Santana returns to NZ

Veteran guitarist Carlos Santana and band are making a return visit to New Zealand, playing one Auckland show in March.

The Latin-blues-rock musician, whose legend stretches back to the Woodstock era but who has undergone a revival on two recent albums studded with guest-star singers of a younger rock generation, is performing at North Shore Stadium on Saturday, March 22.

That's less than a week before fellow icon Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band plays at Western Springs on Friday, March 28.

The 55-year-old's 1999 album Supernatural has sold 25 million copies and won nine Grammy Awards. Its follow-up, Shaman, released a few weeks ago, has already spawned an international top 10 hit in The Game of Love sung by young American singer-songwriter Michelle Branch.

Concert promoters of the show are hinting heavily at a "special guest star" to be added to the show whom they are still negotiating with.

If it's one of the guest vocalists on the new album, the possibilities include Branch and Macy Gray, but probably not opera singer Placido Domingo who also appears.

Tickets for the show go on sale on Monday, December 9, and range from $70 general admission, through $110 for Gold Circle Standing to $130 for the front-of-stage "Mariachi Lounge" (not including booking fee).