Photo Gallery: Santana with Counting Crows • Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre • Tinley Park

Brassneck | June 30, 2024

Santana with Counting Crows

Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre

Tinley Park

Saturday, June 29, 2024

Recap and gallery by Curt Baran

Two titans of the San Francisco Bay Music scene touched down in suburban Tinley Park this past weekend.

‘60’s legend Carlos Santana, who, at age 76, may have spent the majority of his set playing guitar from atop a stool, still proved that his fingers have no trouble summoning the spirit. Backing him up was an eight-piece band that managed to sound as if there were twice the number of players. In his now fifth decade, Santana’s set was a leisure cruise through his extensive catalog (“Evil Ways,” “Smooth,” “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman”), but also left plenty of space for extensive solos and showcases for every member of his band.

Also on the bill were Counting Crows. In the shadow of Santana, it’s easy to forget that the band has also posted massive success. But where Carlos was a legend who almost accidentally became a superstar (his “Supernatural” release racked up Grammy’s AND massive sales numbers late in his career), Counting Crows were met with almost immediate stardom. Like Santana, their set was also a stroll through what has become a rich catalog comprised of radio hits (“Mr. Jones,” “Around Here” and “Hanging Around”), deep cuts (“Holiday In Spain”) and cover songs (the Grateful Dead’s “Friend Of The Devil” and Taylor Swift’s “The One”) that next to no one had on their set list bingo card.

Lump it together with a perfect evening for music outdoors, and what concertgoers were left with was an evening of music, separated by generations, supported the conversation that great compositions will forever feel timeless, regardless of when they were written.