Soul Sacrifice – Santana

Recorded at The Woodstock Music and Art Fair on August 16th, 1969, in Bethel, New York

Probably my favorite performance from the entire Woodstock festival, Santana‘s “Soul Sacrifice” is an otherworldly experience to listen to. Also apparently quite otherworldly for Carlos to play, as many people have been told the tale of Jerry Garcia giving Carlos some psychedelics (mescaline, apparently) prior to the iconic Woodstock set. Carlos was under the impression that his guitar was a dangerous snake that he was having to battle and tame. Having this context makes some of his facial expressions pretty funny, but that whole idea seems to fit the energy of this performance really well. Completely intense and passionate. Santana himself said that “Woodstock is about energy” and this performance exudes an almost “Supernatural” (ha) aura.

This song is an instrumental and the entire band is on fire. Greg Rollie on the organ and David Brown on bass are amazing but it would also be impossible to not point out the incredible percussion on this song. Michael Carabello and Jose Areas are the fellas on the congas, and Michael Shrieve (only 19 at the time) is on the kit. He delivers one of the greatest drum solos ever, matching and possibly (?) outdoing everything Carlos is doing on the guitar.

Link to performance – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSp05euvRNU