Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana and his band “Santana” rocked Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater, alongside 90’s alternative rock band Counting Crows, as a part of their “Oneness” Tour, on July 21st 2024.
The music, the venue, and the ambiance combined for an incredible night with friends on Long Island.
The Venue: Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
I am not a music writer here at Respect My Region, I am a sports writer by trade, and equally fascinated in the sights and sounds of a concert away from the stage, as on.
This was my first time going to Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater since their multimillion dollar renovation, as a long island native I was excited to see what upgrades our local venue underwent.
The entire entrance was redone, more concessions, a renovated merchandise store to support the band you came to see, and an expanded VIP section. I heard there were seat upgrades, new screens, and an improvement to the actual technology used during the show.
Santana sounded much clearer than other shows I have been to in the past at Jones Beach.
I like that there are new food options and I do not remember there being concessions on the second or third floor, only the first now there are options on the second.
Sadly the elevators are finicky at times, there are not that many elevators, and holy Hannah are there a lot of stairs.
This venue desperately needs escalators. Jones Beach has a pretty good mix of musical genres and eras for you to go see what you like, however I would say almost half of their acts are typically what many would consider “classic rock”, the absurd amount of steep stairs is impractical to that older demographic.
I turned 24 on July 15th. I’ve lost 85 pounds since November, and consider myself in decent shape, I was absolutely winded going to my seat. My friends who are all in better condition than me also complained about the trek.
For reference we sat in section 309, row T. I put my drinks down, and went back down to the first floor to grab dinner. I know a veteran move would have been to bring a sandwich, silly me.
The view was incredible, out on the horizon were beach goers, and to the left the usual fleet of miscellaneous Long Island natives on their boats.
My four friends and I were able to go to the VIP section, thanks to a source that works at the theater, and I have to say, sadly it would not be worth my money.
I appreciate my friend hooking us up but I’m even more thankful it didn’t cost us. You cannot see the stage from the VIP section.
There are a few bars there, a club, and probably food options I walked past, and some seating areas, none of which had a view on the stage. If I wanted to watch a concert off a screen I would catch it on YouTube.
If you have a big group with you I would recommend getting it for before or in between acts, but even then it is much cheaper to tailgate at one of the many beach parking fields and then make your way over.
VIP prices vary depending on the acts, but according to a quick google search, for the access we had, that would run you $300-$600 a ticket.
Concessions also did not seem to be cheaper or complementary, if it were a flat rate and you get food and drinks included I would understand it more. Overall not worth it, but thankful for my friend trying to improve our experience.
If you have not been to Jones Beach theater I really recommend it, the vibe is always awesome, and I think the concessions seem to be reasonably priced. Once again I’m a sports guy, I’m used to Yankee Stadium and Citi Field prices, so my scale may differ from yours.
Northwell Health at Jones Beach is a must for any die hard music fan, trust me you will like it.
Counting Crows’ Set
The Show began with Counting Crows performing “Hard Candy”, no introduction, no “opening act”, just getting up and playing music, which I enjoyed.
Oftentimes when you go to a show a band especially if they are the opening act despite having renowned success like Counting Crows has had, lack a certain enthusiasm, on Sunday night, they came to play.
Admittedly I am very unfamiliar with the work of Counting Crows, I used to hear “Mr.Jones” and “Rain King’ on the now defunct ALT 92.3 FM radio station on Long Island, but never did an extensive deep dive into their discography, which has come to define the mid 1990’s alternative rock scene, and can be heard echoing in Applebee’s and Chillies’ all across America today.
I think they put on a great show if you like their music. I personally thought they sounded poorly at the beginning of their set, it could have been technical because by the end everything sounded much clearer and once again the enthusiasm was there the whole time.
Personally I found their style odd in a venue like Jones Beach Theater. The venue formerly known as The Nikon Theater, is a decent size outside on the water with a capacity of 13,000 people, an odd fit for a band that plays more cozy coffee shop music.
Counting Crows’ iconic frontman Adam Duritz commanded the stage well and seemed like he wanted to do more crow-d interaction but could not because of certain limitations, the floor audience was decently far from the stage and mostly seated.
Visually I was not much of a fan of their presentation. The venue has three screens, one on each side of the stage, and one giant jumbotron in the middle, pretty standard for modern concert venues.
Instead of playing the music videos for songs or zooming in on the musicians the cameras stayed exactly the same, wide shot zoomed out so you can see the whole band, it just felt weird especially in contrast to Santana’s performance later on.
They also had this VHS filter over the screen so it felt like you were watching one of those old bar band tapes from back in the day, meaning it was deliberate, I guess Counting Crows is just a very stylized band, either you’re all in on them or all out, as someone who is indifferent, sadly I skewed towards the latter.
Their performance of undoubtedly their biggest hit, “Mr.Jones” was weird too, they played it third in a set of fourteen tracks, the amphitheater wasn’t even close to full capacity, or even half. That alone would be odd, but then for the chorus Duritz would have the crowd sing “Mr.Jones and me” but with such few fans in the stands, it just seemed off.
Since the concert I have done a bit of a dive into Counting Crows and their fandom, this seems normal for them, once again they are a very stylized band that plays their style how they want.
Now I like heavier music so it could just be I’m not used to this kind of music, in this kind of setting. In fact I know that is a big reason for it, a lot of people were vibing out holding onto every line of every song, my buddy was thrilled to rock out to them.
Had this been the fall I too would have held onto every cord, and every lyric. Counting Crows is just one of those bands that makes me think of the crisp autumn air, a soundtrack to the changing of the seasons.
As their set went on and more people trickled into the seating area, the call and response parts of songs landed better most notably in the song “Big Yellow Taxi” which is a Joni Mitchell cover, obviously a big hit at a Santana concert with many hippies in attendance.
I think their best song of the night was probably “Hanginaround” which is my second favorite song of theirs behind “Mr.Jones”, so I might be biased, and yes I sang a long from the nosebleeds.
I did notice many older fans getting a little emotional and excited when they played “A Long December”, which is an iconic breakup song written about Duritz’s friend getting into a motorcycle accident, something that I’m sure many people older than me could relate much better to than I a 24 year old, certain sings invoke certain emotions that you have to go through yourself to feel. It was also one of the most iconic music videos of the 1990’s and considered one of their major hits.
All in all I would give them a 7.5/10 on their set, once again it is not my usual style. I like faster music, but I appreciate their effort, sometimes you get a bad crowd and it drags a performance down.
I was very surprised they never played “Accidentally in “Love”, I thought for sure that the beloved Shrek 2 classic would be their closer, much to my chagrin I never heard my third favorite song from the band.
Counting Crows left as quickly as they came in, ending their performance with “Holiday In Spain” off their 2002 album Hard Candy. For the full set list I encourage you to visit setlist FM.
Santana’s Set
Wow, just wow. I have not written a piece about music in about 7-8 years since I was in high school, and Santana was so good, I knew I just had to document it for you readers.
Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana is a household name, with 24 songs reaching the billboard hot 100 spanning from 1969 with “Jingo” to 2007’s “Into The Night” featuring Chad Kroger of Nickelback fame, it is no wonder he is inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame alongside his original lineup from their first two albums.
Santana’s iconic 1969 Woodstock performance is still regarded as one of the greatest live performances of all time, with “Soul Sacrifice” being one of the highlights.
I am so honored to say that he is just good now as he was then.
The legendary guitarist and his backing band began their set with a rendition of the aforementioned “Soul Sacrifice” complete with the hounding bongo drums and wailing guitar that echoed over the plains of Woodstock New York 55 years ago.
Sadly I only heard the performance of “Soul sacrifice” as me and my friends were leaving the VIP section during it to our original seats in the 300’s.
We also missed “Jin-go-lo-ba” before sitting down just in time for one of Santana’s biggest hits “Evil Ways” and boy were we glad he saw the performance.
For a lot of Santana’s set there were lights, video compilations of past music videos and live performances, and camera work that displayed mostly Carlos, but also his backing band highlighting the musical mastery the audience made its way out for.
I imagine “Evil Ways” was one of the highlight songs for many people, the kind of song you go to see live and the first opportunity for the crowd to get familiar with singers Ray Greene (who also played trombone) and Andy Vargas, together the duo was able to replicate all the different vocal styles Santana has played alongside since the 60’s.
Rhythm guitarist Tommy Anthony also chimed in on vocals throughout the show, mostly on the song “Put Your Lights On”.
As usual the percussion was also handled by more than one artist, Cindy Blackman of Lenny Kravitz fame played the drums, Karl Perazzo also played the drums, with Paoli Mejias on percussion.
I would argue the most impressive part of the night was when Dutch bassist Benny Rietveld had an incredible solo. Typically bassists are forgotten about or overlooked.
It was refreshing to see a bass player being given the freedom to cut loose. While Blackman banged away on her drum kit with an intensity and ferocity, fueling the bassist’s frenzy.
Santana had two keyboard players, his son Salvador Santana and David K Matthews.
This was a really epic concert, I would say it was the best I have ever been to, listening to “Black Magic Woman” right on the water, a full moon gleaming over Zach’s Bay, the ambiance was surreal.
I always considered myself a fan of Santana but this show really made me want to delve into the masterful discography of the band. I liked that everyone got their moment, everyone got a solo, while obviously Carlos Santana is the main draw, his band was never just for show, never an afterthought.
Greene and Vargas’ vocals were outstanding. Greene’s rendition of Michelle Branch’s “Game of Love” which was a massive early 2000’s hit peaking at number 5 on The Billboard hot 100 in 2002, was incredible I would say it might have been my second favorite complete song of the night.
Vargas’ latin roots came out in full force especially on “Maria Maria” which surprisingly seemed like the biggest draw of the night, the whole crowd myself included sang and danced along. Vargas also crushed “Corazon espinado” once again highlighting the beauty of the band, different styles, genres, and even languages with two constants, excellent musicianship and atmosphere.
If you are a fan of music I recommend you try to see Carlos Santana and his band. Carlos turned 77 on Saturday, so the whole crowd sang happy birthday to the rock legend while he blew out his belated birthday cake.
I have seen many iconic bands over the years Metallica, Styx, Black Sabbath, Def Lepperd, Foo Fighters (just last week), The Pretenders, Guns N Roses, Megadeth, Deep Purple, Suicidal Tendencies, Iron Maiden, and more, I can confidentaly say I would want a CD or concert film of Santana at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in 2024 before a recording of any of those other concerts.
Well done Santana, well done.
For more on music and pop culture check out RespectMyRegion.com and for Santana’s full setlist check out setlist FM.
