The Rolling Stones on Tuesday announced a free concert in Cuba in what is likely to be one of the biggest shows ever both for the island and the rock legends.The March 25 concert will take place four days after a historic visit by US President Barack Obama, a powerful sign that the communist state is joining the global mainstream after decades of tension with Washington.The Rolling Stones will play their first-ever concert in Cuba at the open-air sports complex Ciudad Deportiva in the capital Havana.
“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,” the band said in a statement.Cuba has a famously rich musical heritage but revolutionary leader Fidel Castro banned rock and roll in 1961, fearing a degenerate influence from the US-born art form.The island eventually relaxed its ban but missed the full force of the “British invasion” by bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.Cuban rock fans had to resort to black-market recordings as Castro railed against youth who listened to “imperialist” music on transistor radios.
source:AFP
