The New Barbarians, known as The Barbarians, were an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band that played two concerts in Canada and eighteen shows across the United States in April and May 1979. In August 1979, the band also supported

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

at the

Knebworth Festival 1979 The Knebworth Festival 1979 consisted of two concerts performed by the English rock band Led Zeppelin and other artists at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, England, in August 1979. History The grounds of Knebworth House near the village of Knebwo ...

. The group was formed and led by

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

and

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

guitarist

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a nu ...

, primarily to promote his latest LP '' Gimme Some Neck''. The line-up included Rolling Stones member

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

, bassist

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...

, former Faces keyboardist

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was in ...

, Rolling Stones confederate and saxophonist

Bobby Keys Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed with other musicians as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Ni ...

and drumme

Zigaboo Modeliste Joseph "Ziggy" Modeliste (born December 28, 1948), also known as Zigaboo, is an American drummer best known as a founding member of the funk band the Meters. He is widely considered an innovator in the funk genre and New Orleans style drumming. ...

of The Meters. For the Knebworth show Clarke was replaced on short notice by bassist

Phil Chen Phillip David Chen (21 October 1946 – 14 December 2021) was a Jamaican bassist. He was one of England's most utilized session bassists during the 1970s and 1980s, including Jeff Beck, and the Rod Stewart band from 1977 to 1980, but is prob ...

, who had to learn all the songs in one day. The band played a mix of classic

rock & roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

, R&B,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

, along with Ron Wood solo material and Jagger/Richards songs. Wood sang lead on most numbers (with Richards, McLagan and Clarke providing back-up vocals), as well as playing guitar, pedal steel, harmonica and saxophone. The New Barbarians debuted as the Rolling Stones' support act at two charity concerts to benefit the

CNIB The CNIB Foundation (french: Fondation INCA) is a volunteer agency and charitable organization dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded ...

at the

Oshawa Civic Auditorium The Oshawa Civic Auditorium was an indoor arena in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It operated from 1964 to 2006, and was primarily used as an ice hockey venue for the Oshawa Generals. The auditorium was built as a replacement to the Hambly Arena, whic ...

near

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

on 22 April 1979, fulfilling one of the conditions of Richards' 1978 sentence for possession of heroin. The band's eighteen-gig US tour followed. They made news in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, Wisconsin when fans rioted, apparently due to their expectation that the show would feature "special guests", who did not appear.McLagan 2000. pp. 299-300. Another line-up of the New Barbarians - with

Andy Newmark Andrew Newmark (born July 14, 1950)

, Reggie McBride, MacKenzie Phillips and Johnnie Lee Schell replacing Clarke, Modeliste and Richards - played a "make-up date" in Milwaukee in January 1980 to help the promoter recoup the cost of the damages caused by the riot. In October 2006 Ronnie Wood's

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, Wooden Records, released a two-disc CD (followed a few months later by a triple LP set) of a New Barbarians concert at the (now former) Capital Centre in

Landover, Maryland Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 25,998. Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the so ...

, entitled '' Buried Alive: Live in Maryland''.

Typical set list

When The New Barbarians appeared as a support act (at the two Canadian shows and at Knebworth Fair) their performances featured shortened set lists, but most shows on their US tour included: :* "Sweet Little Rock & Roller" (

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

) :* "Buried Alive" (Wood) :* "F.U.C. Her" (Wood) :* "Mystifies Me" (Wood) :* "Infekshun" (Wood) :* " Rock Me Baby" ( Broonzy/ Crudup) :* "Sure the One You Need" ( Jagger/Richards) ''- Richards on lead vocals'' :* "Lost and Lonely" (Wood) :* "Breathe On Me" (Wood) :* "

Love in Vain "Love in Vain" (originally "Love in Vain Blues") is a blues song written by American musician Robert Johnson. Johnson's performancevocal accompanied by his finger-style acoustic guitar playinghas been described as "devastatingly bleak". He rec ...

" (

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

) :* "Let's Go Steady Again" (

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

) ''- Richards on lead vocals, Wood on saxophone'' :* "Apartment Number 9" (

Paycheck A paycheck, also spelled paycheque, pay check or pay cheque, is traditionally a paper document (a cheque) issued by an employer to pay an employee for services rendered. In recent times, the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by ...

/Austin) ''- Richards on piano and lead vocals, Wood on pedal steel'' :* "

Honky Tonk Women "Honky Tonk Women" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released as a non-album single on 4 July 1969 in the United Kingdom, and a week later in the United States (although a country version called "Country Honk" was ...

" (Jagger/Richards) :* "

Worried Life Blues "Worried Life Blues" is a blues standard and one of the most recorded blues songs of all time. Originally recorded by Big Maceo Merriweather in 1941, "Worried Life Blues" was an early blues hit and Maceo's most recognized song. An earlier song ...

" (Merriwether) ''- Richards on lead vocals'' :* "I Can Feel the Fire" (Wood) :* "Come to Realize" (Wood) :* "Am I Grooving You" ( Russell/

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

) ''- Wood on harmonica'' :* "Seven Days" ( Dylan) :* "

Before They Make Me Run "Before They Make Me Run" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones, featured on their 1978 album ''Some Girls''. Written by guitarist Keith Richards, the song is a response to his arrest for heroin possession in Toronto in February 1977 ...

" (Jagger/Richards) ''- Richards on lead vocals'' :* "

Jumpin' Jack Flash "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released as a non-album single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, the song was perceived by some as ...

" (Jagger/Richards)

Discography

''Albums :'' * ''

Buried Alive Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally on the mistaken assumption that they are dead, or intentionally as a form of t ...

'' - Live in Maryland (recorded May 4th 1979) - released 2006 * ''Wanted Dead or Alive'' (recorded at the Madison Square Garden, May 7th 1979) - released in 2016 as bootleg. ''Single :'' * ''New Barbarians - They offer nothing more than ear-to-ear violence!'' 10" record released 16 April 2016 as limited edition vinyl (Record Store Day), limited to 3,000 copies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Barbarians, The English rock music groups The Rolling Stones