Santana plans return to Blaisdell

After selling out the Blaisdell Arena down to standing-room-only tickets in 2013, Carlos Santana returns to Hawaii for concerts on March 3 at Blaisdell Arena and March 5 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

Tickets for the Honolulu concerts, $59 to $149, go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday via Ticketmaster, at ticketmaster.com, 800-745-3000 or outlets including the Blaisdell box office.

Tickets for the Maui show go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Dec. 12: 242-7469 or www.mauiarts.org.

Santana’s Honolulu concerts in 2013 were his first in 15 years, though the artist maintains a presence in the islands; he and wife and drummer, Cindy Blackman-Santana, often spend time on Maui.

Santana has scored at least one Top 10 album in each decade from the 1960s onward, a feat matched only by the Rolling Stones. His latest Top 10 release was 2010’s “Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time.”

The guitarist recently returned to the studio with his band, including former Hono­lulu resident and McKinley High grad Benny Rietveld, the band’s bassist, to begin recording an as-yet-untitled album.

His first Top 10 hit, “Evil Ways,” remained on the charts more than two years after its release in 1969. In 2002 his collaboration with Michelle Branch on “The Game of Love” (originally recorded with Tina Turner) rose to No. 5 on the Billboard singles chart.

More hits include “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman,” and the 1999 blockbuster “Smooth,” featuring Rob Thomas.

Rolling Stone named him one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” in 2011, placing him at No. 15. In 1998 the group Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The show is presented by Marek Lieberberg in association with Ron Gibson Entertainment and the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.