The Rolling Stones performed for the first time in Havana, Cuba on Friday night before hundreds of thousands of fans.

The gig with the veteran performers of the legendary rock band added to the accelerated opening of the island to the outside world.

“I think the times are finally changing,” said Mick Jagger, lead singer of the legendary British band, on a monumental stage set up at the grounds of Havana’s Sports City, a few kilometers from the Palace of the Revolution, reported dpa news.

“We know that years ago it was hard to listen to our music here in Cuba. But here we are,” said the leader of the “satanic majesties, who spoke several words in Spanish to the hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the sports field.

According to HavanaTimes The spectacular concert would have been unthinkable in the early decades of the Cuban Revolution, when Fidel Castro rejected any protest or counter-culture music like rock as representatives of capitalist decadence. Bands like The Beatles or the Stones themselves were banned in the 60’s on Cuban radio and television.

The new Cuba of market reforms under Raul Castro sees rock music more kindly, as long as they are not local musicians who criticize the system or its leaders.

The Stones started playing three years after the revolution in Cuba. Despite the age, Jagger is 72, the band maintains an impressive freshness, not only by the lead singer’s agility to jump around the stage.

The Stones played classics from their repertoire such as “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Start Me Up”, “Brown Sugar” or “Gimme Shelter,” and closed the impressive concert more than two hours after it started with their most famous song, “Satisfaction”.

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