Tapes that kill

[Nickdfresh]

Well with this trans thing being the latest fad, females with manly voices is currently in style.

FFS the whole trans thing has been around since at least the 1960's. Fucking Klinger on M*A*S*H dressed in drag in the 70's. Why do a-holes wanna act like this is some new threat to their manhood?

[Rikk]

I just looked at the 83 US Festival roster. Some great acts were booked. All days would be good but we were VH fanatics so Sunday was the day.

OK...you just made me look. Sunday was definitely the best day. But there are other bands throughout the weekend I might have enjoyed sitting through (make fun of me all you want for some of these thumb's ups...in fact, I encourage it):
SATURDAY, MAY 28 (NEW WAVE DAY)
INXS - That would have been fun. Hey, they were a good band.
MEN AT WORK - OK, I had the first two (U.S.) albums back when I was a little kid.
THE CLASH - That would have been cool. Dave sure didn't agree. Incidentally, this was Mick Jones' last-ever gig with the band (and many people say the last REAL Clash gig ever.)

SUNDAY, MAY 29 (HEAVY METAL DAY)
MOTLEY CRUE - Back then, touring SHOUT AT THE DEVIL...would've been fun. I've heard it was actually a pretty bad gig for them. It is on YouTube but I've not watched it.
OZZY OSBOURNE - Post-Rhoads, but I would've enjoyed it. I think touring BARK AT THE MOON by this point.
JUDAS PRIEST - Hell yes...they were amazing.
VAN HALEN - Duh. (By the way, I skipped Scorpions, Triumph and a few others...just never fans of those.)

MONDAY, MAY 30 (ROCK DAY)
LOS LOBOS - Actually, a very good bank.
U2 - Touring WAR, a great album for them.
JOE WALSH - Not a huge fan of his solo...but I love his 1978 LP ...BUT SERIOUSLY.
DAVID BOWIE - The number one act I would have loved seeing outside VH...and yes, I skipped Stevie Nicks. I hate her. I like Fleetwood Mac, but I think Nicks is a piece of crap as a human being and I don't care about her solo music.

I didn't bother going through COUNTRY DAY. Johnny Cash wasn't playing and he is the only one from then I might have enjoyed. I like classic Nashville country from the 50s and 60s...but not a fan of modern country at all.

Yes, NITRO...you went the right day.

[twonabomber]

[Nitro Express]

When I lived in Utah I ran into Alan Osmond at some function. Nice guy. I was shooting the shit with him and he said The Osmonds had the loudest PA in the world in the 70’s. He said Led Zeppelin rented it from them. He said the girls would scream so loud you couldn’t hear the music, so they had this big ass PA built and the rock bands loved to rent it when the Osmonds weren’t using it.

The US Festival had crowd noise that would match or even overpower the PA system. The power of a big crowd is what was most impressive.

[Nitro Express]

The band pulled it off. A bit drunk and wild in spots, but what the fuck...it's rock 'n roll, right? Or, it WAS rock 'n roll.

Exactly. After the guitar solo Roth came out wearing a frock type thing, shed that and showed us his bare ass and kicked into gear. I think they did Ain’t Talking About Love. But the band was hitting on all cylinders the last half of the show. The encore was kick ass. The crowd noise was unbelievable. Imagine so many people screaming it’s as loud as a PA and it shakes the ground. You could feel the masses.

[Nitro Express]

I just looked at the 83 US Festival roster. Some great acts were booked. All days would be good but we were VH fanatics so Sunday was the day.

[Nitro Express]

I imagine you were just there "Heavy Metal Day"? I'm not remotely criticizing you for NOT going the other days...just curious.

I haven't seen too many lists of who played the other days...but I DO wish I saw Bowie when he was still alive. Always meant to go. Never thought he would have a mild heart attack and just STOP touring in the mid-2000s. His last two albums that came out in the 3 years before his death were both very, very good.

Just went to Heavy Metal Day. The tickets were expensive. I think they were $35 which was a sizable sum in 1983. I think they said there were 400,000 there. It was huge. So there were logistical problems. You just didn’t pop in or out of the US Festival. One day was enough.

[Nitro Express]

That's pretty fucking awesome (being there, not the sunburn & chills part). When Dave left VH, I was 9.

Well I didn’t think it was the big deal it became. It was not the best Van Halen show I ever saw. It was something to do to celebrate school being out and the beginning of summer. We did the US Festival and then stayed at my parent’s place in Newport Beach and did the beach thing for a week.

I spent most my summers in SoCal growing up and they had these big multi-band stadium shows and the occasional big festival. The US Festival was just another one of those as far as I was concerned at the time.

Not a lot of live footage of classic VH. I think the US Festival show is legendary just because it was filmed. Not that it was all that great. Roth being so fucked up in the beginning is funny.

[Rikk]

It was just another big Southern California outdoor rock festival. Another Cal-Jam. We had no idea it would be this big thing

I imagine you were just there "Heavy Metal Day"? I'm not remotely criticizing you for NOT going the other days...just curious.

I haven't seen too many lists of who played the other days...but I DO wish I saw Bowie when he was still alive. Always meant to go. Never thought he would have a mild heart attack and just STOP touring in the mid-2000s. His last two albums that came out in the 3 years before his death were both very, very good.

[Rikk]

Yup. Three of us piled into my friend’s Porsche Targa and drove from Ketchum, Idaho to San Bernardino. I can remember being crammed into that little back seat and everone’s luggage is on the other side. Hey it’s California. You don’t need too many clothes. But we hauled ass all the way down I-15. It was great. School ended and off we go to the US Festival over Memoral Day Weekend.

I forgot sunscreen so I got sun burned and when Van Halen came on I had the chills.

That's pretty fucking awesome (being there, not the sunburn & chills part). When Dave left VH, I was 9.

[Rikk]

Well with this trans thing being the latest fad, females with manly voices is currently in style.

Uh, ok.

[Von Halen]

The band pulled it off. A bit drunk and wild in spots, but what the fuck...it's rock 'n roll, right? Or, it WAS rock 'n roll.

It was rock and roll. Raw. Not with fucked up backing tapes like they are ALL doing today.

[Terry]

I was at that US Festival show. Dave was pretty fucked up at the start but he started to recover a few songs into it.

The band pulled it off. A bit drunk and wild in spots, but what the fuck...it's rock 'n roll, right? Or, it WAS rock 'n roll.

[Nitro Express]

The US Festival was huge and tovSteve Wozniak’s credit he spent the money to make it run as good as possible. That being said it’s just a shit load of people and you are out in the elements a long time.

It was just another big Southern California outdoor rock festival. Another Cal-Jam. We had no idea it would be this big thing

[Nitro Express]

You were at the US Festival??

I know people love to talk about sloppy VH were at the US Festival...but I have a pretty decent Blu-Ray of it that I put together. It's not polished...but it's still a fun VH gig...even if Dave (and I suspect one or two of the other guys) is totally drunk.

Yup. Three of us piled into my friend’s Porsche Targa and drove from Ketchum, Idaho to San Bernardino. I can remember being crammed into that little back seat and everone’s luggage is on the other side. Hey it’s California. You don’t need too many clothes. But we hauled ass all the way down I-15. It was great. School ended and off we go to the US Festival over Memoral Day Weekend.

I forgot sunscreen so I got sun burned and when Van Halen came on I had the chills.