Original Santana members reunite for 'second chance'

LAS VEGAS — Rocker Neal Schon had an unforgettable surprise 60th birthday party in February 2014 surrounded by friends and family at one of Las Vegas' finest restaurants.

But the birthday highlight came when guitarist Carlos Santana, his mentor and bandmate in the classic band Santana, presented Schon with a luxury Hublot watch.

The gift signified the completion of a longtime Schon goal, bringing back the original Santana members from the band’s Woodstock-era   — including Santana, 68, keyboardist Gregg Rolie, 68, percussionist Michael Carabello, 68, and drummer Michael Shrieve, 66, who were all celebrating with Schon.

“Carlos gave me this watch and he said, ‘It’s time,’" says Schon, looking at the timepiece he still wears. “It was like, there you go. It was time.”

Santana rocks like it's Woodstock in Las Vegas reunion show

Time now for the classic, original Santana, who have recorded a 16-song reunion record Santana IV (out Friday ) after the band went their separate ways circa 1973.

“We got a second chance, we know more, we feel more,” Santana says. “It took nearly 45 years to reignite this chemistry. Because it’s really chemistry that we’re talking about.”

After a killer set at 1969’s Woodstock, Santana exploded from unknown band to superstardom. Guitar prodigy Schon dropped out of high school at age 15 to join the band that would fuse rock and Latin rhythms  in a string of classic hits such as Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va and Evil Ways.

But with the sudden rise to fame came tension in the band.

“We got blindsided with all the adulation and attention. It’s like we went from high school to Woodstock,” Santana says. “We were so young back them, we had no mercy, no compassion. We used to scream at each other.”

By 1973, the core group had gone in different directions. Schon and Rolie left to start the band Journey. Santana kept the band Santana together with different members, and in 1999 the band's album Supernatural took home nine Grammy Awards.

Decades passed since the original breakup, and wounds healed. An inspired Schon began to text original members and started accidentally bumping into Santana out and about in Marin County, Calif., where they both live.  (“He was like a missile, on me wherever I went,” Santana says with a laugh.)

Santana: 'Age is not affecting our vitality'

“It took this many years for everybody to grow older. And to not carry all that (stuff) around,” Schon says. “Life is too short. We were such a great thing. Why not put it back together?"

With the official reunion  on, Santana brought the sound back to the recording studio for Santana IV, the spiritual heir to their 1971 Santana III album. On March 21, the group took the stage at Las Vegas’ House of Blues for a spirited reunion.

"We still got the sound, we still got the magic and we still get off on one another," Carabello says.

Schon says the band will continue to gel  in live appearances including a stop at Madison Square Garden Thursday. As for more albums and appearances, that’s a possibility.

“We’ll see how it all plays out. We’re taking baby steps with it right now. Not giant steps,” Santana says. “But it’s a glorious experience to have a second chance.”