The Stones arrive in Cuba for historic gig

Veteran rockers The Rolling Stones are preparing to play to a crowd of 400,000 in Havana after arriving in Communist Cuba.

Members of The Rolling Stones at Jose Marti international airport in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, March 24, 2016. Source: AAP

The Rolling Stones have arrived in Cuba on the eve of the rock band's historic free concert in a country where its music was once silenced.

Friday night's concert comes three days after President Barack Obama wrapped up a visit to the communist-run island during which he declared an end to the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas.

The band's private plane arrived on Thursday at Havana's airport. The concert will be at Havana's Ciudad Deportivo.

"Time changes everything," Mick Jagger said at Havana airport, when asked about a former ban on his music in Cuba.

In the heat of Cuba's revolution from the 1960s to the 1980s, foreign bands like The Rolling Stones were considered subversive and blocked from the radio. Cubans listened to their music in secret, passing records from hand to hand.

The band's Cuba stop follows concerts in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina and Mexico.