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| The iconic tongue symbol of the Rolling Stones sits atop the similarly iconic image of revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara on a sign placed by fans outside the venue where the Rolling Stones will play their concert in Havana, Cuba, Friday, March 25, 2016. The Stones are performing in a free concert in Havana Friday, becoming the most famous act to play Cuba since its 1959 revolution. |
HAVANA
(AP) -- Tens of thousands of jubilant Cubans and tourists swarmed the
site of the Rolling Stones' free concert in Havana Friday, calling it a
historic moment for a country that once forced rock fans to listen to
their favorite music behind closed doors.
Coming
two days after Barack Obama finished the first trip to Cuba by a U.S.
president in nearly 90 years, the evening concert highlighted the
communist-run nation's opening to the world and organizers expected at
least a half million people to see the biggest act to play in Cuba since
its 1959 revolution.
"After today I can die,"
said night watchman Joaquin Ortiz. The 62-year-old said he's been a
huge rock fan since he was a teenager in the 1960s, when Cuba's
communist government frowned on U.S. and British bands and he had to
hide his Beatles and Stones albums in covers borrowed from albums of
appropriately revolutionary Cuban groups. "This is like my last wish,
seeing the Rolling Stones."
Small groups of
people slept overnight outside the Ciudad Deportiva, or Sports City,
where a massive stage had been set up for the British rock legends. Tens
of thousands more people streamed toward the outdoor sports complex
throughout the day.
At least half those
waiting outside the concert gates to be the first to get in were
foreigners, for whom seeing Cuba was as novel as seeing the Stones is
for Cubans.
Ken Smith, a 59-year-old retired
sailor, and Paul Herold, a 65-year-old retired plumber, sailed to Havana
from Key West, Florida on Herold's yacht. "This has been one of my
life-long dreams, to come to Cuba on my sailboat," Herold said.
Smith
said the concert provided inspiration to come to Cuba after years of
thinking about it and he didn't regret it. "We've just been taken for a
ride in a '57 Pontiac. It doesn't get any better than that."
On
arrival, lead singer Mick Jagger indirectly referenced the recent
changes in Cuba. Obama re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba
last year and called for the two countries to move toward full
normalization in order to end the legacy of the Cold War and prompt Cuba
to engage in more reforms of its single-party system and centrally
controlled economy.
"Obviously something has
happened in the last few years," Jagger told reporters at Jose Marti
International Airport. "So, time changes everything... we are very
pleased to be here and I'm sure it's going to be a great show."
Cuban
musicologist Joaquin Borges characterized the event as "very
important," saying it would be the biggest rock concert of its kind ever
on the island. He predicted that it would encourage "other groups of
that stature to come and perform."
"It's a
dream that has arrived for the Cuban people," radio host and rock music
specialist Juanito Camacho.
"A lot of young Cubans will like the music
but it will also satisfy the longings of older generations."
Some Cuban concert-goers said it made them more optimistic about the future of their country.
"This
is history," said Raul Podio, a 22-year-old employee of a state
security firm, who was joined by a group of young friends. "I would like
to see more groups, for there to be more variety, for more artists to
come, because that would mean we are less isolated."
The
band's private plane carried the four British rockers, family members
and about 60 technical workers to manage the huge amount of gear brought
to the island for the concert, including seven huge screens and 1,300
kilograms (2,866 pounds) of sound equipment.
"We
have performed in many special places during our long career, but this
show in Havana will be a milestone for us, and, we hope, for all our
friends in Cuba, too," the band said in a statement released before the
arrival Thursday night.
While they waited
hours for the show to begin, fans listened to a loop of songs by popular
artists including Amy Winehouse while a lone vendor tried to sell
popcorn to members of the crowd. Security was heavy, provided by private
guards in yellow jackets and hundreds of Cuban police and black-clad
Interior Ministry officers in black jumpsuits.
In
the heat of Cuba's revolution from the 1960s to the 1980s, foreign
bands such as The Rolling Stones were considered subversive and blocked
from the radio. Rock music such as the Stones' wasn't officially
prohibited in public, but it was disapproved of. Cubans listened to
their music in secret, passing records from hand to hand.
The
band's Cuba stop ends its "Ole" Latin America tour, which also included
concerts in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina and Mexico.
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