The Bridges to Babylon tour took a short break in May last year, then moved into Europe, before they had about four months of rest up to now. No Security is the title of the new live album, and also the name of the arena tour in North America this spring.
The No Security tour was announced on Monday Nov. 16 through local press conferences at the venues as listed on the following page. Tickets went on sale Nov. 21-22. The venues selling out fast got another show, as you can see. Those tickets went on sale early December.
The list on the following page is pretty much complete. All dates are confirmed and on sale. Some are sold out, others do still offer tickets. We do not expect any more shows being announced, but you never know. Check out the IORR web pages for the latest news, as you will never miss any show as long as you check those pages regularly! Well, there might be a club show before or during the tour, those will appear like a flash, and you just have to be around to get into those!
The arena stage is at this time of going into print (Jan. 12) being assembled in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The Rolling Stones are expected to start rehearsals in San Francisco, i.e. close to the Oakland arena, but some say they even might try out the stage in Vancouver before it is brought down to Oakland.
The arena stage seems to follow a slightly new layout vs. the arena stage used during the spring and summer of 1998 (Quebec, MSG, Portland, Houston, Montreal, Chicago, Prague, Stockholm). It seems like the walkway is wider, so that it can be used as a stage, and also the B-stage seems a little bit larger that before.
Ticket prices vary from $40 for seats behind the stage, to $90 for the first 10 rows in front of the stage (special low price for the fans up front), to a range of $75-$300, with the majority around $100. The seats behind the stage are not that bad, actually. You may be seated just behind Charlie, and you may touch hands with Mick, Lisa and the rest of the band as they walk behind the stage. As it is a 360 degrees design, most seats are great, especially as Keith often play to Charlie, facing those seated behind the stage!
The tour sponsors are Tommy Hilfiger, designer, and VH1, the media channel. VH1 had a special ticket hotline available the day before tickets went on sale, and everyone visiting the IORR web pages were informed about this, scoring great seats for the shows in advance.
As the tour ends in Chicago on April 12, they do a six weeks break, before they return to Europe to finish off their unfinished business of last year, i.e the cancelled UK dates. It seems like they will actually do a European 1999 summer tour of 6 - 7 weeks, and may be 15-20 shows, give or take some. The summer tour start up in Stuttgart, Germany on May 29, and will end some time in July. In addition to the list of confirmed shows on the following page, there are rumours of more shows in Italy, Iceland, Germany etc. One rumoured date in Spain is July 3 in Santiago de Compostela, still not confirmed.
You may still buy tickets to all the UK shows, as field tickets (open standing on the pitch/field/floor) at around £30 are still available. Just make sure you have a valid credit card available, and call Ticketmaster UK +44 171 344 4444 (Wembley), or +44 990 321 321 (all shows).