The Welcome Tour was a concert tour by Santana promoting their album, Welcome. The tour began on November 13, 1973 at Colston Hall in Bristol, England and ended on October 29, 1974 at the William P. Cole, Jr. Student Activities Building in College Park, Maryland.

History After releasing their new album Welcome on November 9, 1973, the band went on tour in North America and Europe to promote the release. The band started the tour with a European tour, starting on November 13, 1973 in England. The tour was scheduled to have two shows in Yugoslavia, but the band was denied entry into the country. Following the European tour, the band ended 1973 with a New Year's Eve show at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. In 1974, the band started a North American tour. After finishing a short tour with British guitarist John McLaughlin, Carlos Santana assembled a new lineup of the band. The group added saxophonist Jules Broussard and singer/keyboardist Leon Patillo. Drummer Michael Shrieve left due to health problems and he ended up getting replaced by Leon "Ndugu" Chancler for a short period. Doug Rauch quit the band and David Brown, who had played with Santana from 1966 to 1971, followed in his footsteps.

The set lists of this tour were similar to the set lists of their previous tour, the difference being the addition of "Mirage" and "Give and Take", months before their release on Borboletta and the removal of certain songs from the last tour.

One of the largest crowds Santana performed to during this tour was an appearance at the World Series of Rock festival in Cleveland's Cleveland Stadium on August 31, before a crowd of around 88,000 people. Another large crowd Santana performed to was at the First Annual Barndance and Bar B. Q. in Austin, Texas, playing to a crowd of at least 80,000 people. The band sometimes opened for other artists during this tour such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Reception A show on October 11, 1974 was given a positive review by Billboard.

Live releases Live material from this tour has appeared on the following releases:

"Bambele" from December 31, 1973 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California was released on the 1988 compilation album Viva Santana!.

Recordings No songs from 1974 have been officially released on an album. The concerts on July 28 and September 14 were broadcast on American radio, but only the July concert has surfaced.

Tour band Leon Patillo – lead vocals, piano, organ Carlos Santana – electric guitar, Echoplex, Latin percussion, vocals Tom Coster – Yamaha organ, Hammond organ, electric piano, electric organ, vocals David Brown – bass guitar Jules Broussard – saxophone, flute Michael Shrieve – drums (through an unknown date) Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums (beginning on an unknown date) José ”Chepito” Areas – timbales, congas, percussion, vocals Armando Peraza – congas, percussion

Typical set lists

Tour dates

European leg (November 13 – December 12, 1973) +List of tour dates with date, city, country, venueDateCityCountryVenueNovember 13, 1973BristolEnglandColston HallNovember 14, 1973(2 shows)LondonRainbow TheatreNovember 15, 1973(2 shows)November 16, 1973(2 shows)BirminghamBirmingham OdeonNovember 17, 1973LondonEmpire PoolNovember 18, 1973(2 shows)ManchesterNovember 20, 1973DüsseldorfWest GermanyPhilips HalleNovember 22, 1973OffenburgOberrheinhalleNovember 23, 1973BöblingenSporthalleNovember 25, 1973FrankfurtFesthalle Messe FrankfurtNovember 26, 1973HamburgCongress Centrum HamburgNovember 27, 1973West BerlinDeutschlandhalleNovember 26, 1973BrusselsBelgiumForest NationalNovember 30, 1973ViennaAustriaWiener StadthalleDecember 3, 1973TurinItalyPalasport di TorinoDecember 5, 1973(2 shows)BarcelonaSpainPalacio Municipal de DeportesDecember 6, 1973(2 shows)MadridTeatro MonumentalDecember 8, 1973RotterdamNetherlandsSportpaleisDecember 9, 1973(2 shows)ZürichSwitzerlandTonhalleDecember 12, 1973RomeItalyPalazzo dello Sport

North American leg (December 31, 1973 – October 29, 1974) +List of tour dates with date, city, country, venueDateCityCountryVenueDecember 31, 1973San FranciscoUnited StatesWinterland BallroomJanuary 14, 1974IthacaBarton HallJuly 13, 1974Allendale Charter TownshipG.V.S.C. FieldhouseJuly 22, 1974EdmontonCanadaKinsmen Field HouseJuly 24, 1974VancouverPacific ColiseumJuly 25, 1974SeattleUnited StatesParamount TheatreJuly 26, 1974PortlandParamount TheatreJuly 28, 1974San DiegoBalboa StadiumJuly 31, 1974Los AngelesAugust 2, 1974Santa BarbaraRobertson GymnasiumAugust 4, 1974MilwaukeeHenry Maier Festival ParkAugust 6, 1974Clear LakeSurf BallroomAugust 7, 1974Green BayBrown County Veterans Memorial ArenaAugust 9, 1974Mays LandingAtlantic City Race CourseAugust 10, 1974ClarkstonPine Knob Music TheatreAugust 11, 1974Orchard ParkRich StadiumAugust 14, 1974WinnipegCanadaWinnipeg ArenaAugust 16, 1974Allendale Charter TownshipUnited StatesG.V.S.C. FieldhouseAugust 17, 1974Saint PaulSaint Paul Civic CenterAugust 18, 1974MilwaukeeMECCA AuditoriumAugust 31, 1974ClevelandCleveland StadiumSeptember 1, 1974AustinMemorial StadiumSeptember 13, 1974San FranciscoWinterland BallroomSeptember 14, 1974September 15, 1974FresnoSelland ArenaSeptember 17, 1974PhoenixCelebrity TheatreSeptember 18, 1974Las VegasInternational Ice PalaceSeptember 20, 1974San BernardinoSwing AuditoriumSeptember 21, 1974BakersfieldBakersfield Civic AuditoriumSeptember 23, 1974AlbuquerqueUniversity StadiumSeptember 24, 1974Las CrucesPan American CenterSeptember 26, 1974TulsaTulsa Assembly CenterSeptember 27, 1974Oklahoma CityAll Sports StadiumSeptember 28, 1974HoustonSam Houston ColiseumSeptember 29, 1974ShreveportHirsch Memorial ColiseumOctober 2, 1974AtlantaOmni ColiseumOctober 3, 1974TampaCurtis Hixon HallOctober 4, 1974OrlandoOrlando Sports StadiumOctober 5, 1974JacksonvilleJacksonville ColiseumOctober 6, 1974MiamiMiami Jai-Alai FrontonOctober 9, 1974PassaicCapitol TheatreOctober 10, 1974October 11, 1974(2 shows)New York CityAcademy of MusicOctober 12, 1974(2 shows)October 13, 1974October 14, 1974IthacaBarton HallOctober 15, 1974New HavenNew Haven Veterans Memorial ColiseumOctober 17, 1974ProvidenceProvidence Civic CenterOctober 18, 1974RochesterOctober 19, 1974College ParkWilliam P. Cole, Jr. Student Activities BuildingOctober 20, 1974BostonMusic HallOctober 22, 1974ErieErie County Field HouseOctober 23, 1974CharlestonCharleston Civic CenterOctober 24, 1974PittsburghCivic ArenaOctober 25, 1974ChicagoInternational AmphitheatreOctober 26, 1974OshkoshKolf Sports CenterOctober 27, 1974MadisonDane County ColiseumOctober 28, 1974MilwaukeeMECCA AuditoriumOctober 29, 1974College ParkWilliam P. Cole, Jr. Student Activities Building

Notes

Footnotes

References

External links Santana Past Shows 1974 at Santana official website