SANTANA: LATIN FIRE

When a band has been together for 20 years, it would be reasonable to expect a bit of jaded road-weariness to have set in. Santana, the Bay Area band led by the very serious, whippet-thin guitarist Carlos Santana, played for three hours at the Universal Amphitheater on Saturday night with a raging fire and fervor that belied the group’s longevity.

Although the eight-man, multiracial unit has gone through many personnel changes during its years as one of the leading exponents of Afro-Cuban jazz/rock, the one constant has been the nimble-fingered intensity Carlos Santana brings to his brand of Latin rock. On a fairly pedestrian funk tune called “Open Invitation” Saturday, he tossed off a stunning bit of guitar virtuosity with all the ease of a man taking an afternoon stroll down a tree-lined avenue. So excited was one fan that he hurled a black and gold sombrero onto the stage. Santana ignored the hat for most of the evening; by the group’s final encore, he had donned it with the insouciant charm of someone who has proven himself--and can easily afford the luxury of laughter.