Cubans Flock to First Ever Rolling Stones Concert
Tens of thousands of Cubans flocked Friday to the first Rolling Stones concert ever played on the communist island, symbolically breaking with a repressive past in which even listening to rock 'n roll was illegal.
With no charge for entry, Cuban state media estimated that as many as 500,000 people could cram into Havana's Ciudad Deportiva sports complex -- and thousands more into surrounding streets.
Some slept out overnight to get the best positions. Many others began streaming in more than six hours before the Stones' frontman Mick Jagger was to get the gig started at about 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Saturday).
"We didn't manage to be the first, but from this spot we're sure not to miss a single detail," said Stones fan Swnien Morera, 27.
Police were out in force and an alcohol ban was in place as fans flocked towards the 80-meter (260-foot) stage which is flanked by 10 giant video screens.
Many said the event showed Cuba was finally coming out of the cold after decades of ideological and economic isolation.
"I think I'm going to cry," said Miguel Garcia, 62, who had come by bus from Cienfuegos in the south of Cuba and slept on the sports field ahead of the show.
"This concert is going to be the key to the door closing us in. The Rolling Stones are going to open it so that Cuba has more choices of rock bands, especially from the era we were unable to participate in."
- Momentous week -
Jagger, 72, Keith Richards, 72, Charlie Watts, 74, and Ronnie Wood, 68, flew in late Thursday, arriving just two days after a political superstar, US President Barack Obama, ended his historic visit aimed at overcoming more than half a century of U.S.-Cuban hostility.
The twin events added up to a tumultuous week for Cuba, which has been run by Fidel Castro and now his brother Raul at the head of the Communist Party ever since their guerrilla army drove out a U.S.-backed regime in 1959.
Between the 1960s and 1990s, rock 'n roll was discouraged to varying degrees, leading during the most repressive years to clandestine listening sessions and an underground trade in smuggled recordings.
"A Rolling Stones concert in Havana? It's a dream," said Eddie Escobar, 45, who founded one of Havana's few clubs for live rock music, the Yellow Submarine.
He remembers secretly searching for U.S. commercial radio frequencies so that he could hear the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and the like.
"Rock music, I hope, will open everything else -- politics, the economy, the Internet. We're 20 years behind absolutely everything," Escobar said.
- Biggest show ever -
With no tickets on sale, it was impossible to confirm estimates that between half a million and a million people would come.
What was sure was that the Stones were putting on the most grandiose show ever staged in Cuba, where no other comparable rock group has come to play -- put off by lack of infrastructure and Cubans' lack of spending power.
Organizers told Billboard that the high-tech production meant importing gear in 61 sea containers and a packed Boeing 747.
The Cuban contribution to the technical side of the concert was decidedly lower-key. As nearly everywhere else in Cuba, there was no wifi signal at the sports complex, and as the crowds grew even cellphones stopped working.
The band called on fans via Twitter to vote for one of four songs -- "Get Off My Cloud," "All Down the Line," "She's so Cold," and "You Got Me Rocking" -- to be included on the playlist. But few in Cuba, where Internet is not widely available, have access to Twitter.
