The Rolling Stones Announce Free Easter Concert In Cuba
Rolling to Cuba for the first time, The Rolling Stones have announced on their website that they have extended their Latin American tour and will be performing a free concert in Havana this March.
According to Rollingstone Magazine, the Rolling Stones have been planning the visit for several months. It is promising a set list filled with “classic Stones hits” and “special gems” for the Cuban audience.
An organization supporting charitable projects pertaining to healthcare, education, athletics, and tourism around the world called Fundashon Con Intenshon is organizing the event on behalf of the Caribbean island of Curacao. The Institute of Cuban Music is also providing support for the event.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Rolling Stones show comes at a time where artists are invading the country in record numbers. U.S. art, entertainment, and technology executives are tapping the country for places to shoot TV shows and movies. The Rolling Stones concert is another step in the expansion of introducing Western culture into the formerly isolated nation.
“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 Stones said in a statement.
The Rolling Stones announce free concert in Cuba! #StonesCuba https://t.co/Xdl4DW9lnH pic.twitter.com/olRCAc2XbX
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) March 1, 2016
The Rolling Stones have been touring South America for the last month. They have been touring off and on for the last year, starting with a tour in the U.S. last summer.
The Rolling Stones event will take place just after president Barack Obama and First lady, Michelle Obama are scheduled to visit Cuba. President Barack Obama will bet the first president to take a seat in Cuba in over 80 years.
The Associated Press reports that this event will be the biggest act to perform in Cuba since the country’s 1959 revolution. Formerly, the Cuba government had prevented young Cubans from listening to rock music. Since the policy’s dropping the government has been allowing large, non-official concerts. The government’s lifting of cultural arts band is allowing for more events outside of The Rolling Stones concert. On Sunday, an electronic dance group called Major Lazer will also perform in Havana as part of the lead-up to Musicabana, a festival in May billed as the first produced by Cuban and American partners in more than three decades.
The Rolling Stones Concert For Amity will be filmed and produced by award-winning production company JA Digital.
Read more about Mick Jagger here.
[Photo Matt Cardy/Getty Images]
