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MUSIC: Santana, MEN Arena, Saturday 21 June

David Sue
17/ 6/2008

MENTION 'guitar hero' to most people, and they'll probably point you in the direction of an annoyingly addictive PlayStation video game.

But if you're talking genuine, living breathing guitar heroes, you certainly don't get much more iconic or venerated than Carlos Santana.

The Mexico-born guitarist single-handedly popularised Latin-based guitar rock for the seventies Woodstock generation, thanks largely to his spectacular, virtuoso guitar playing.

But this is one guitar hero who's had to fight his way back to the top.

The guitarist had effectively been written off, having not grazed the charts in 20 years that was until his 1999 album Supernatural redefined the word "comeback".

Packed with young guests, the album went on to sell 16 million copies, win nine Grammy Awards and reinstate Santana's position as a true pin-up for guitar geeks.

Despite his many younger collaborators (Lauryn Hill, Mary J Blige), Carlos Santana thankfully remains very much an old hippy at heart.

This is a seventies flower power rocker who isn't afraid to indulge in hippy nostalgia -  Santana still remains fixated with vague mystic spiritualism, and his songs are guitar-filled odysseys which are as trippy as you can get without ingesting illegal substances.

Certainly time to switch off that PlayStation console, and witness a real guitar hero in action.