Why The Rolling Stones Cuba Concert is Revolutionary

The Rolling Stones will perform in Havana, Cuba on March 25th 2016. For the first time since the Cuban revolution in 1959, a major international performance artist will step into the communist nation and entertain a generation of people who have never witnessed a musical performance of such magnitude. Fittingly, there is no bigger band than the Rolling Stones to introduce rock and roll to the Cuban people.

In a statement released by the Rolling Stones on their website, 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 Rolling Stones are currently touring Latin America in what they have coined their America Latina Ole tour. The tour has made stops in Santiago, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio De Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre.

The concerts have been made possible by the recent thaw in relations with the communist country and the United States. President Obama, recently announced a ground breaking visit to Cuba in the spring of 2016, approximately three days before the Rolling Stone arrive in Havana. President Obama will be the first United States President to visit Cuba since the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Cuba has only recently eased the once-hardened restrictions on mass public gatherings. The Cuban government has also been easing the restrictions on foreign music and literature. There was a time when the Cuban people could be prosecuted for listening to rock music, which was seen as Western propaganda.

The Rolling Stones concert in Cuba has been made possible, according to the Rolling Stones, by the Fundashon Bon Intenshonis, which is described on its website as being “committed to social betterment on Curaçao through (inter)national music, sports, and arts projects with a focus on youth development.”

In addition to performing for the Cuban people, the Rolling Stones have announced that they will donate musical instruments to Cuban musicians in conjunction with musical instrument companies such as Pearl, Zildjian, Gretsch, Latin Percussion, The Gibson Foundation, Vic Firth, RS Berkeley, Roland, and BOSS.

The Rolling Stones performing in Havana, Cuba, represents an early revolution in breaking down barriers between strict communist ideologies and unrestricted access to the arts, which should resist political boundaries.

Updated June 30, 2026

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