How Jerry Garcia Made Carlos Santana’s Woodstock Set Extra Trippy

Carlos Santana introduced himself to the world in 1969 while on stage at Woodstock. At the time of his performance, Santana was just 22 years old and had one album out. That being said, he was a no-name at the time. Nobody knew what to expect from the young gun guitarist. Well, they surely got far more than what they expected. Santana’s Woodstock performance is one of the most iconic sets of the infamous music festival.

Videos by American Songwriter

Santana’s Woodstock appearance was his grand step into the limelight. However, that was not on his mind while he was performing. That is thanks to Grateful Dead’s frontman, Jerry Garcia. Prior to stepping on stage, Garcia and Santana were doing what everybody else was doing at the festival—experimenting with drugs. Consequently, Carlos Santana went on stage while tripping.

Carlos Santana Recalls His Trip and the Purity of Woodstock

In an interview with CBS Mornings, Carlos Santana recalled the transcendent nature of the hallucination, the music, the people, and the overall vibe of the Woodstock music festival. Concerning why he took m*scaline with Jerry Garcia prior to the show, Santana stated that with Jerry Garcia, they “used to do what we call therapeutic ‘inner baths,’ peeling layers of illusions.”

“Because humans pick up all kinds of personas that are not really you,” Santana continued. “And if you aren’t careful, this persona can throw you into a ‘misery ditch.’ So for me, it’s always important to be a person rather than a persona. We’re talking about energy. Woodstock is about energy. All those people [are] about energy. And more important than the mescaline or Jerry Garcia or Woodstock or the music is how those people were able to co-exist with unity and harmony, like we humans did it in the year 2000.”

Carlos Santana didn’t divulge what he saw on his trip, but according to his comments, that wasn’t important. Instead, what was important was what the trip allowed him to see and interact with externally, which was thousands of people united in the moment at hand. It was a moment that was created by Jerry Garcia and ultimately, Carlos Santana.

If the average person experienced this trip, they surely would have canceled their performance. Though certainly not Carlos Santana, as he knew he had service to provide and a job to do. Even if he had to do that job while incredibly inebriated.

Photo by Jim Bennett/Getty Images