Carlos Santana returns to Dubai Jazz Festival

A show so nice he’ll play it twice: Carlos Santana is returning to the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival on February 26, 2016.

Santana, 68, headlined the event two years ago. CEO of Chillout Productions, Anthony Younes, originally wanted Santana to return for the 15th anniversary of the festival in 2017, but the guitar legend requested a repeat performance sooner rather than later.

“He liked your production, he liked your festival, so he wants to come back,” Younes recalled Santana’s handlers saying. So Younes took a couple of days to mull it over, then asked himself a simple question: “Why not?”

Santana’s 2016 gig will mark his first at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre. During his 2014 Dubai Festival City performance, he prolonged his 90-minute set to 140 minutes. Backstage, his personal assistant said that this meant Santana was ‘very happy’.

His band has since released one new album, Corazon, which is part of the reason his show will be different this time around.

“He’s doing a new tour, it’s called Luminosity Tour 2016. He’s adding a few new [songs], and, of course, he’ll be playing everything from the Woodstock era to today. He’ll be playing all his greatest hits, plus a couple of the new ones,” said Younes.

Santana previously expressed his love for the word luminosity on Facebook, defining it as “beaming with inner light and love.”

Younes said the production accompanying the tour will be a massive one. “He brings with him a huge 40-foot container [carrying] everything. Lights, sounds, screens, visual effects — everything,” he said.

During his last Dubai visit (watch the video here), a philosophical Santana told tabloid! that no two concerts of his were ever identical, just like “every morning’s dawn and dusk, they’re never the same.” In contrast, his band’s priority remained constant: “To make people’s hair stand up.”

Santana might be the closing act, but Younes recommended fans arrive early to catch the openers, Argentinian group La Bomba De Tiempo, made up of 17 percussionists.

“They’ll improvise everything on stage — it depends on what they see on the ground. It’s something that’s really interesting to watch,” he said. “It’s going to be a mix of Latin, jazz, blues [and] rock kind of night.”

Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival takes place between February 24-26. American rock band Toto headline the opening night.

Don’t miss it:

Tickets will go on sale at noon today via Ticketmaster, ticketmaster.ae and 800-TM-UAE. Regular Standing: Dh395; Golden Circle: Dh795; Fan Pit: Dh995; and VIP: Dh1,450.