SANTANA & ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND ANNOUNCE TOUR

Two legendary groups join forces as Carlos Santana and the Santana Band announce six special co-headlining concerts with The Allman Brothers Band during July 2012. The dates kick off July 22 at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien Lake, NY, and wrap July 30 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. Highlights also include shows at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on July 24, and the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ on July 25. Tickets for the six dates begin going on-sale May 4.

"It is a delight and an honor to finally share the stage, and the music, with Gregg Allman, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes and The Allman Brothers Band," says Carlos Santana. "This is something that we've hoped to make happen for many years." These special concerts follow the first leg of U.S. dates on Santana's Shape Shifter Tour 2012.

Previously, Santana and The Allman Brothers have only intersected at major festivals. On touring together, Gregg Allman says, "We've all looked forward to doing this for a very long time." The Allman Brothers Band line-up includes Gregg Allman (vocals and keyboards), Butch Trucks (drums, tympani), Jaimoe (drums), Warren Haynes (vocals, lead and slide guitar), Derek Trucks (slide and lead guitar), Oteil Burbridge (bass), and Marc Quinones (congas and percussion). Earlier this year, the group was honored with a special GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award.

Santana's tour dates with The Allman Brothers follow the May 15, 2012 release of Shape Shifter, their latest album—and the first for Carlos Santana's new label Starfaith Records. The 13-song set is an instrumental tour de force long awaited by fans (one song features vocals by Santana's lead vocalists Andy Vargas and Tony Lindsay). The album also features Chester Thompson on keyboards, Dennis Chambers on drums, Benny Rietveld on bass, Salvador Santana on keyboards, Raul Rekow on congas and Karl Perazzo on percussion.

Since Santana emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area music scene in the 1960s, the group has sold more than 100 million records, reached more than 100 million fans at concerts worldwide, and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Santana has won 10 GRAMMYs, including a record-tying nine for a single project, 1999's Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Smooth"). With the 2010 release of Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time­, Santana joined the Rolling Stones as one of only two music acts in Billboard history to score at least one Top Ten album in each decade from the 1960s on. Among other honors, Carlos Santana is #20 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"—"Santana's crystalline tone and clean arcing sustain make him the rare instrumentalist who can be identified in just one note."

http://www.santana.com/

Shape Shifter tour dates (* = Santana closes show):
July 22 - Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, Darien Lake, NY
July 24 - Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY
July 25 - PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ*
July 27 - Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga, NY*
July 28 - The Comcast Theatre, Hartford, CT
July 30 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD*