Last month I and who knows how many other people were asked to write down out remembrances of the US Festival, the second one which ended 35 years ago this coming Memorial Day. I did mine in two parts. The first part being the logistics of actually getting to the concert from Whidbey Island, Washington and all that included - traffic, campground, food, bathrooms and everything else needed to spend 4 days in the desert. The second part, printed below, were just some notes on the music and groups. Hope you enjoy my ramblings.
This Memorial Day weekend will mark the 35th anniversary of the 2nd US festival held in San Bernardino, CA. This and the first one held in September of '82 were both in the top 10 of any concert I had ever been to, and I've been to more than most folks. Two years ago I ran into Steve Wozniak in a DC hotel and we had an interesting talk about the concerts - what he remembered anyway. As he said when we first started on the subject "There are days in the early 80's I don't remember too much of."
There is no way you could afford to bring that level of talent together in one spot today and Steve lost $20 million doing it 35 years ago (a bit more so he said).
Friday, Sept 3, 1982
Gang of Four - I had just seen them at UW in Seattle the weekend before. Considering they played in the cafeteria it was one of the best sounding shows I had ever heard - still is.
The Ramones - 24 songs in a 70 minute set - Classic Ramones
The English Beat - They put on a great set and did an even better one the next year. SKA was new to most people but was so damn infectious it had an almost instant appeal.
Oingo Boingo - From here on out it was a dance party but the The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo started it off. Great set.
The B52s - Amazing how many people knew all the lyrics - including myself.
Talking Heads - The temp had dropped into the 90's but David Byrne and gang burnt it down closing with Life During Wartime and Take Me to the River.
The Police - They played Seattle just two days before but this gig was completely different vibe. Maybe having 300,000 sing along did it. Part of the Ghost In The Machine tour
Saturday, Sept 4, 1982
Dave Edmunds - Along with Ray Davies a Godfather of English pub rock. Lots of stuff you think you had heard but couldn't quite put your finger on.
Eddie Money - Ex NYC cop was a big act at the time. The girls liked him.
Santana - Not Woodstock Santana but excellent none the less. Herbie Hancock came out on one song
The Cars - 3 hit albums in a row made for a pretty good set list. Ric Ocasek looked like a junkie even more than normal.
The Kinks - What can you say about one of the best bands that ever came out of the UK. Classic songs, great stories and sing-a-longs!
Pat Benatar - The hair, the spandex, the bod and that 4 octave voice in the prime of her career.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - The animated Tom Petty, doing Springsteen like knee slides, rolling on the stage and never missing a note
Sunday, Sept 5, 1982
The Grateful Dead - I don't know how the Dead were talked into being the first act of the day but they aren't a mid afternoon band or weren't that day but a bad Dead show is still better than 95% of anything else you'd see.
Jerry Jeff Walker – The only song I knew at the time was Mr. Bojangles.
Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band - Fought my way to the concession stands so didn't really see him play too much but it seemed the audience enjoyed it.
Jackson Browne – The man was a SoCal hit machine at the time. I swear I saw Stevie Nicks singing some backup but nobody else has a pic or anything in print.
Fleetwood Mac – While the Mighty Mac had completed the evolution from a blues band to an AOR fav they still could let loose once in a while as Buckingham’s guitar playing was on fire. Truly the best part of the set for me was watching him play.
Saturday, May 28, 1983
Divinyls – They were a fairly hard rock band who transformed into a more pop band. At the time of the concert they only had one album and it would be another 8 years before Christine Amphlett would touch herself.
INXS – While not the top band they would be in 5 more years I liked them a lot then and now.
Wall of Voodoo – A quirky fave. Mexican Radio was all over the airways in SoCal and being based in Hollywood made them local. Oddly they had 3 founding members quit after playing the US Festival.
Oingo Boingo – If ever there was a band with more energy onstage I never saw or heard of them. You’d be dancing even if you didn’t have a clue what they were playing or singing about.
The English Beat – The best known SKA band in the world at the time did not disappoint.
A Flock of Seagulls – The epitome of New Wave - funny hair, bad makeup, mini-synths & electronic drums.
Stray Cats – Rockabilly was not the reason most were at the US Festival. Played their hearts out though,
Men at Work – Sounded OK just didn’t do it for me. Gave them a 2nd chance in Oct of ’83 in what is called the 2nd worst pairing of group since Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkeys. Stevie Ray Vaughn opening for Men At Work
The Clash – Causing trouble right up until the end saying that they weren’t being paid enough and threatening not to go on. In the middle of their set a picture of the $500,000 check they got was put on the monitors. I guess it was enough. The high point was the 5,000 person high kick line during I’m So Bored With The USA. A sight to see to be sure.
Sunday, May 29, 1983
Quiet Riot – Got the crowd ready for some head banging by playing most of the Mental Health album.
Motley Crue – This gig saved the Crue. About to be dropped even before their first record was released the 45 minutes of raw blistering no holds barred metal that erupted from the stage was an exact copy of what I and the crowds of 500-3000 had been seeing in Hollywood only now in front of 200,0000. When Shout At The Devil was released 5 months later it sold a million copies in about 100 days.
Ozzy Osbourne – While Ozzy was popular he wasn’t yet the icon he would be later. His first 7-8 solo songs were well received it was the last 4 Sabbath songs that made his set.
Judas Priest – Started out with 8 songs of metal, took a break with their version of Diamonds and Rust and then 8 more in your face including the last 4 of Screaming for Vengeance, You've Got Another Thing Comin', Hell Bent for Leather and Metal Gods.
Triumph - Another odd choice IMO since they were Canadian and they were certainly not “heavy metal” as the others that day. They were popular though and the audience seemed to use the time to catch their breath and put down their devil horns.
Scorpions – Who can survive the onslaught of the Scorpion’s 4 guitar attack. This was pretty much as metal as it got in 1983. Starting with Blackout and melting your face all the way to The Zoo.
Van Halen – The original lineup with Diamond Dave doing all the jumps and splits he was known for, Eddie having a blast playing guitar, Alex pounding away in the back and Michael wandering around the stage like a misplaced teddy bear with a bass guitar. It didn’t matter if they really weren’t heavy metal, if Dave forgot the words to more than a few songs and if Eddie made noticeable mistakes - everybody came to see Eddie and what he was going to do good, bad or otherwise. He didn’t disappoint in surprising by starting off missing some notes in his first solo. If you weren’t stoned or drunk you would notice that it didn’t get any better but not much of the audience did. Supposedly this is listed as one of the most drugged out shows ever. They even stole a cover from the Dead playing Martha Reeves’ Dancing In The Street, the last time they have ever played that song live.
Monday, May 30, 1983
Los Lobos – Never saw them before, but they were good enough I went and bought their album the next week.
Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul – The oddest thing was seeing Jean Beauvior in the group knowing he played in the Plasmatics. Overall the group was a bit loose
Berlin – Hard to remember that they had 3 hits to open the set but they gave what the audience wanted ending their set with a 15 minute version of Sex..(I’m A)
Quarterflash – While they did have a million selling album and songs in the Nightshift and Fast Times movies the set was nothing notable.
Missing Persons – Great set, Dale’s odd vocals and the quirky rhythms were a perfect match. Set was much harder at points than typical New Wave.
U2 - Just six months before they were the opening act for the Police in the UK and here was their first big festival. Bono climbing the side towers with a flag in hand, The Edge pulling out notes from his guitar every bit the equal of what Eddie did the night before. Being a U2 fan (I had the import versions of BOY and October months before they were released here – God Bless Tower Records) I thought it went pretty well.
The Pretenders – Love Chrissie’s vocals, always have. Met her the year later after a show in Seattle in a dive bar near the venue. After that she could do no wrong.
Joe Walsh – Joe was trashed but that really didn’t matter since he was having such a good time we did too. Played the hell out of Funk 49.
Stevie Nicks – Stevie had played the first US festival just 6 months before as part of Fleetwood Mac and for this show almost half her set were Mac covers. Stand Back was the stand out from what I remember.
David Bowie – David was in the middle of prep for his Serious Moonlight tour in Europe when he was offered $1 million to play the US festival. He said no because of the cost of moving the entire set from Europe to California for just one show. However, $1.5 million did it. While the set included some classics they were all tinged with a dance vibe that was a big change from the original rock stylings. There were some hard rocking numbers like Station to Station. Cracked Actor and Jean Genie with Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick going at it on dual lead guitars in parts of each song. I did wish they would have played TVC15 but I got to see that at another show later in the tour.
Below is not part of my letter but just an FYI for you.
I didn't stay the extra week for "Country Day" but a few people I know did and said it was just as good as the rock shows, I'm posting the line up for your reference.
Saturday, June 4, 1983
Thrasher Brothers
Ricky Skaggs
Hank Williams, Jr.
Emmylou Harris & The Hot Band
Alabama
Waylon Jennings
Riders in the Sky
Willie Nelson
