The group was formed and led by Rolling Stones and Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood, primarily to promote his latest LP Gimme Some Neck. We want to hear from you! When Clarke offered Richards a health shake, Richards just replied, ruefully, “Stanley, Stanley.”. Sign up for our newsletter. As Chapman details in his art-crammed book, Wood and his new label, Columbia, decided he should play some shows to promote his 1979 solo album, Gimme Some Neck. Sweet Little Rock & Roller; F.U.C. Remember that time when Ronnie Wood released a solo album, put together a band to promote it that included Keith Richards and fusion bassist Stanley Clarke, and played a bunch of arena shows centered not around Richards but – perversely – Wood and his songs? Richards was also eager to hit the road, because, as Chapman writes, he was “on the run from heroin, [girlfriend] Anita Pallenberg and endless psychotherapy sessions” after his 1977 drug bust in Canada. A new book tells the story of Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards' short-lived Rolling Stones spin-off group the New Barbarians. Ringo Starr and Boz Scaggs also stopped by rehearsals but, like Young, didn’t join up. Drugs, booze and private jets were a daily treat; a small room was built near the back of the stage so the band could get high without the audience noticing. Richards, who was in between Stones sessions, signed on to his bandmate’s ad-hoc group. Would a similar lineup with a similarly quirky set list make it anywhere near a 20,000-seat arena these days? Unless you’re the most diehard of Rolling Stones fans, you probably have zero memory of that moment. But Rob Chapman’s new book, New Barbarians: Outlaws, Gunslingers and Guitars (Voyageur Press), finally tells the story of one of the most oddball and least-chronicled moments in the Stones’ history. Led Zeppelin played their last ever concerts (in the UK) at Knebworth, and it was the end of an era for the Knebworth shows. According to the official website of Knebworth House, the 1979 Knebworth Festival involved: the largest stage ever constructed, 570 loo seats, 750 feet of urinals and the biggest rock band in the world. As Chapman reports, drama was also part of the recipe. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. © Copyright 2020 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Artist: The New Barbarians, Venue: Knebworth House, Knebworth, England. But after Young remarked “you guys are nothing but a bunch of barbarians,” the ad-hoc band at least had its name, adding a “New” after learning there was another band called the Barbarians. He eventually opted out due to the birth of one of his children and the editing chores involved in his then-upcoming concert movie, Rust Never Sleeps. 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Her; Breathe on Me; I Can Feel the Fire; Let's Go Steady Again; Worried Life Blues; Honky Tonk Women; Come to Realise; Am I Grooving You; In This Article: Unsure if Wood’s name would sell out arenas, some on their business side began suggesting to reporters that the shows could include “special guests,” hinting at Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and Jimmy Page. Want more Rolling Stone? In August 1979, the band also supported Led Zeppelin at the Knebworth Festival 1979.. Hear rare live material from Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards’ short-lived side project, documented in new book. New Barbarians - Knebworth 1979 The New Barbarians - "Honky Tonk Women" - Live 1979 The New Barbarians - "Before They Make Me Run" - Live 1979 New Barbarians The New Barbarians - "Buried Alive" - May 3, 1979 Download SoundHound The only App that … Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Ronnie Wood, The Rolling Stones. Get the The New Barbarians Setlist of the concert at Knebworth House, Knebworth, England on August 11, 1979 and other The New Barbarians Setlists for free on setlist.fm! The New Barbarians at Knebworth Festival 1979. The New Barbarians were an English rock band that played two concerts in Canada and eighteen shows across the United States in April and May 1979. Packed with details of stage designs, offstage and onstage photos and reproductions of tour T-shirts and limousine bills, New Barbarians is surely the last word on one of rock’s most oddball superstar tours. For a brief moment, Chapman reports, Neil Young almost joined the lineup after stopping into early rehearsals for the tour. This newly released combo set brings together a newly discovered master recording of the New Barbarians 1979 Knebworth appearance, uncirculated so far, with some studio rehearsals that were never available before, rehearsals that took place at Shepperton Studios the day before the event. Probably not, which only makes the story of the New Barbarians that much more flabbergasting today. A new book tells the story of Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards' short-lived Rolling Stones spin-off group the New Barbarians. The band, a truly odd lot of musicians, included two naturals, Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan and on-again, off-again Stones saxman Bobby Keys, along with two others – Clarke and Meters drummer Ziggy Modeliste – who had barely played rock & roll before. As a bonus, it also comes with a 10-track CD of previously unreleased live recordings – including Wood’s “Mystifies Me” and covers of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Rock & Roller” and the blues standard “Rock Me Baby” – that revel in the band’s proudly sloppy swagger. Over the course of its month-long tour, ending with shows at England’s Knebworth Festival on a bill with Led Zeppelin, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and Todd Rundgren and Utopia, the New Barbarians crammed in a lifetime of rock & roll. In Milwaukee, a riot broke out, resulting in 81 arrests and a very pissed-off Richards.