The Rolling Stones are heading to Havana.
MIck Jagger, Keith Richards and the gang will perform for the first time in Cuba on March 25, the band announced Tuesday on its web site.
“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 band said in a statement.
The World’s Greatest Band’s free concert at the Cuidad Deportiva stadium has "been in the planning stages for several months," the statement said.
Dubbed the "Concert for Amity," it will cap the band's ongoing "America Latina Ole" of South America and be recorded for posterity by a team directed by Paul Dugdale, the statement said.
The concert venue, which seats 15,000 and is home to Cuba's national volleyball team, is a 30 minute drive from the grim Combinado del Este prison from which 53 dissidents were released in January as part of a deal with the U.S. aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries.
The Stones are also spearheading a "musician to musician initiative" aimed at getting donated top quality instruments like Gibson and Gretsch guitars, as well as other gear like Zildjian cymbals and Pearl drums, into the hands of Cuba's talented but equipment-challenged musicians.
The Stones are scheduled to arrive in the Castro-controlled country four days after President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama make their historic visit to Cuba. Obama will be the first sitting American president to visit the nation in 90 years.
Rumors of a possible Stones concert in Cuba began circulating in October when Jagger and one of his kids were spotted club-hopping in Havana. Referring to Jagger as "El Rolling," the official Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma also reported they toured Havana's historic Old Town.
