Sir Mick, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood flew into Jose Marti worldwide airport on Thursday with family members and crew aboard their private plane.
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Frontman Mick Jagger welcomed the crowd in Spanish, before adding “Hello, Havana”.
In a video message released in the days before the concert, the veteran British rockers said: “We’ve performed in many incredible places, but this concert in Havana is going to be an historic event for us”.
THE POPE tried to halt a Rolling Stones gig in Cuba last night.
Reuters reports the band rocked the crowd by starting its first show in Cuba with 1968’s “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.
“This is incredible! It’s really good to be here!”
The performance highlighted a memorable week in Cuba, as a sitting US president visited for the first time since Fidel Castro seized power and his brother, Raul Castro, the current president, promised that any remaining political prisoners would be released from prison. “It’s good to see you guys!”
Former supermodel Naomi Campbell, actor Richard Gere and singer Jimmy Buffet partied in the VIP section of the concert.
Cuba’s communist government banned music that is saw as diverse and subversive until the early 2000s.
Cibercuba also got great footage of Cubans waiting to get into the show, including a handmade Che-Guevara-with-Rolling-Stones-lips banner.
The rock band landed Friday, inviting all Cuban people to join them at Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva for the show. Their ages ranged from young to old. “I would like to see more groups, for there to be more variety, for more artists to come, because that would mean we are less isolated”.
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The band’s Cuba stop follows concerts in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina and Mexico.
