Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (January 13, 2025)
After the Rolling Stones devoted the last few months of 1997 in the US on their “Bridges to Babylon Tour”, they went a good chunk of 1998 in Europe. Absent from that three-month run: any concerts in the band’s native England.
As I recall, this occurred due to tax issues, as the Stones would’ve gotten soaked if they spent too much time in the UK that year. This led them the schedule UK shows for summer 1999.
The Stones also played additional dates on the continent as well as a totally separate winter/spring North American tour called “No Security”. Fans debate whether or not the subsequent UK/European concerts are part of the “Bridges” or “Security” tours, though I think “Security” only applies to those North American performances and the later run goes back to "Bridges”.
Whatever the case, the Stones did 11 dates from May 29 to June 20, all of which took place in large venues except for one. As a warm-up for their two London concerts at Wembley Stadium, the Stones did a one-off at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, an old and relatively small venue.
Staged in front of about 2000 fans, we get a look at this concert via Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush. This release includes the band’s entire 18-song setlist from that night.
Off 1997’s Bridges to Babylon, we find “Saint of Me”. 1994’s Voodoo Lounge offers “You Got Me Rocking”, “Moon Is Up” and “Brand New Car”.
From there the Stones pretend the 1980s never happened and we go to four songs from 1978’s Some Girls: the title track, “Shattered”, “Respectable” and “Before They Make Me Run”. 1976’s Black and Blue delivers “Melody”, while 1974’s It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll boasts the title song.
1972’s Exile on Main Street gives us “All Down the Line” and “Tumbling Dice”. We then locate “I Got the Blues” and “Brown Sugar” off of 1971’s Sticky Fingers.
1969 boasts “You Got the Silver” from Let It Bleed as well as non-LP single “Honky Tonk Women” with guest vocalist Sheryl Crow. Finally, a cover of Nat King Cole’s “Route 66” that the Stones initially recorded for their 1964 debut finishes the show.
Live at the Wiltern represented a small venue Stones concert from 2002. The band didn’t do a ton of shows at clubs or theaters on the 2002-03 Licks tour, but they existed as a regular part of that jaunt.
Ever since the 1980s, the Stones did the occasional warm-up at a dinky joint. They also played three “unplugged” 1995 concerts at theaters which got brought home via an album called Stripped and a video program entitled Totally Stripped.
“Licks” turned into the only time smaller concerts became a standard aspect of a Stones tour. It appears the Stones no longer do even sporadic “event shows” in these sorts of venues, as they’ve played no place smaller than about 7000 capacity since spring 2015.
I provide this history to give some context to Bush. Though the Stones occasionally visited more intimate venues, it was a rare occurrence that created an unusual dynamic.
In Bush, that occurs partly because the stage seems even tinier than usual for these theaters. The bandmembers get little room to really roam, and that makes the performances tighter.
Let’s face it: the bigger the venue, the more likely the Stones are to “play to the cheap seats”. In football stadiums, vocalist Mick Jagger gets tons of space to romp, and guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood occasionally wander across the long concourses as well.
This can lead the Stones to become distracted and less focused on their performances. They also tend to vamp and exaggerate gestures to better enable the punters in the nosebleeds to see something.
Don’t take this as a real criticism of the Stones’ stadium shows. I’ve attended dozens and really enjoy them.
But fans must accept that the stadium concerts don’t always emphasize music as much as we’d like and also swallow the fact that the band can go on “cruise control” at times. This becomes especially true given the fact the Stones “dumb down” setlists when they play the biggest venues.
The more people in attendance, the less likely the Stones become to “take chances” and trot out less played tunes. They manage slightly more “dating” setlists in arenas, but they rarely play anything smaller than football stadiums anymore, so the song choices usually remain aimed at the most casual fans.
For those of us who really don’t want to hear the same old same old, these small shows became a godsend. To be sure, the setlist becomes part of what makes Bush interesting.
The biggest rarities here come from “Moon Is Up” and “Melody”. The former enjoyed its first – and last – live performance here, while “Melody” made its second – and last – appearance in a Stones set.
Though less rare, tracks like “I Got the Blues”, “Route 66” and “Some Girls” added spark. As a diehard, I find it a little disappointing the Bush setlist provides fewer true unconventional tracks than did those “Licks” shows, but at least the band mixed things up a bit.
And they sound quite good. As noted, this concert took place after a long time on the road, so the band shows the positives that come with so many shows across the prior 21 months.
Of course, performances that occur late in a long tour can suffer from “road weariness”, as the band might be sick of all the travel and ready to take a break. Bush doesn’t demonstrate that, probably due to the unusual setting.
As noted, the dinky nature of the venue shook up the Stones’ standard MO. They couldn’t coast in such an intimate space.
These smaller halls always seem to invigorate the Stones anyway. As of 2024, I’ve seen them 66 times and without question, the 2002 Roseland Ballroom concert showed them at their peak, largely because they seemed so invested and fierce.
We get a similar version of the Stones here, especially from Mick and Keith. Both seem more animated than usual and they tear into the songs with gusto.
Ronnie seems less solid but he doesn’t damage the show. Charlie provides his always-steady drumming – if I ever saw Watts have an off night, I don’t remember it.
As a concert, Bush excels. As a home video presentation, it seems less positive.
This happens because the unnamed director uses lots of split-screens, and these occasionally turn into “tri-screens”. This means we get two or three cameras at once, usually crammed into a 2.35:1 window.
Not only does this make the various angles awfully small, but also the entire presentation becomes too “busy”. We can’t concentrate on the action well because we get too much competition for our attention.
On the surface, I like the idea that we can view more than one camera at a time. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work, at least not as depicted here.
Nonetheless, I find enough to like about Bush to recommend it. Despite some problematic visual choices, it gives us a top-notch concert.
