Hundreds of thousands of Cubans are expected at Friday's free Rolling Stones concert in Havana

In the late 1960s, under Fidel Castro's watch, to be caught listening to the Rolling Stones in Cuba was akin to treason. Unlucky Cuban rock and roll fans, or even those wearing blue jeans or sporting long hair, could be sent to farms in labor brigades where such "ideological deviation" would be corrected. Forbidden records and tapes were smuggled onto the island and played quietly, if at all, in private.

Imagine the irony, then, that the Rolling Stones would be the band to put on a concert that would, in part, signify Cuba's opening into the capitalist world. It's not just any concert, either. The Stones are performing Friday in what is shaping up to be the largest concert ever seen on the island. Some 400,000 people are expected to gather on a field near the Havana baseball stadium for the free open-air show.

"The Rolling Stones signified radical change in the 1960s," one 60-year-old Cuban told The Wall Street Journal. "Now they are arriving here as the whole country is changing. The Rolling Stones don't know the energy they will generate," he said.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up