Review by Val Tapia
Photos by Kate Frese
Good readers, once again another co-headline tour sets up shop at Mortgage Matchup Center this week. This marks the second (of three) major duel-billing arena itineraries to sweep through downtown Phoenix within days of each other.
On Fri. August 14, the pairing of Santana and The Doobie Brothers gave a sprawling study in classic rock, a little funk and Latin-fusion instrumentation.
Beyond the immediate performance value, the evening exposed a glaring structural disparity that highlights a frustrating, deceptive trend in the modern live touring industry. Though explicitly marketed as a “co-headline tour”, the scheduling layout revealed arguably something quite different.
The Doobie Brothers were confined to a compressed 75-minute, 15-song set. Whereas Santana commanded a 2-hour, 21-song set. Historically, true co-headlining tours operated under a strict protocol of egalitarianism, providing both major catalog acts with identical 75-to-80 minute set times– with absolutely no exceptions.
This balance also allowed bands to rotate the closing headline slot on a nightly basis, ensuring structural fairness for the artists and equal value for ticket buyers. In recent months however, this baseline has been quietly eroding.
Continuing to charge premium co-headlining ticket prices, while mathematically treating an elite rock act like a glorified opening support slot, is an operational shift that should rightly outrage paying fans.
From a catalog perspective, Santana’s performance leaned heavily on past templates, running virtually identical to the band’s April 2025 show at the Pavilion. By the way, yes, it is still Desert Sky Pavilion to thousands of music fans who have been attending shows there since 1990. But I digress.
The three “new” tracks featured in that particular set were dropped in favor of some extended jamming on other songs. The set took on an unusual but highly compelling trajectory by front-loading the performance. The first ten songs were drawn almost exclusively from their first three landmark albums.
Now, let’s not mince words. The show opener, Soul Sacrifice, resulted in the sloppiest rendition of the song delivered by any modern incarnation of the band. A very noticeable rhythmic disconnect split the stage, as drummer Cindy Blackman-Santana and the core percussion section sounded as though they were playing two completely different songs.
Unfortunately, Blackman-Santana tended to overplay her parts when the arrangement arguably demanded restraint, forcing the percussion section to drift out of time in an embarrassing display of technical misalignment.
While the stage timing fortunately locked back into place during the next two songs, Jingo and Evil Ways, the show’s beginning momentum was almost halted. The multi-generational audience of 10,000 people (according to box office staff) was eventually rewarded when the inevitable of Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen and Oye Como Va (from 1970’s Abraxas) brought the roof down.
Personally, I think the latter works better as the main set closer. Which it had been for several past tours. Still, it never fails to get the crowd on its feet, and rightly so.
The hits kept coming. From No One To Depend On to their cover of The Zombies She’s Not There to deep cut Hope You’re Feeling Better, now the band was in musically tight form.
The 1999 pop-rock juggernaut Smooth (from the album Supernatural) held its predictable place as the final song of the night. Fairly or unfairly, it remains a commercial mandate that will always be non-negotiable as long as guitarist Carlos Santana takes a concert stage. Regardless of how tired they are of playing it, if that is the case.
In some ways, Smooth concluded the night as a testament to a late-1990s commercial resurgence that simply does not happen in popular music. It’s a statistical miracle that a 50-something (at the time) rock guitarist was able to dominate a youth-centric pop market the way Santana did.
In short order, that kind of commercial musical resurgence has never been repeated… since or after.
By contrast, The Doobie Brothers approached their set with a lean, clinical precision that left no room for structural lag. Doing away with deep cuts (rightly or wrongly), the band treated the hits as mandatory. They kicked off the set with Rockin’ Down The Highway. To their credit though, they did play one new song called Walk This Road, the title track from the 2025 album.
Even Micheal McDonald took over the microphone for one of his biggest solo hits, I Keep Forgettin’, as well as It Keeps You Runnin’ and What A Fool Believes. His voice has lost some steam, but he still sings pretty well for the most part.
Of course, it’s not a Doobie Brothers show without Jesus Is Just Alright. They still seem to have a ball playing it to this day.
While it would be an exaggeration to say that The Doobie Brothers “stole the show” from Santana Friday night, they did play a tighter set overall.
The final verdict? I’ll extend the courtesy and give the 2026 Oneness tour four out of five stars— mainly because of the Doobies’ exceptional set.
