Rolling Stones To Play Free Concert For Cuba

The Rolling Stones have announced that they will be playing a free concert in Cuba.

This will be the band’s first show in Cuba and will likely to be one of the biggest shows for both the island and the band. They will be playing in the open air sports complex Ciudad Deportiva in the capital, Havana. The concert is organized by the Fundashon Bon Intenshon which supports charitable projects regarding education, athletics, cultural literacy, healthcare, and tourism around the world. The Institute of Cuban Music is also supporting this event.

The band said in a statement, “We have performed in many special places during our long career but this show in Havana is going to be a landmark event for us, and, we hope, for all our friends in Cuba too.”

Cuba has a rich musical heritage, but Fidel Castro banned rock and roll from the country in 1961, when the genre was on the rise in the US. The ban was less severe as time went on, with an avid Cuban rock black market, but still, the country missed the peak of the “British invasion” era of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The Rolling Stones said they will be distributing instruments to Cuban musicians which have been donated by major makers.

Havana will be the final stop on the Rolling Stones’ current tour of Latin America.

The concert will take place on March 25, four days after President Barack Obama is scheduled to make his historic visit to the country signifying that the communist country is rejoining the global mainstream. He will be the first sitting U.S. President to visit the country since 1928.

There are rumors of other major musicians such as Paul McCartney, U2 and Sting with interest of performing in Cuba, but none of these claims have been confirmed. Major Lazer, the maker of “Lean On,” will perform in Havana on Sunday, kicking of the new Musicabana festival that will feature more than 25 artists in celebration of US-Cuban relations.