The Rolling Stones Give Cubans What They Need, A Two-Hour Free Concert
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones 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.
The Rolling Stones
gave half-a-million Cubans what they needed Friday night at Ciudad
Deportiva de la Habana -- a free outdoor concert that lasted for more
than two hours, starting with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and ending just
before 11 p.m. with “Satisfaction,” which got the crowd literally
jumping from the familiar opening chords.
And just like anywhere
in the world, cell phones went up to capture the band on video,
especially for the songs they knew the most. The difference was there
was no service on site and Cubans can’t easily upload photos and videos
online; Internet is dial-up speed. But they knew the rock concert
protocol, even if they hadn’t experienced it before.
Fans had waited a lifetime to see the legendary British band play in
the Communist country, and this evening marked a historic occasion for
the band and for Cuba: It was frontman Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith
Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood’s first-ever
concert there since the band formed in 1962.
The Cuban government
has relaxed its restrictions in recent years, and this grand gesture
foreshadows more freedoms for the Cuban people. Once upon a time, the
Rolling Stones' music was banned because the government considered it an
“ideological deviation.”
Still, security was relaxed, even with
the sheer numbers who flocked to the giant field. Fans didn’t run,
jostle or get in fisticuffs over spots. There was the usual event staff
in bright yellow shirts, plus dozens of Cuban police and Interior
Ministry officers, but none were aggressive. It was the way all fans and
authorities should behave.
The massive grounds -- used for
sporting events from baseball to football -- were divided into sections,
but were filled with people as far as the eye could see. The front,
which still held thousands, was reserved for people who held a special
ticket -- a small square of white paper that read: “Concierto RollinG
Stone” (si, the G was capitalized), then in a black block “INVITACION”
and underneath the date, time, place, and a number, followed by the word
“PERSONAL” and above it a guitar colored in black.
Some people were selling the free tickets. Vancouver’s Glenn Latta and Andy Polo told
Billboard they paid 5 CUC ($5 USD) each for theirs.
The
atmosphere was super chill in the hot sun, as people waited hours for
the 8:35 p.m. start time, some opening umbrellas to provide shade.
Clouds and a light breeze came later in the day. Between Stones songs
piping through the speakers — as well as ones by various acts from
Deep Purple to
Eric Clapton -- there
was plenty of video footage on the screens to kill time: clips of the
band rehearsing and playing onstage, while interviews with Mick and the
boys could be heard (in English, of course).
The crowd was assorted, some sporting T-shirts as varied as
Cannibal Corpse,
Misfits,
Slipknot and
The Beatles,
and every age from children to those of the Stones members’
generation. Mick is 72, going on 50; Keith, 72; Ronnie, 68; and Charlie,
74. But you wouldn’t have known it by watching them onstage.
The
18-song set consisted of many of the same hits and classics they've
been playing in various sequences on their América Latina Olé Tour —
“Jumpin' Jack Flash,” “It's Only Rock ‘n Roll,” “Tumbling Dice,” “Paint
It Black,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Midnight Rambler,” “Miss You,” “Gimme
Shelter,” “Start Me Up,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Brown Sugar,” and
the two-song encore, “You Can't Always Get What You Want” and
“Satisfaction.”
Cuba marked the tour finale -- which included four
shows in Brazil, three in Argentina, two in Mexico, and one each in
Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Colombia -- and was filmed for a future Eagle
Rock Entertainment DVD, to be titled
Concert for Amity.
But many of the songs probably weren’t familiar to the Cubans who
don’t have easy access to their music. One entrepreneur sold MP3
“Coleccion” bootleg CDs for 1 CUC ($1 USD) just outside the venue in
plain view of the policia. And many fans made their own Stones
merchandise -- drawing the tongue and lips logo on their bodies,
creating their own shirts, and designing posters. No merch was for sale
at the venue; the price would exceed what most Cubans make in a month
(shirts are now for sale on the band’s web store for $40-45). The
foreign fans, who had traveled from far and wide, boasted Stones tour
T-shirts from all over the world.
Jagger spoke a considerable
amount of Spanish throughout the show, and did so quite well, judging by
the reaction to his comments. He gave it his all, as usual -- prancing,
pointing, and engaging the crowd in a sing-along for “Midnight Rambler”
and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” He ran from one side of the
stage to the other, and often went to the end of the runway that jutted
into the audience, easily getting the thousands to join him in overhead
claps.
For the newish (1998) song “Out of Control,” the band gave
it a working that, even for people who didn’t know it, brought it to
life. Jagger also played blues harp and dueled with Richards’ guitar
playing. The song that won the online fan vote to include in the Cuba
set turned out to be “All Down the Line,” and then they dipped right
into “Angie,” with Jagger saying something in Spanish that included the
word “romántico.” They changed the melody a bit, but when he sang the
words “
Where will it lead us from here?” one couldn’t help but think that it could mean how will this concert impact the future of western rock tours in Cuba?
“Paint
It Black” was given a bit of a slight Latin flavor, and “Honky Tonk
Woman” kicked off with keyboardist Chuck Leavell’s cowbell, got all the
cell phones lit up in the air. Jagger then said something else in
Spanish, of which English-speaking folk caught just the words “whiskey”
and “fish and chips.” He then introduced the whole band, which is
rounded out by bassist Darryl Jones; backing vocalists Sasha Allen and
Bernard Fowler; and horn section Tim Ries, Matt Clifford and Karl
Denson.
Then, after Jagger introduced “mi compadre” Keith Richards, the guitarist fist bumped him then stepped up to the mic.
“Cuba… and the Rolling Stones. This is amazing,” he said. “This is
really good to be here, you know? It’s great to see you guys,” he added,
strapping on an acoustic guitar and accompanied by Ronnie. “Yes,
indeed. This one’s called ‘You Got the Silver.’”
After, he switched to electric. “Muchos gracias,” he said, his only Spanish words. “Hey, hey guys. I’m gonna live here, baby [
laughs]. I’ve got one more for you. It’s called ‘Before They Make Me Run.’”
A
lengthy “Midnight Rambler” followed with the crowd singing along, and
“Miss You” revved them up into a dancing mode. Jagger even wiggled his
butt as Jones did a funky bass solo, and like all Stones
audiences around the globe, this one did the “woos” on cue. “Gimme
Shelter” showed off Sasha Allen as an able replacement for Lisa Fischer
(who currently has a number of
solo tour dates
lined up), and then the show wound down with “Start Me Up,” “Sympathy
for the Devil” (for which Jagger sported a black cloak adorned with red
feathers) and “Brown Sugar.”
“Muchos gracias. Buenas noches,” he said, walking off stage with the band.
The
encore started with Cuba’s Entrevoces choir, and those lines from "You
Can't Always Get What You Want" which meant so much this evening: “
You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you just might find you get what you need,"
and
Jagger cheekily got the crowd to sing the first line over and over.
(People can't always get what they want under the restrictions placed by
the Communist government in Cuba, although -- as evidenced by the
Stones being allowed to perform there for the first time -- things
are slowly changing.) The French horn signaled the start of the vocal,
and Jagger appeared wearing a Russian Bolchevique hat, popular in Cuba.
The night ended with “Satisfaction,” and the half-a-million who orderly
filed out of the venue got it. Satisfaction, indeed. And it was a long
time coming for both parties.
Setlist:
"Jumpin' Jack Flash"
"It's Only Rock 'n Roll"
"Tumbling Dice"
"Out of Control"
"All Down the Line"
"Angie"
"Paint It Black"
"Honky Tonk Woman"
"You Got the Silver"
"Before They Make Me Run"
"Midnight Rambler"
"Miss You"
"Gimme Shelter"
"Start Me Up"
"Sympathy for the Devil"
"Brown Sugar"
Encores:
"You Can't Always Get What You Want"
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
