Currently sitting listening to the fabulous "Milagro" album from 1992.
Such a great and underrated album. Carlos´ first of what could have been a very fruitful collaboration with Polygram Records. Anybody who knows why Santana only released one album on that record label? It´s a mystery to me, since "Milagro" was such a strong record. Same issues as his problems with CBS, perhaps? I mean lack of record sales?
Anyway, back to a story that some of you might find fascinating, others might find my little story boring.
Well, for the first six months of 1992 I was situated at a very prestigious sports academy in Brønderslev, in the very north of Denmark. I was born and raised on the island of Fyn in central Denmark, so it was a strenous 5 hour task going from Northern Jutland back to where my parents lived on the southern coast of Fyn when I occasionally went there over the weekend.
So at one point I learned that Santana was going to play Copenhagen in april on his "Milagro" world tour, and unfortunately it was on a weekday where we had no permission to leave the academy on weekdays except if you had serious illness or deaths occur in your family, for instance. Well, normally I try to lie as little as possible, but in this case I spun a story, that one of my loved ones was on his death bed, and rector allowed for me to go for just one day and that I had to be back at the academy the following morning at 8 a.m. sharp for breakfast.
Great. The year before, 1991, I had just seen my first ever Santana show in Odense, and was instantly hooked.
So early that spring morning I set out for Copenhagen via train all the way from Brønderslev. When I reached Nyborg on Fyn I had to go by ferry to Korsør on the island of Sjælland (Zealand). The long bridge between Fyn and Sjælland first stood by 1998. So when the ferry got to Korsør I had to jump onboard another train to Copenhagen, which took about 1 hour 30 minutes. Then I had to find the K.B.Hallen (which, for those of you who might have been there, was a very special atmospheric venue. Regrettably it burned down a few years ago, but has since been rebuild), which is situated in outer Frederiksberg area of Copenhagen and I was not familiar with the area. And I couldn´t afford a taxi ride on my meagre student income. So I had to walk all the way from Copenhagen Main station to the venue.
Back in them days you did not have electronic devices to guide you to a destination, so I had quickly glanced at a big map of Copenhagen and roughly knew what way I needed to walk. I got there without problems, asking maybe a couple of people about exact directions.
The concert itself was exceptional. Carlos, Chester, Benny, Karl, Raul, Tony although I can´t remember if it was Walfredo on drums or someone else. On a side note, a few years later I loved the lineups of Rodney on drums and Myron on bass.
However, going back after the wonderful show was a whole other experience. I had a sleeping wagon all by myself transporting me from Copenhagen roughly around midnight only to arrive in Brønderslev station at roughly 7:45 a.m. in the morning. I still remember to this day the long 1,5 km run I had to make in order to be back for breakfast at 8 a.m. I got there with a couple of minutes to spare!!!
So, that was my little story of a great memory of my 2nd Santana concert.
I know that certain stories used to circulate here on this board years ago about an East German soldier leaving his military base in order to see Santana, when they played in East Berlin in 1987.
My story pales in comparison!
The last concert I saw with Santana was the very special one with John McLaughlin at Montreux jazz festival in 2011, a 40-year birthday present from my girlfriend. That was also a very magic moment for me. If that turns out to be my last ever Santana concert I will say thank you to Carlos and his musicians for all the joy and healing they have brought me over the years.
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