Rolling Stones.From The Vault: No Security – San Jose ’99

The Rolling Stones never seem to stop, though they have slowed down a little lately, but back in the 90’s it seemed they were always on the road, so you may have to read the following twice .
The No Security tour of 1999 was in support of the No Security live album (issued in 1998) which itself used performances from the Bridges To Babylon tour. The ‘Stones Bridges To Babylon tour ended in Sep 1998, only four months or so before they started the No Security tour!
However In reaction to the huge stadiums played on Bridges To Babylon the conscious decision was made to book smaller venues for the initial North American leg of the No Security tour. This latest addition to the acclaimed From The Vaults series was filmed at the San Jose Arena in front of an audience of a little over 30,000 people, that is small by the then Rolling Stones standards.

At the time of the filming in 1999, the Grammy winners had not played San Jose in nearly 25 years. The band's long absence from the city helped to ratchet up the excitement level both for the audience and The Rolling Stones themselves, who delivered a stunning live performance.
Previously unreleased, this captures the band in top form playing a set that spans from mid-sixties hit singles up to the then current Bridges To Babylon album.
For fans who may already own The Stones' previously released 1998 live album No Security there is no need to worry nor question the wisdom of this release. Despite sharing the same title, the earlier version was recorded from a variety of performances during the Bridges To Babylon Tour as previously mentioned, and this release features a significantly different track list.

So do we get for our buck?

Well, as always with these releases the video quality is surprisingly good, and the audio as expected is first class.
The first and last five Stones’s songs on any of their concert tour’s will normally be the same, except for this tour were they didn’t play “Satisfaction”, a brave move. Their real magic is the middle 10, mostly completely different on every tour, and this was no exception.
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” opens the gig to a thunderous applause, the often overlooked, “Bitch” closely follows. From the opening 60’s the Stones then jump fast forward 30 years for “You Got Me Rocking”, the lead single from 1994’s Voodoo Lounge.
Favourite tracks like “Paint It Black”, “Honky Tonk Women”, and “Start Me Up” have lasted the test of time, however The Stones improvise over their most well-known songs, giving them a fresh lick of paint, giving something different back to the fans.
The Stones excel at the Blues and on this tour, it was no exception with their performance of “I Got The Blues” and the Keith Richards led “You Got The Silver”. Richards’ gravelly voice smokes over the soulful picking of Wood’s guitar, the ultimate blues duo.
This is what makes a Stones concert, the sheer back catalogue of songs they have to choose from.






Despite the disappointing absence of “Satisfaction”, From The Vault: No Security – San Jose ’99 comes to a far too short a close with “Sympathy For The Devil”. I personally feel this song is one of the greatest they have ever done, this version is still as exciting today as it was all those years ago on its initial release.
The Rolling Stones are still the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band around.
Tracklist.

01. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
02. Bitch
03. You Got Me Rocking
04. Respectable
05. Honky Tonk Woman
06. I Got the Blues
07. Saint of Me
08. Some Girls
09. Paint It Black
10. You Got the Silver
11. Before They Make Me Run
12. Out of Control
13. Route 66
14. Get Off of My Cloud
15. Midnight Rambler
16. Get Off of My Cloud
17. It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It)
18. Start Me Up
19. Brown Sugar
20. Sympathy for the Devil

“No Security – Live San Jose 1999” can pre-ordered here in a variety of editions and formats, including: DVD, Blu-ray, DVD + 2CD and 3LP. A digital audio version will be available shortly via Eagle Rock.