Review
Evil Ways
February 19, 2011
House Of Blues
By now if you have been reading my stories and reviews for the past two years on clevelandrockandroll.com, you know how I feel about going out and hearing live music. There is nothing better, I mean nothing…….but on the flipside there is nothing worse than going out and hearing music played badly.
That’s why on Saturday I was a little apprehensive about making the trip to the House Of Blues to hear Evil Ways, a Cleveland based Santana tribute band headlining there. Look I didn’t know anything about the band before going to hear them on Saturday. During the day I tried to remember if I ever heard a Santana tribute band live before but couldn’t come up with one. I’ve heard plenty of bands over the years in bars and festivals play some Santana and for the most part, they shouldn’t have. There are just some bands that trying to replicate the sound, especially a sound as classic and iconic as Santana’s, you just shouldn’t unless you have some serious talent.
That’s why I said I was a little apprehensive about going. I even told Mrs. Bear before arriving “let me know if you want to leave” especially with her not being a big Santana fan in the first place.
Guess what…We didn’t leave.
After catching the last few songs of the opening act which being polite didn’t blow me away, I was starting to wonder if I made the right decision to come when Evil Ways took the stage. The eight piece band filled the stage and started out with an intro piece before launching into “Everybody’s Everything” which brought a smile to my face. I’ve loved that song since it came out, especially the horns which originally were played by the Tower Of Power (one of my favorite bands of all time) horn section on the album and on Saturday night Evil Ways horn section did it 
justice.
It was at that point I sent a text to my sister who just saw Carlos last month in concert and told her “these guys are good, you should be here”
They said they were going to be playing the full spectrum of the Santana catalog “from Woodstock till now” and they did. From Jingo off of the first album “Santana” to Game Of Love off “Shaman” they hit it all. For me the highlights were the fore mentioned “Everybody’s Everything”, “No One To Depend On”, “Samba Pa Ti”, and “Evil Ways” all some of my favorite Santana tunes.
The thing that could have killed it for me was if the lead guitarist struggled, I mean 
c’mon, could you pick someone harder than Carlos Santana to play? Mike Goldberg really impressed me, the guy has got chops. It’s nice to see a guitarist feel relaxed with the instrument and let the music flow from it instead of wrestling with it to produce the notes. The guy has talent. The band itself was tight all night. I mentioned the horn section earlier, Eric Dregne (Trombone) and Lizz Wilson (Trumpet), who to me really emphasized the importance of the horn section in Santana’s music and they did a great job. Kenny Baehr on vocals and percussion was great plus his energy was infectious to the audience. Michael Carabello himself would have been proud to hear Marko DiMicheli on congas and percussion. It would have been cool to see on old Hammond B3 organ like Gregg Rolle played on stage but keyboardist Dennis Augusta did a really nice job handling it and not to be forgotten Gregg Garlock (Drums) and Jim Curtis (Bass) provided the backbone of the music perfectly all night. Like I said a tight band.
You could tell they were really into the songs they were playing. The energy was high, they looked like they were having fun and they got the audience into it. I mean even Mrs. Bear was moving to the music.
If you like good music then this is a band to go hear, if you love Santana, then this is really a band you must hear! Either way you won’t be disappointed, I wasn’t.
For more information on Evil Ways shows, videos, and song clips visit their website at www.evilwaysband.com
Nuff said, least till next time
Peace
Bear
www.clevelandrockandroll.com
