"There's nothing like taking chances," said Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards with a throaty laugh during yesterday's opening-night concert on the band's "No Security" tour -- the Stones' first arena tour in over 20 years. Richards' remark was an appropriate description of the group's nearly two-hour set at the Oakland (Calif.) Coliseum, which included some surprising song selections along with the barest stage setup that the Stones have used in years.

After opening with a videotaped sequence of the Stones walking through a high-tech underworld, the group burst on the stage with a rousing rendition of "Jumping Jack Flash." What followed were energetic performances of old favorites ("Paint In Black," "Start Me Up," "Brown Sugar") and more recent album tracks ("Saint Of Me," "Out Of Control"), mixed in with a few numbers that had escaped previous Stones' shows, including "Moonlight Mile" and "Some Girls."

The Stones seem to have taken to heart the criticism of their previous tours' glitz and mind-boggling special effects, returning to basics on this outing: no gigantic blow-up dolls, no elaborate stage set, and a decidedly more intimate audience of about 16,000 people, instead of the usual 60,000. Lead singer Mick Jagger also returned to his roots, played guitar on no less than five songs during the set, including on the track "Respectable."

It's often said that the Stones are too old to be in a rock band; the Oakland show proved that the Stones rock harder than many younger groups. And although Stones purists may long for the band's heyday in the late '60s and early '70s, a time when the group was a more accessible concert act, the "No Security" tour seems to be as close as fans will get to those bygone days.