The US Festival Part II - 1983

The US Festival Part II - 1983

My brother Pete and I attended the first US Festival on Labor Day Weekend in 1982. The festival was put on by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and he lost a bundle on it. Of course he still had plenty of money and now experienced, he decided to do it again and planned a second US Festival for the Memorial Day Weekend in 1983 just a little less than nine months after the initial US Festival. This time he enlisted a promoter (Barry Fey) right from the start with the intention of not duplicating the loss he suffered in '82.

Of course there was a new lineup of acts with just 3 acts held over from the previous festival, The English Beat, Oingo Boingo and Stevie Nicks, this time solo but had previously performed as part of Fleetwood Mac the first time around. Tickets were sold for both the full event as well as for a single day right from the get-go. As I recall the first one only sold full festival tickets until just before the festival date. In addition, this time the acts were organized into one of three categories, one for each day of the festival. The intention was to boost the overall attendance by giving those who couldn't, or didn't want to, attend the full three day event an option to attend just one day. The single day tickets cost was about half the price of a full festival ticket. The first day was called “New Wave Day”. The second was “Heavy Metal Day”. The third was “Rock Day” although the third was really a kind of mix as it included New Wave groups. The 3 headliners were The Clash, Van Halen, and a late addition, David Bowie who had been touring and had to be convinced to squeeze in an appearance at the US Festival.

Pete and I decided to attend after having such a good experience at the previous Labor Day festival but we were the only members of our original group who did. Karen and I had broken up and I doubt she would have been willing to go anyway. Laura had moved out of the house. Phil had returned back East. But coming along with us this time was our friend Steve. Steve had come out with Phil and decided to stay. He still lives in the Bay Area today. Pete and I weren't thrilled about day two, “Heavy Metal Day” but with the price for 2 single day tickets being about the same as a full festival ticket, we bought full festival tickets.

We drove down to San Bernardino late Friday night, well by the time we left it was more like early Saturday morning. I don't remember if Pete or I drove but either way we didn't get any sleep Friday night. We got there and setup camp, relaxed for a bit, and then we headed over into the festival. Due to lack of sleep I was running on adrenaline. The weather was significantly cooler this time but the air quality was significantly worse as it was quite smoggy. The first day's lineup was Divinyls, INXS, Wall of VooDoo, Oingo Boingo, The English Beat, Flock of Seagulls, Stray Cats, Men at Work, and The Clash. The Stray Cats was a popular group with the New Wave crowd but they were really a rockabilly band and could have been placed in the Rock group. Anyway it was a ton of good music. The attendance to me seemed to be larger that the first day of the '82 festival. As the day progressed and the sun set the lack of sleep began to get to me. When it was finally time for The Clash to come on that evening there was a rather significant delay. There seemed to be some problem. The promoter was trying to get them to appear on stage and they were resisting. When they finally came out I was pissed. I was tired. I had not had any sleep the previous night, and I didn't appreciate them making us wait so long. The audience cheered them as they walked out on stage and I got upset. I started yelling at all the people around us to stop cheering and start booing them for making us wait so long. Pete was laughing but he also corralled me and encouraged me to calm down, which I did. The Clash played their set and I ended up enjoying it despite my annoyance with their lateness. It turned out the issue was about money or respect depending on how you view it. See, Van Halen was offered 1.5 million to headline day two (I think a record at the time) and to get Bowie they had to pay him the same. The Clash was only going to get $500,00 and they were not happy about the rather large disparity since they were also a headliner.

The evening finally ended and we all filed out of the festival grounds to head back to our campsites. Pete and I had previously talked about skipping the next day, “Heavy Metal Day”, and doing something else. On the way out there were already people lined up for the next day, the Heavy Metal crowd. They was antagonistic yelling at us rather aggressively. It was ridiculous. The New Wave crowd was more pot oriented whereas the Metal Crowd seemed to be more into heavy alcohol. The New Wave crowd was passive and pretty subdued after spending the whole afternoon and evening rockin' out to 9 bands. I didn't actually see anyone engage with those heckling us but it sure felt like they wanted to start up something. Any thought Pete and I had of attending the next day's show was completely dashed after that. We decided we'd head down to LA and go to the beach the next day, Saturday.

The day two lineup had Quiet Riot, Motley Crew, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Triumph, Scorpions, and of course Van Halen. A massive crowd was in attendance, something in the neighborhood of 300,000. Steve decided to stay behind but Pete and I headed down to LA for a day at the beach. Can't recall if we went to Newport Beach or Santa Monica but I feel like it was Newport. It was a nice relaxing day at the beach. There is not much to report about it other than the air was much better and we didn't have to deal with the large crowd of heavy metal fans and the idiots that came with that crowd at the US Festival. It would have made a less than pleasant experience for me even though they were only a small percentage of the crowd. My brother-in-law, Kris's brother Mike, is a heavy metal guy and you'd be hard pressed to find a sweeter, nicer guy. Mike and I might have some differences. He, like most of us, has had his share of trying times, but his compassion and support for others is a testament to what we humans are capable of at our best. So it is NOT my intent to knock heavy metal enthusiasts. I am only retelling my one isolated experience at the '83 US Festival.

Pete and I returned to the festival grounds and hooked back up with Steve. The day three lineup was: Los Lobos, Little Stephen (Van Zandt) & the Disciples of Soul, Quarterflash, Berlin, Missing Persons, U2, The Pretenders, Joe Walsh, Stevie Nicks, and David Bowie. Berlin, The Pretenders, and U2 were New Wave bands. Such a good lineup but I don't remember a lot about that day. What I most remember is the weather was cooler, I don't think it got out of the 80's, but the practice of spraying passers by with water was still in vogue with many in the crowd. I no longer appreciated being sprayed with water as the lower temperatures no longer made it a pleasant experience. I appreciated the intent behind it but I found myself trying to avoid those carrying spray top water bottles. I have fond memories of the 1^st festival but it's kind of a mixed bag for the 2^nd. It was great seeing so many terrific music acts, but the atmosphere was more contentious and that dampened my experience. The “US” (as in all of us) had more division. I guess that's the real “US” but I prefer the more inclusive “US” of the '82 festival and hope and want that version of “US” to be more of a reality. I guess I've always been a dreamer.

In spite of bringing in a promoter, changing the format, and drawing a significantly larger attendance, the festival still lost plenty of money. I think about the same amount as the previous festival. I appreciate Steve Wozniak's effort and I was glad I got to experience a huge festival like that. At this point in my life I like to see music acts in smaller venues. The one music festival I would still like to attend is the Montreal Jazz Festival, although it's not quite the same as there are lots of acts playing in many different venues – maybe someday.