How The Who’s Keith Moon Saved Carlos Santana’s 1st Fillmore Appearance

On June 16, 1967, The Who headlined a concert at San Francisco’s The Fillmore. Legendary promoter Bill Graham filled out the lineup that evening with The Loading Zone and another band at the time just starting to get noticed in the Bay Area called Santana.

Santana was led by guitarist Carlos Santana who then was four days shy of his 20th birthday. Weeks before, he was hospitalized with tuberculosis, which forced Santana to miss what would have been an earlier debut at The Fillmore.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1972, Carlos Santana recounted the June 16, 1967 experience opening for The Who, which was apparently wrought with problems from the jump:

“Bill gave us another chance. I remember we played with The Who and The Loading Zone (June 1967). And we were late and Bill Graham was screaming at me and he asked me what kind of fuckin’ band we had and this and that, ’cause these other cats were late, just blowing it, putting cologne on themselves and all this shit. Delivering tortillas, so it wasn’t music that was really happening, just like a trip for them, but for me it was the only thing that I’ve really since I can remember — being out there.”

More recently, author/journalist Walter Isaacson interviewed Carlos Santana in 2021. During the chat, Isaacson specifically asked about Santana’s Fillmore debut and it was revealed that The Who drummer Keith Moon played an integral role in the opening band’s success that night.

Moon, who was born on this date in 1946, was the only member of The Who at The Fillmore when it was time for Santana to take the stage. According to Carlos Santana’s memory of the event, nervous energy led to him breaking several strings on his guitar. Here’s what Santana told Isaacson:

“It was so surreal because I guess I was so excited I kept breaking strings. I had so much energy and so much zest and enthusiasm, I kept breaking strings. And The Who were not there yet except for the drummer, Keith Moon. So, when you see me break the second string and the band just keeps playing, but they’re waiting for me because at that time I only had one guitar.

“So, [Moon] went and opened the case and he gave me the guitar. And I was like, ‘Oh, thank you.’ So I plug in the guitar and get playing. So Keith Moon, without skipping a beat – being the drummer – he gave me Pete Townshend’s guitar and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’

“But it’s been like that every day in my life, since I came to San Francisco, meeting Bill Graham or Clive Davis or Miles Davis. Every day. Pete Townshend. Every day is nothing but blessings and miracles and incredible moments outside of time that you can’t quantize. Priceless. [That’s] the only thing that you can think of, priceless.”

Listen to Carlos Santana tell Walter Isaacson about playing The Fillmore with The Who (and stick around for another account of encountering Jerry Garcia at Woodstock) below: