It’s a Friday morning in Habana, and I’m taking one more walk through La Habana Vieja since it’s probably my last chance to take photos there before my departure the following day. As I walked through the streets, I couldn’t look in any one direction without seeing a shirt or hat with the famous Rolling Stones red-lips-with-the-tongue-out logo. The energy and excitement had been building all week amongst locals and foreigners alike for this historic concert

Throughout the week many locals would see me shooting photos around town and ask, “estás aquí para los Rolling Stones?” I explained that they weren’t the only reason I came, but I was definitely looking forward to going and covering it. Everyone I talked to kept saying that all of Habana was going to be there. Official estimates were over half a million people. Sure enough, the official estimate post-concert was 700,000.

Amidst rumors of people camping out as early as the day before, a few friends and I decided to go a few hours early to secure some lawn space for the group. As we arrived to the Ciudad Deportiva, where a few days prior Obama had watched a game of béisbol, I could see the enormous stage towering over the field behind the stadium. Even at 4pm it already seemed as if there were a couple hundred thousand people there, eagerly waiting.

Although the majority were Cubans, many of whom had never seen a concert of this magnitude, there were also people from all over the globe (many of whom brought their own country’s flag and the Stones shirt from when they played in their country – Brazil, Mexico, the U.S.), giving off a very worldly vibe. The concert also transcended generations – from grannies to little babies, I could count at least four, all there to witness the historic show.

Usually festivals and concerts I’ve attended are blatantly fueled by drugs and alcohol, but not this one. Besides the fact that they were searching bags on the way in and alcohol wasn’t permitted, I was surprised to find that only a handful of people were sneaking it in. This concert was refreshingly very sober. The people were genuinely there for the music and the spectacle.

After hours of a looping documentary and a playlist of classic rock, the lights went out, and everyone began to cheer. Phone screens lit the field up. The stage suddenly came alive right as Keith Richards strummed his first chord. The crowd went WILD!

The show lasted over two hours, and I have to say, for how long they’ve been doing it, Jagger still has the moves and Keith is still a beast on the guitar. In between songs, Mick sang to the crowd completely in Spanish. He touched on the historic week that had passed, the beauty of Cuban culture, and thanked Cuba for all of the beautiful music it had gifted to the world.

The show ended abruptly after playing “I Can’t Get No”, just to come right back for a 3-song encore including “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. The energy was immense, just visualize over half a million people in the field and surrounding buildings singing along. I felt so blessed to be there that night, sharing this experience with the Cuban people. Needless to say, the Stones carved out a space in every Cuban’s heart in attendance that night. What a time to be alive indeed.