Santana Makes Herculean Appearance in San Francisco

Carlos Santana once claimed that he could speak and/or feel the "spirits" of the late greats: Jerry Garcia, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix. On Sunday night in San Francisco, the spirit of Santana certainly spoke to both the band and audience as Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi led their new hybrid band, Soul Stew Revival, through Santana-drenched guitar jams and -- as the name implies -- a stew of soul, blues, jazz, and funk. But spirits can only speak so loudly; thus, the crowd cheered wildly when the actual Carlos Santana emerged from backstage to jam (and jam, and jam, and jam) on Allen Toussaint's 'Hercules.'

Though the band technically has the eternally unhip title of "Soul Stew Revival," many of its members are recruits from Trucks' solo band. Nonetheless the married couple and co-stars, Trucks and Tedeschi, drew material from both their repertoires for the show, ending with a reworked version of the Band's 'The Weight.' As for Santana's cameo, well, in the end, the man might actually be capable of contacting ghosts. After all, he's capable of pulling off some pretty superhuman feats with his six string.