Democratic Santana shares spotlight

President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry weren’t the only ones doing their darndest Thursday night to swing voters to their sides. As far across the country from Coral Gables, Fla., as you can get, Carlos Santana did a bit of presidential stumping of his own.

“People are spending a lot of money on ‘Dumb and Dumber’ and ‘Liar, Liar,’ which is like Bush and Kerry,” the 57-year-old guitar hero said with a wry smile between songs at his Greek Theatre concert. “We need a woman to do what a man cannot do. We need Barbara Boxer or Maxine Waters.... It’s time.”

The capacity crowd roared its approval, but given the irresistible lead-up to the political plea -- an hour’s worth of Santana’s timelessly contagious pan-Latin music -- you suspect fans would have responded equally enthusiastically if he’d asked them to support Barbara Eden or Roger Waters.

The show, the first of a three-night stand that concludes tonight, provided a more intimate party than when Santana and his band played Los Angeles two years ago at the Hollywood Bowl.

As then, Santana touched lightly on his latest album, “Shaman,” focusing more attention revisiting his career-rejuvenating 1999 work, “Supernatural.”

Did it matter that the set list hasn’t changed substantially? Not really. He’s spent most of his 35-year recording career plying variations on the theme that put him on the map: a panoply of Latin rhythms anchoring hummable pop-rock melodies that often carry benign messages of one-world harmony.

During the nearly 2 1/2-hour performance, Santana democratically shared the spotlight with the 10 members of his band. He was especially generous with solo time to keyboardist Chester Thompson, timbal player Karl Perazzo, conga man Raul Rekow, drummer Dennis Chambers, singer Andy Vargas and one quick rap interlude from his son, keyboardist Salvador Santana.

The biggest cheers, however, were reserved for Santana, a wizard at blending fleet runs with insistent chord progressions and frequent surprising melodic flights, all of which leave little room for debate over his artistry.

Hail to the chief.

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Santana

Where: Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles

When: Today, 7 p.m.

Price: $55 to $75

Contact: (323) 665-1927