The Rolling Stones will perform the first open air concert in Cuba by a British rock band after announcing a surprise show to take place on March 25. The Stones are currently on their America Latina Ole Tour originally set to end in Mexico City on March 17, but will now visit Cuba just three days after U.S. President Barack Obama makes his own historic visit.“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,” said a statement, with the band following the Manic Street Preachers to the country – the most prominent English band to play Cuba when they performed in front of President Fidel Castro at Havana's Karl Marx Theatre in 2001. Castro had previously marginalized rock music since the 1950s.The Rolling Stones show, their first in the Caribbean, will be filmed by director Paul Dugdale, who has previously worked with Coldplay and Adele, and award winning production company JA Digital. “It’s a great honour to be working with the Rolling Stones again on this hugely exciting and historic event,” said Julie Jakobek of JA Digital.The band will also be running a musician-to-musician initiative in which musical instruments and equipment are donated by manufacturers for Cuban musicians, no matter what genre they play. The project is supported by The Gibson Foundation, Vic Firth, RS Berkeley, Pearl, Zildjian, Gretsch, Latin Percussion, Roland and BOSS, along with the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation.The show has been supported by Fundashon Bon Intenshon from the island of Curaçao, which supports international charitable projects in cultural literacy and education and will be known as the “Concert for Amity.”
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