History making concerts for Brunch this weekend – Audioslave in concert from Havana, Cuba and recorded on May 6, 2005 before an audience of some 70,000.
This was a first – An American band, Audioslave, no less – giving a free concert before some 70,000 Cubans at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana.
Although many critics were quick to add this wasn’t the only time American musicians played for Cuban audiences – everyone agreed, this was the first time a whole band of this magnitude pulled off a diplomatic coup and helped introduce Grunge to Cuba’s youth.
The entire concert was recorded and preserved for posterity and has been issued as a DVD in recent years. So if you already have it, I don’t need to repeat anything here. But needless to say, this was a pivotal moment for Chris Cornell and the other members of Audioslave who were invited to do this after many months of wrangling and promising.
Despite the bureaucratic obstacles resulting from the ongoing United States embargo against Cuba, Audioslave received permission to perform in Havana and altered their tour schedule to play a free concert on May 6, 2005. With special approval by U.S. President George W. Bush and Cuban President Fidel Castro, the concert was organized through joint authorization of the USDT and the Cuban Institute of Music. At the time, guitarist Tom Morello declared that Audioslave was the first American rock and roll band to play a concert in Cuba.[3] However, other American musical artists played in Cuba prior to 2005. At the Havana Jam in March 1979, Billy Joel, Stephen Stills, Weather Report, and several other American pop and jazz artists performed at Havana’s Karl Marx Theatre.[4] The Fabulous Titans, an American reggae/ska band, performed in Cuba in 1981.
The DVD consists of footage from the concert held at Havana’s Plaza Anti-Imperialista, plus a 37-minute documentary based on Audioslave’s experiences in Cuba.[1] The documentary focuses on the band’s interactions with the Cuban people and highlights their appreciation of the island’s arts and culture. The concert setlist consists mostly of Audioslave songs from the band’s first two albums, Audioslave and Out of Exile. However, the band also performs several “Audioslave-ized” versions of songs from Soundgarden (“Spoonman” and “Outshined“) and Rage Against the Machine (“Bulls on Parade” and “Sleep Now in the Fire“). After a triumphant concert that included moshing and crowd surfing, Tom Morello stated that Audioslave had “single-handedly demolished the rock and roll blockade against Cuba.”
Press Play, relax and check it out.
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