Woodstock 50 has reportedly booked its first headlinerCarlos Santana Woodstock

Woodstock 50 has reportedly booked its first headliner

Carlos Santana is reportedly returning to Woodstock as the first headliner for the festival’s 50th anniversary. His band, Santana, were propelled into the public spotlight after a stellar performance of “Soul Sacrifice” at Woodstock in 1969, so it’s only right for the Mexican-American guitarist with 10 Grammy Awards to grace the stage at the half-century marker.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Santana’s Grammy Award-winning Supernatural LP, so the rock band is going on their Supernatural Now tour to commemorate the project that brought us “Smooth” and “Maria Maria” — two of their most famous songs. Woodstock is one of the stops on the tour. The tour will also be promoting the band’s new album In Search of Mona Lisa, dropping January 25.

There are two festivals commemorating the original three days of peace & music: Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival, which will take place on the original Woodstock grounds, and the other will be called Woodstock thrown by Woodstock Ventures, LLC. Santana told Rolling Stone that he will be playing at Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival thrown by Live Nation because “they have an amphitheater there. I’m going to invite whoever is still here, whether it’s Joan Baez or members from Sly Stone, and I’m going to play Santana music. Santana’s going to be the house band, but I want to be able to honor those who are still here and maybe invite rappers like Common or Kendrick Lamar. Santana’s very interested, like Miles Davis, into connecting with people from seven years old to under 33. I don’t want to be just like a jukebox in the twilight zone, stuck in the Sixties.”

H/T: Rolling Stone

Photo credit: David Becker/WireImage

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