“Rolling! Rolling! Rolling!….” The Cuban crowd chanted, happily and louder as they grew impatient. The tension was building, the anticipation almost unbearable. We had been waiting on the grass for nearly three hours, to be sure of a good position, as the crowd grew around us, and now it was time. Actually ten minutes late, 8.40pm, under a full moon. The lights on the stage and screens, suddenly went out. Half a million people were in a total blackout. The chanting and cheering grew louder, and louder, people squeezing together and moving forward in the darkness…when in a sudden blinding blaze of bright light the Rolling Stones appeared on stage on the giant screens – and without more delay – we were overcome by the adrenalin-charged pounding beat of “I’m Jumping Jack Flash, it´s a gas, gas, gas!”

(view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVvloJZdNUs)

The build up to this moment began hours before, when good friends Robinson and Juan Carlos and I got ready in Vedado, for the concert of a life-time. We caught a bus and then walked the last kilometre to the Ciudad Deportiva – with hundreds of thousands of Cubans. We converged on the vast, open air space, outside the spaceship-like stadium, where a huge temporary stage had been erected with sound towers and giant screens. This was Good Friday, 25th March, 2016.

The concert was underway, the music was exhilarating and the atmosphere was off the Richter scale. Close-ups of the faces of the four original band members appeared on the huge screens, and they were having a ball…. beaming with pleasure and full of energy… and all in their 70s (except Ronnie Wood who was 69). When there was an opportunity, Mick Jagger welcomed the vast happy Cuban crowd:

“Buenas noches! At last the times are changing and we are so happy to be here. Our music was banned in Cuba for many years, but we are here tonight with our music for you.”

He joked with the audience and his bandmates during the performance, calling the original members

“The Revolutionary Ronnie Wood…Charlie Ché Watts….Compadre Keith Richards”

This wonderful event was the culmination of an historic week in Havana. It began on the Monday, when USA1 landed at José Martí Airport, Havana, bringing the President Barack Obama and his family, including his mother in law, to Cuba for the first time. His arrival was broadcast live on national TV, and each of his meetings and speeches over the next few days were also broadcast live. Most knowledgeable Cubans knew that nothing was going to change in their lives straight away, but most agreed that this was a step in the right direction. The arrival of the black US President with his family was hugely symbolic – showing that he felt safe enough in Cuba to bring his wife and children with him, and showing the world what Cubans are really like – warm, generous, funny, educated people.

Full credit is due to the legendary Rolling Stones and their sexy front man, Mick Jagger. They brought all of their equipment, vast stage and screens, and technical team, with their backing vocalists and musicians to give the Cuban people a free, unforgettable concert that lasted two hours – as if to mark a new beginning. They enjoyed themselves; Mick Jagger enchanted the audience with his colloquial Cuban Spanish, shouting at the fans “Ustedes están en talla!” (you are looking great!); and the screaming, dancing fans had a night none of us will ever forget.

The whole experience was beautiful, but one little scene beside me in the audience, epitomised the night. A mature Cuban lady next to me was waving something in the air, like a cardboard sign, which I could not see well at first. Then, I saw that it was a 1960s Rolling Stones album cover for her much-loved, contraband, vinyl LP record. She had secretly enjoyed their music for fifty years, and here she was, watching them perform live with half a million country folk in Havana. What a moment! (I asked her permission and she was happy for me to take her photo).

After playing for an hour and a half, Jagger finished a song, said “Gracias, buenas noches”… and promptly walked off the stage, accompanied by the whole band, and the lights were dimmed. The audience were left a little stunned… was that it? They applauded, and some began to move towards the exit. I was confident that there would be an encore… but in Cuba, when a show finishes, people generally leave promptly to catch a bus or taxi home….For an uncomfortably long period of time, the audience were confused, but then began to chant again “Rolling, Rolling…” and “Otra, Otra”…and then to my great relief, a Cuban choir paraded onto the stage and sang:

“You can´t always get what you want….but if you try sometimes, well you just might find, you get what you need!”

And then the full band joined them, led by the irrepressible Mick Jagger, strutting the vast stage in his tight trousers and bright red jacket. He could feel the love and returned it in spades. And then the real finale: “Satisfaction”. Wow, what a way to end a concert – the audience was jumping and screaming, and the band was ‘going off’. Finally, after two unforgettable, incomparable hours, the Rolling Stones, nearing exhaustion, waved fondly and left the stage….the lights lit up the vast audience, and the grateful, satisfied, throng turned for the exits.

As half a million people calmly left through the venue, and flowed down the adjacent streets, no motor traffic was possible. From the open grassy sports fields outside the Ciudad Deportiva (Sport City), in the outskirts of Havana, the main road to central Havana passes by a forest… and thousands of men, and probably women too, sprinted into the darkness to urinate, and relieve themselves after showing great restraint for hours. The crowd continued on and occupied the entire main road leading to the Plaza de la Revolucion, and there we passed the illuminated image of Ché Guevara, beaming down like another full moon. With my friends Robinson and Juan Carlos, we happily walked for kilometres, all the way home to Vedado,  arrived back at the apartment at midnight, enjoyed a delicious Cuban coffee and hot milk and then to sleep at 1 am.

Postscript: The DVD and CD of the concert are available, entitled: “The Rolling Stones – Havana Moon”, 25 March 2016, Havana, Cuba