'The times are changing': Mick Jagger and Rolling Stones satisfy Cuba with free show

[luisam]

'The times are changing': Mick Jagger and Rolling Stones satisfy Cuba with free show

 

March 27 2016 - 2:55PM

 

Havana: The Rolling Stones rocked a massive crowd at a free, outdoor concert in Havana, capping a week of engagement with the West for the communist-led country that once censored the veteran British band's music.

 

The Stones started their first-ever show in Cuba on Friday with Jumpin' Jack Flash, a song recorded in 1968 when Cuban rock fans were secretly sharing pirated vinyl records and risked being sent to rural work brigades to cure "ideological deviation".

 

Stones' lead singer Mick Jagger performs 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. (AP Photo/Enric Marti) Photo: Enric Mart?

 

"We know that years back it was hard to hear our music in Cuba, but here we are playing. I also think the times are changing," lead singer Mick Jagger said in Spanish to a roar from the crowd.

 

The singer spoke in Spanish throughout the 18-song show of hits that lasted more than two hours. The band played Sympathy for the Devil as a yellow moon rose through clouds, and they finished a two-song encore with Satisfaction.

 

The Rolling Stones, (from left) Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, performing their free show in Havana, Cuba, on Friday.  Photo: Enric Mart?

 

Fans started gathering 18 hours ahead of time at Havana's Sports City football and baseball fields, including Cubans who travelled from across the Caribbean's largest island and foreigners who flew in for the occasion.

 

While no official estimate was available for the crowd size, Cuban state media estimated half a million people could fit in the venue, which was nearly full.

The audience ranged from teenagers to pensioners and reserved some of the biggest cheers for Jagger's snakey dance moves.

 

Security was low key and there was a noticeable absence of would-be entrepreneurs selling T-shirts or memorabilia.

 

Thousands of fans listened to the Rolling Stones play for the first time during a free concert in Havana Cuba, on Friday.  Photo: Joe Raedle

 

People were dressed in all manner of jeans, T-shirts and boots with the Stones' tongue and lips logo.

Cubans have taken to colouring the tongue with the stars and stripes of the US flag, whether in the mistaken belief that the British rock stars were American or in the spirit of this week's historic visit by US President Barack Obama.

 

The Stones formed in London in 1962, three years after Fidel Castro's bearded rebels toppled a pro-American government.

Castro's revolutionary government came to see counterculture bands such as the Stones and the Beatles as dangerously subversive and prohibited their music on TV and radio.

 

Half a century later, the Rolling Stones and Cuba's leadership share a longevity, performing well beyond what most people would consider retirement age.

The band's advancing years did not stop the youngsters in the audience enjoying the show, however.

 

For Juan Carlos Leon, 57, the event was more than special.

"To me, this is a consecration," Leon said. "I've waited my whole life for this. The Stones are the greatest."

 

SOURCE

 

 

[Batu69]

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[Fallon]

51 minutes ago, luisam said:

reserved some of the biggest cheers for Jagger's snakey dance moves.

Really? I have not seen the whole concert yet, but from what I have seen, grandpa Jagger engaged in the back and forth stroll again.

And the singing was done with mighty thin voices, fitting their age. 

But hats off to them. They still show up.

And the nice thing about the Stones is that, with exception of their hits, they always have been a good blues band.