Carlos Santana to Perform at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival

Carlos Santana has reached a crossroads

The 75-year-old Mexican legendary guitarist and his band, Santana, will perform at Eric Clapton’s 2023 Crossroads Guitar festival.

Carlos SantanaThis year’s event will take place over two nights (September 23-24) at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where Clapton will again gather some of the best guitar players in the world for headlining sets and impromptu collabs.

Though not everyone on the roster will repeat over the weekend, Clapton will perform both nights, joined by Gary Clark Jr., Sheryl Crow, Santana, Jakob Dylan, Albert Lee, Los Lobos, Stephen Stills, Taj Mahal, ZZ Top, the John Mayer Trio, Robert Randolph, H.E.R., Marcus King and many more.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale on Friday, April 21, at 10:00 am

local time via Ticketmaster; there are no two-day passes, only single-day tickets.

Also slated to perform at the event are: Joe Bonamassa, Doyal Bramhall II, James Bullard, Jerry Douglas, Andy Fairweather Low, Samantha Fish, Sonny Landreth, Pedro Martins, John McLaughlin, Del McCoury Band, Roger McGuinn, Keb’ Mo’, Ariel Posen, Eric Gales, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, Ben Haggard, Sierra Hull, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, The Bros. Landreth, Robbie Robertson, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gustavo Santaolalla, Daniel Santiago, Molly Tuttle, Jimmie Vaughan, Breadley Walker and The War on Drugs.

Longtime co-sponsor Guitar Center will again host the Guitar Center Festival Village at the adjacent Xbox Plaza and Chick Hearn Court at L.A. Live, where some of the world’s best guitar and gear manufacturers will host interactive exhibits where fans can try out new products and instruments.

In addition to some multi-million-dollar historical guitars on display at the Legends Collection area, there will also be an unveiling of the 25th anniversary Crossroads Guitar Collection, a rare series of limited-edition guitars based on some of Clapton’s vintage gear; a significant portion of profits from the sale of the guitars will go to aid Clapton’s Crossroads Centre at Antigua treatment and education facility.

Lopez to Emcee This Year’s Playboy Jazz Festival

George Lopez is the next jazz master… of sorts.

The 51-year-old Mexican American comedian/actor has been named the new master of ceremonies for the Playboy Jazz Festival, which will be taking place at the Hollywood Bowl on June 15-16.

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This year’s lineup includes India.Arie, Sheila E., Trombone Shorty, Bob James/David Sanborn, George Duke with Jeffrey Osborne, Angelique Kidjo with Hugh Masekela and Taj Mahal.

The two-day fest, celebrating its 35th anniversary, will also present three world premieres. These include Naturally 7 with special guest Herbie Hancock; an 80th birthday salute to Quincy Jones by the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with special guests Patti Austin and Hubert Laws; and jazz pianist Elew who, like India.Arie and Mahal, is making his first appearance at the festival. In addition, the Brubeck Brothers Quartet will perform a special tribute to the late Dave Brubeck.

Lopez takes over the emcee duties from Bill Cosby, who helmed the fest for more than 30 years. Described as the “perfect choice” to host by Playboy Jazz Festival’s president emeritus Richard Rosenzweig, Lopez called it a “most tremendous honor” to get the call from Cosby to be emcee.

He also noted that Cosby was giving him pointers like “don’t let the musicians in your dressing room because they will eat up all your food.”

Lopez later told Billboard.biz that he’s a longtime jazz fan. “To attend the show in this capacity is beyond whatever I could have imagined.” A guitar enthusiast, he noted that he’d also “love to play one song” with an act during the show. “That’s my goal.”