After spending much of the 90s staging super-sized, high-production spectacles in stadiums around the world, the Rolling Stones ended the decade with the No Security tour, a no-frills, arena-sized stint that spanned over 40 shows in the U.S. and Europe. They finished up the Stateside portion in San Jose, California, and managed to capture the two nights on video. Nearly 20 years later, the video has resurfaced via DVD, Blu-ray Disc and digital on From The Vault: No Security – San Jose 1999. For this tour, the band dug deep and trotted out some real nuggets, many long missing from recent setlists, yet ever so powerful, sacred and celebratory in their return to the concert stage.
While billed as a scaled-down continuation of the Bridges To Babylon tour, which grossed over $274 million, only “Saint Of Me” from the Bridges To Babylon album made the cut on this set. The more intimate venues — if 20,000-seat basketball arenas can be called “intimate” — practically invited the band to go off script and play things like “Bitch,” “Some Girls,” “I Got The Blues,” plus “You Got The Silver” and “Before They Make Me Run” with Keith Richards out front. Those alone make it worth the price of admission.
The only theatrical device, so to speak, on this tour was the runway between the main stage and the B-stage, where the four Stones (Mick Jagger, Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts), along with bassist Darryl Jones and keyboardist Chuck Leavell, ambled out for three numbers. Their take on “Route 66” is a big reason why in 1999 the Rolling Stones were still uncontested as the World’s Greatest Rock n’ Roll Band. “Get Off My Cloud” and “Midnight Rambler,” with its dramatic interlude, follow in grand style.
Of course, no Stones concert is complete without “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (the opener), “Honky Tonk Women,” “Tumbling Dice,” “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It),” “Start Me Up,” and “Brown Sugar.” On that basis, From The Vault: No Security – San Jose 1999 delivers. Flash forward to 2018, the same lineup and side players (aside from backup singer Blondie Chaplin) are still at it. Apparently, landing a gig with the Stones is one of the few “secure” perks you get once you’re inside the door. Jagger, Richards and Watts may be in their 70s, but by the looks of it the Stones will keep rolling until the wheels come off.
~ Shawn Perry
