Carlos Santana has always been a mixture of spiritual and sexy. So, it wasn't a complete surprise when the guitar hero declared that his goal on Friday night at sold-out Treasure Island Casino Event Center in Red Wing was to achieve spiritual orgasm.

Playing maybe its smallest Minnesota venue ever, Santana, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band, opened with a blissfully propulsive nine-minute reading of "Soul Sacrifice," a classic made famous at Woodstock. In such a relatively intimate venue with 3,000 people, you could feel the rhythms in your body and the spirit in your soul. Call it a spiritual orgasm without any foreplay.

"Soul Sacrifice" was a grand start for what turned out to be a generous and rewarding 2½-hour celebration of rhythm, spirit and glorious guitar.

The first segment of the concert was heavy on Woodstock-era workouts, including "Jingo," "Evil Ways" and "Oye Como Va," for which Carlos Santana added a swing feel.

That's one of the admirable and fascinating aspects of a Santana concert. The guitar-playing boss (and only original member in the 56-year-old group) not only directs the percussive ensemble, but he listens intently to what the other musicians are playing. That's why he sometimes performed with his back to the audience; he was determined to connect with his other players as much as with the fans.

Wearing a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt and a white fedora, the gum-chewing, incense-burning guitarist, 74, was less talkative than at many previous Minnesota performances. He made a couple of short comments about spirituality and the pursuit of "blessings and miracles," which happens to be the title of his commendable 2021 album. But mostly he let his guitar do the talking.

Playing exclusively on one electric and one acoustic instrument, he was eloquently expressive, his lines clean and pure, as he melded elements of rock, Latin, soul, jazz and blues. He was elegant on "Europa," tortured on "Put Your Lights On" and transcendently soulful on "(Da Le) Yaleo," during which he was clearly relishing his playing.

Other musicians in his nine-person band had moments in the spotlight, including drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, his wife of 12 years, on a crowd-pleasing six-minute solo, and bassist Benny Rietveld on an instrumental treatment of Prince's "Purple Rain" during which the fans spontaneously sang the chorus. While many touring musicians acknowledge Prince by performing this obvious song in Minnesota, this was one of the more unusual approaches.

From the new album, Santana offered the groover "Boo," and "Joy," a misguided mishmash of reggae and country.

The home stretch of the less-than-smoothly paced show was heavy on material from "Supernatural," Santana's blockbuster, Grammy-sweeping 1999 all-star effort. The band's current vocalists, the laudable Ray Greene and the serviceable Andy Vargas, didn't exactly spark the same kind of excitement as Rob Thomas on "Smooth" or Everlast on "Put Your Lights On." But fans always love to hear the hits no matter who sings them.

The encore was a hippie jam of the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues," the Chamber Brothers' "Love, Peace and Happiness" and Sly & the Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher," a bar-band medley that may have produced a spiritual reawakening for baby boomers but not a spiritual orgasm.