New Age sermonizing has always been part and parcel of Carlos Santana's onstage shtick, so it wasn't a surprise to hear the guitarist invoke the divine, early during his exuberant sold-out show Friday night at the Ice Palace.

"We want to acknowledge the presence of the invisible," Santana told the cheering crowd of about 16,000, on the second date of his U.S. summer tour. The 10-piece band had just concluded an impressionistic piece complete with long-held notes and fusion-derived lines.

Later, the six-stringer gave props to John Coltrane, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley, Mother Teresa and other spiritual, musical and political leaders, and dispensed this bit of advice: "Take time to visit yourself, spiritually."

Divine intervention, not to mention sharp producers at Arista and some younger collaborators may indeed be responsible for the late-career comeback of Santana, who celebrated his 53rd birthday last Thursday, the day of the concert trek's start in West Palm Beach. Santana's appropriately titled "Supernatural," released last year, grabbed a record-breaking nine Grammy awards in February, has sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide and remains on the Billboard 200 more than a year after it entered the chart .

On the road, though, Santana is forced to work without the net of those superstars (Lauryn Hill, Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Dave Matthews, Everlast, Eric Clapton) who helped introduce the fast-fading classic rocker to thousands of listeners who weren't even alive when the instrumentalist made his debut on the psychedelic San Francisco scene in the late '60s.

Santana pulled it off the way he always has, using the hits, competently sung by Tony Lindsay and Andy Vargas, as stepping-off points for his typically mesmerizing flights of six-string fancy.

The master of the significant sustain knows how to make a note sing, and he demonstrated that very talent on a 140-minute set heavy on new favorites, including "Put Your Lights On" (Bics were duly flicked), recent chartbuster "Maria Maria," "Corazon Espinado," "Wishing It Was" and, of course, the once omnipresent "Smooth."

Longtime fans' patience paid off when Santana turned in spirited versions of "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va," just prior to the encore. An extended version of old Ben E. King hit "Supernatural Thing" served as a showcase for the rootsy organ jamming of Chester Thompson, and an opportunity for opening act Macy Gray to chime in with the headliner.

Gray, tall, afro-topped and sporting a few stage moves and shouted band cues inspired by the likes of James Brown and Prince, doubtless made a few converts during her own portion of the show. With the help of a full rhythm section, four horn players and three backup singers wearing neon blue wigs, she dug into the old-school soul of "On How Life Is," her widely acclaimed 1999 debut disc.

She applied those odd, scratchy, helium-register vocals to "Why Didn't You Call Me?," "Do Something," "I've Committed Murder" (spiked with references to "The Odd Couple," "Bewitched" and other tv themes), "Sex-o-matic Venus Freak," "Can't Wait to Meetchu" and "I Try."

For good measure, Gray threw in a molasses-slow version of "Que Sera Sera," the pop chestnut once covered by Sly and the Family Stone. It was built on a solid blues-funk groove that picked up momentum, and a feverish gospel edge, as it moved along. The same might be said about Gray's satisfying set. Her kind of sermons are always welcome.