STONES ROCK CUBA

Choosing not to spend as much time onstage as Fidel Castro would while giving speeches, The Rolling Stones whipped through 18 songs Friday (3/25) at the largest free rock concert in Cuba’s history. Rock & roll and other popular Western music, banned under Fidel Castro’s regime, has been inching toward acceptance in recent years with performances by Juanes and Major Lazer.

Held at the outdoor sports complex Ciudad Deportiva days after President Obama visited Havana, Mick Jagger told the crowd, “We know in the past it wasn’t easy to hear our music in Cuba. But here we are, playing for you. I think that finally the times are changing.”

The Stones opened with “Jumping Jack Flash” and encored with “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” The set leaned heavily on hits from the '70s and also included “Paint It Black,” “All Down the Line” and 1997’s “Out of Control.” Keith Richards sang “You Got the Silver” and “Before They Make Me Run.”

“It’s refreshing to us—break into someplace new,” Keith says in the band’s official from the event video, which also captures Jagger speaking to the audience in Spanish.