After putting live performances on hold for nearly two years, Rob Thomas will be taking the stage this Saturday with Carlos Santana for We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert in Central Park.

The two will perform their new collaboration, “Move,” as well as their 1999 mega-hit, “Smooth.” Rob tells ABC Audio he’s thrilled to be able to play live music again, and the experience will be extra sweet because he’ll be celebrating his New York hometown with Santana by his side.

“You know, as a New Yorker, I’m really glad to to do this here,” Rob says. “To me, playing live music is everything. It’s the culmination of all the hard work. And the only reason why you make records and the reason why you play music is so that you can share it, that energy with other people.”

He recalls one of the last shows he did at the end of his tour before everything shut down due to the pandemic.

“I was in Las Vegas. Carlos was in Las Vegas. He came out. We close the show down with this glorious couple of numbers and then it felt like I just held my breath for the next two years,” he says. “And now I get to be with Carlos again and exhale for the first time. And, you know, I kind of get step back into that world that I’m so comfortable with.”

The Homecoming Concert, planned before the rise in Delta variant cases and meant to celebrate the “rebirth” of the Big Apple amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will also feature performances by Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Paul Simon, Journey, LL Cool J, Wyclef Jean, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Killers and more.

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