The back cover states the following:
Note: Due to serious tensions between band members, the band goes on tour without Carlos Santana.
Hard to imagine a Santana show without Carlos, but Neal Schon appears to be the only guitar here. The performance is still enjoyable as Neal does an admirable job. The sound quality rates only good, with the lead instruments and percussion cutting through fine and the bass being a bit echoed and distant. The recording lacks depth.
The band opens with three songs from the recently released Santana III before settling in to some of the older material. Carlos’ guitar harmony is noticeably missing in “No One to Depend On” but Neal covers the rest of his parts well. Strangely, there is no mention of Carlos’ absence nor does the crowd seem to be affected by this. The band is in good spirits and sound typical of early Santana shows, i.e. lots of percussion and instrumental jams, and the crowd response is very good throughout the night, especially for songs like “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va”. They even get the audience involved with “Evil Ways”. Overall, this is a good performance from an enthusiastic band.
Journey Into The Universe (Mainstream MSBR-035) from Denver 9/28/71 was just two weeks prior to this show in Boston and Carlos Santana is present on that recording. Whatever the case may be, he is absent from this show. This release is probably not for the casual collector as there are other titles from this era (with Carlos) in soundboard quality.
