Rolling Stones to perform Easter concert in Cuba

Are the Rolling Stones set to perform a concert this Easter in Cuba? Are the composers of “Street Fighting Man” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” ready to break bread with the small island country’s Communist regime? “Si!” says Granna, Cuba’s official Communist party newspaper, citing the Cuban Institute of Music. No comment, at least early Tuesday morning, from the Stones’ camp. UPDATE: Literally as this speculative article was being written, the Stones’ representatives announced the band will perform a free concert March 25 in Havana. It will be filmed for later release. The statement issued Tuesday morning reads: “ The Rolling Stones will perform a groundbreaking concert in Havana, Cuba on Friday March 25, 2016.The free concert will take place at the Ciudad Deportiva de la Habana and will be the first open air concert in the country by a British rock band. Always exploring new horizons and true pioneers of rock, the Stones, who have toured every corner of the globe, will bring their high octane performance and incredible music catalogue to the Caribbean for the first time ever. “This once-in-a-lifetime concert event follows the band’s America Latina Olé tour, which is currently receiving rave reviews, playing to huge audiences in stadiums in Santiago, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio De Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre with Lima, Bogotá and Mexico City following next week. The band are also leading a musician to musician initiative in which much needed musical instruments and equipment are being donated by major suppliers for the benefit of Cuban musicians of all genres. Donors include The Gibson Foundation, Vic Firth, RS Berkeley, Pearl, Zildjian, Gretsch, Latin Percussion, Roland and BOSS with additional assistance from the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation.” A statement attributed to the band said: “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 concert has been in the planning stages for several months, the release continues. Its confirmation “comes only days after President Barack Obama's recently announced visit to Cuba.” The concert “is being made possible by the benefaction of Fundashon Bon Intenshon on behalf of the island of Curaçao. Fundashon Bon Intenshon initiates and supports international charitable projects in the fields of education, athletics, cultural literacy, healthcare and tourism as well as other attempts to mitigate the impact of general poverty.” The concert is being jointly promoted by AEG's Concerts West and Musica Punto Zero, in collaboration with the Institute of Cuban Music. (AEG, the parent company of AEG West, owns a controlling interest in Valley View Casino Center, formerly the San Diego Sports Arena. AEG also owns Goldenvoice, which produces the annual Coachella and Stagecoach festivals in Indio.) Dubbed the “Concert for Amity,” the Stones’ Havana concert will be filmed and produced by the award-winning production company JA Digital. Paul Dugdale will direct, The fabled English rock band has performed in Communist countries before, from China in 2006 to Iron Curtian-era Poland in 1967. But this will mark the group’s debut in Cuba, which is now normalizing its relations with the United States after more than half a century of estrangement. The concert will, as the Granna article notes “be an historic moment and open the doors to arrive to Havana other great bands,” among them U2 and Paul McCartney and his group. “At the moment, The Rolling Stones knock on the door and Cubans are willing to fulfill that dream which, as is known, has (been) pursued for too long.” The venue for the Stones’ Havana gig is the grounds of Ciudad Deportiva, which houses a 15,000-capacity sports arena that opened in 1957. The arena is the home of the Cuban men’s national volleyball team. Any spikes related to the Rolling Stones would likely be confined to guitarist Ronnie Wood’s hairstyle or Keith Richards’ leather and metal wristbands.