where we realize that left wing or right wing — it’s still the same bird.” We hope the bird lives in peace, wherever it lands.

Great Moments in Social Media

Celine Dion has posted a photo of her instantly iconic, face-to-face encounter with Adele on Oct. 26. It’s up on Dion’s official X and Instagram pages.

Dion thanked the “Rolling In the Deep” hitmaker for welcoming her family back to the theater. The 56-year-old superstar arrived alongside sons R-C, Nelson and Eddy Angélil, visiting the Colosseum for the first time since closing her pioneering production in June 2019.

Dion wrote, “Your music has had such an impact on my life, it is so important to me, especially over these last few years.” The photo of the two, in tears as Adele halted “When We Were Young,” tells the story.

Crush hour

BattleBots co-creator Trey Roski says the show is in an “especially exciting weekend” at BattleBots Arena on the corner of Flamingo and Koval.

The production issued its latest video, “Vegas All Stars,” on the BattleBots YouTube channel. That post has doubled its average viewing numbers within a few hours and is expected to reach more than four million viewers just in November. Eight new fights are featured in the video.

The top BattleBots robots are getting into it in the “BattleBots Fall Faceoff” series, with shows 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tombstone and Hypershock — sort of the Ali and Frazier of the BattleBots culture — are performing each day.

The show restructured in September, and is going dark Nov. 10 to make room for (what else) F1. But Roski says December’s sales are strong and “the show is sharper and funnier, and the fights are better than ever.” Sounds like my personal life – ba-dum-bum. But seriously, the show is set to return its regular Destruct-A-Thon shows Dec. 3, fun for the holidays.

Cool Hang Alert

Michael Grimm and Bill Zappia’s “Givin It To ’Em” is set for The Stirling Club at 6 p.m. (doors), 7 p.m. (show) Saturday. Naomi Mauro and Michelle Johnson guest-star. We mentioned the “feels” earlier, and you’ll experience them here. Go to michaelgrimmmusic.com for intel.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.