The Rolling Stones have been playing some of their biggest hits to a huge crowd in Cuba, where foreign rock music was banned for several decades.

Mick Jagger welcomed fans in Havana in Spanish, before opening the performance with the 1968 hit Jumpin' Jack Flash.

Many of those at the free concert are lifelong rock fans who for many years had to keep quiet about their love of the Stones and other groups.

The concert comes days after a historic visit by President Barack Obama.

Tens of thousands of Cubans queued for hours to get into the grounds of Havana's huge Ciudad Deportiva venue.

"Hello, Havana. Good evening, my people of Cuba," said Mick Jagger before beginning the eagerly awaited performance.

The gig is being seen as another sign of real change on the island.

Until about 15 years ago Cuba's communist government banned most Western rock and pop music.

It was deemed decadent and subversive.

But Cuba has changed significantly in recent years, particularly in the past 18 months as the process of rapprochement with the United States has quickened, says the BBC's Will Grant in Havana.

(BBC)