The 18-song set consisted of many of the same hits and classics they’ve been playing in various sequences on their América Latina Olé Tour - “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll,” “Tumbling Dice,” “Paint It Black,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Midnight Rambler,” “Miss You,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Start Me Up,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Brown Sugar,” and the two-song encore, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Satisfaction.”Ĭuba marked the tour finale - which included four shows in Brazil, three in Argentina, two in Mexico, and one each in Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Colombia - and was filmed for a future Eagle Rock Entertainment DVD, to be titled Concert for Amity. But you wouldn’t have known it by watching them onstage. The crowd was assorted, some sporting T-shirts as varied as Cannibal Corpse, Misfits, Slipknot and The Beatles, and every age from children to those of the Stones members’ generation. Mick is 72, going on 50 Keith, 72 Ronnie, 68 and Charlie, 74. Between Stones songs piping through the speakers - as well as ones by various acts from Deep Purple to Eric Clapton - there was plenty of video footage on the screens to kill time: clips of the band rehearsing and playing onstage, while interviews with Mick and the boys could be heard (in English, of course). Clouds and a light breeze came later in the day. start time, some opening umbrellas to provide shade. The atmosphere was super chill in the hot sun, as people waited hours for the 8:35 p.m. Vancouver’s Glenn Latta and Andy Polo told Billboard they paid 5 CUC ($5 USD) each for theirs.
Some people were selling the free tickets. The Rolling Stones in Havana: See Photos From the Historic Free Concert The front, which still held thousands, was reserved for people who held a special ticket - a small square of white paper that read: “Concierto RollinG Stone” (si, the G was capitalized), then in a black block “INVITACION” and underneath the date, time, place, and a number, followed by the word “PERSONAL” and above it a guitar colored in black. The massive grounds - used for sporting events from baseball to football - were divided into sections, but were filled with people as far as the eye could see. It was the way all fans and authorities should behave.
There was the usual event staff in bright yellow shirts, plus dozens of Cuban police and Interior Ministry officers, but none were aggressive. Attendance numbers reached 700,000 people, with another 500,000 on the perimeter who were trying to get into the event or were just there to hear the music, according to a rep for the band. But fans didn’t run, jostle or get in fisticuffs over spots.
Still, security was relaxed, even with the sheer numbers who flocked to the giant field. Once upon a time, the Rolling Stones’ music was banned because the government considered it an “ideological deviation.” The Cuban government has relaxed its restrictions in recent years, and this grand gesture foreshadows more freedoms for the Cuban people. Inside The Rolling Stones’ Historic Free Concert in Cubaįans had waited a lifetime to see the legendary British band play in the Communist country, and this evening marked a historic occasion for the band and for Cuba: It was frontman Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood’s first-ever concert there since the band formed in 1962.