VH live at the US Festival 83

[Wayne L.]

I saw the bootleg video of Van Halen live at the US Festival back in 83 about eight years ago which is one of " VH's most legendary concert performances " during the DLR era in front of more than 300, 000 fans showcasing VH at their finest when they were the " kings of rock with few equals " at the time because this classic concert performance was at the height of their rock & roll prowess with the band " kickin ass with a vengence " with this ballsy, blistering, take no prisoners, concert performance which defines Van Halen in those days.

[Sarge]

Ok.. You talked about the band..
Where is the review of the show?

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by Wayne L.
I saw the bootleg video of Van Halen live at the US Festival back in 83 about eight years ago which is one of " VH's most legendary concert performances " during the DLR era in front of more than 300, 000 fans showcasing VH at their finest when they were the " kings of rock with few equals " at the time because this classic concert performance was at the height of their rock & roll prowess with the band " kickin ass with a vengence " with this ballsy, blistering, take no prisoners, concert performance which defines Van Halen in those days.

WOW !! Dude that sounds AWESOME !!

[Dave's PA Rental]

Originally posted by Wayne L.
I saw the bootleg video of Van Halen live at the US Festival back in 83 about eight years ago which is one of " VH's most legendary concert performances " during the DLR era in front of more than 300, 000 fans showcasing VH at their finest when they were the " kings of rock with few equals " at the time because this classic concert performance was at the height of their rock & roll prowess with the band " kickin ass with a vengence " with this ballsy, blistering, take no prisoners, concert performance which defines Van Halen in those days.

That could be the worlds longest sentence...

Dave was wasted and almost ruined the show...that's why they never commercially released the audio or video...there's my review.

[DLR7884]

LOL, and he's 100% right!

Ever hear the radio edit for YRGM and RWTD from that show?

DLR7884

[Dave's PA Rental]

Yes, as a matter of fact, I have a pretty sweet copy of RWD, Pretty Woman and YRGM/Happy Trails...and they are awesome! I think that Dave had sobered up towards the end of the set...I have a not-so-great copy of the video and Dave is stumbling around at the beginning...

[DLR7884]

They re-did Daves vocals for the radio and for some copies of the video.

He was loaded and on the copy I have the movement of his lips and the sound doesn't match.

If you listen to the radio, it almost sounds like his voice is deeper and more clear on the part the re-did.

DLR7884
Pretty good versions of those songs though!

[ELVIS]

I don't think the vocals are overdubbed.. You may be mistaken...

[Cathedral]

If they were i never heard anything from the overdubs.

But that isn't to say it didn't happen. as long as the music parts are in the right place they can transfer a studio vocal track onto the US Festival track.

I just never heard a polished version of that show.

You know it is going to be a great show when in the first song Dave substitues the right vocal line with "I forgot the fuckin words", lol...

By the way, Edward was quite fucked up as well and making plenty of his own mistakes.
right off the top of my head i can say he fucked up in Romeo Delight and Unchained.

Niow i want to see it again, maybe i'll throw it in after the game...

[diamond den™]

Runnin' With The Devil and Little Guitars on the US Festival Video boots ROCK!!!!!!

[Cathedral]

Go ahead and say that again, it deserves repeating...

[Fairwrning]

"somebody get me a doctor/girl gone bad/i'm so glad"...the highlight of this show...band is tightest it gets all night...Dave skips backstage and does a line and a shot....(not necessarily in that order)..then comes back out and does 42 dropkicks across the stage near the end of "dance the night away".....
imo

[Cathedral]

42 drop kicks?
Oh yeah, he was speedin big time wasn't he?
He's lucky he didn't have a coronary back then, lol.

Damn, that would have sucked a big furry donkey dong wouldn't it?

[Calderone]

he mean say 4 drop kicks

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I don't think the vocals are overdubbed.. You may be mistaken...

The audio I have of the radio doesn't sound like the video.

I'll have to pull the audio tape out and watch the video at the same time.

DLR7884
Or I could be wrong....

[Cathedral]

It is very possible they did overdub the tracks. that was often practiced in that era.

KISS Alive was done that way as a matter of fact...
They had to go into the studio and re-record some of the parts because it just wasn't meaty enough recorded straight and there were mistakes that needed corrected. So in all reality it was a Live Studio Album.

A similar procedure was used on Right Here Right Now the video. If you listen to the CD compared to the Video it is clearly a different arrangement and if i remember correctly there are extra songs on the CD version that aren't on the video.

[ELVIS]

On Right Here Right Now, the CD and Video are two different nights...

[diamond den™]

Originally posted by ELVIS
On Right Here Right Now, the CD and Video are two different nights...

That "LIVE" CD is garbage......

What is understood doesn't need discussed

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by ELVIS
On Right Here Right Now, the CD and Video are two different nights...

Actually, the video is a combination of both nights. The CD seemed to be one night and is basically the unedited Live show.
The video should have been the same way because to this fan, that wasn't what i call live.
It pissed me off when in the course of a song their clothes kept changing back and forth....Sad and total garbage to me...

[DavidLeeNatra]

Originally posted by Cathedral
It pissed me off when in the course of a song their clothes kept changing back and forth....Sad and total garbage to me...

amen to that...and as far as it is a fucking hagar show it sucks anyway...

[ELVIS]

The live Unchained video is like that...

[Panamark]

Originally posted by ELVIS
WOW !! Dude that sounds AWESOME !!

LMAO !

[rustoffa]

Will a clean version ever be available?Fuck,I'd pay for it.

[DLR7884]

Originally posted by rustoffa
Will a clean version ever be available?Fuck,I'd pay for it.

I think the show was intended to be an official release, but as we discussed earlier, the band wasn't at the top of their game this show.

DLR7884
They were fucking loaded.

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by DLR7884
I think the show was intended to be an official release, but as we discussed earlier, the band wasn't at the top of their game this show.

DLR7884
They were fucking loaded.

That's obvious,it was "pro shot".My point is it's been a long time,whoever is sitting on the film (hopefully it exists) needs to step up to the plate.Fuck,it's probably Ed......arrrgh

[Golden AWe]

For me the greatest thing about the video is that even thought they had a massive audience and they were paid like kings, they still got wasted and fucked up in few songs...it's shows what their attitude was - they could afford it!!! After all, they were THE MIGHTY VAN HALEN...

Not close to their tighest performance musically but clearly the funniest I've seen or heard.

My favorite parts: When Dave puts that tennis cap on Eddie's head...Eddie looks completely pissed...

Dave's quote: "More people have been arrested tonight..."

Michael forcing the midget to drink more Jack...

And yes, that "somebody get me a doctor/girl gone bad/i'm so glad" sounded awesome...

[BITEYOASS]

Well Dave was wasted, Ed was wasted, Mike was wasted, Alex was wasted, the road crew was on heavy narcotics and over 300,000 people were probably stoned out of there minds. Now that's a concert!

[FORD]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I don't think the vocals are overdubbed.. You may be mistaken...

Actually, they are. I used to have the "remixed" version of those 3 songs. (posted them on the old Army even) but the hard drive they were on died before I could burn them to disc

I know they were used in a radio broadcast of US Festival highlights that aired shortly after the concert. I've also heard that there was at the time the intention of an US Festival live album which never was released, probably due to the licensing nightmares that would have been involved with all the various record labels representing the bands that played at the show.

[BITEYOASS]

You see the 83 US festival should have been lesson to concert promoters to NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! They sure didn't learn there lesson when that shitty woodstock in 1999 took place, what a fuckin disaster that was. If your gonna have a large festival than just use a stadium, because the bathrooms are already set up. Has anyone ever been to a large festival concert and noticed how bad those porta-johns stunk?

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I have two copies of VH's show in the US Fest....

I have a Japanese TV US Fest. compilation video (which might be what FORD is referring to).... That seems to be the one that is NOT overdubbed...

My copy of the full show is overdubbed during YRGM, and not very well I might add....

I've seen DVD's that include the show and all of the pre-show interviews on Ebay recently but I haven't attempted to bid on one.... Anyone got one of those ?? Is it worth it ??

[Terry]

Originally posted by fairwrning
"somebody get me a doctor/girl gone bad/i'm so glad"...the highlight of this show...band is tightest it gets all night...Dave skips backstage and does a line and a shot....(not necessarily in that order)..then comes back out and does 42 dropkicks across the stage near the end of "dance the night away".....
imo

Totally. That whole jam in the middle of Somebody Get Me A Doctor was classic. The high point of that show.

The US Festival was fair to above average in terms of performance. Ed, Al and Dave were making plenty of mistakes. The South American 1983 tour which had concluded only a few months earlier was much better. My take is that Van Halen were a little rusty and a little drunk at the US Festival.

In my mind it's more of a historic show because of the amount of people that were there and the amount of money Van Halen was paid for it (think it was $1.5 million). The high water mark of classic Van Halen.

Jury's still out on Van Halen from after the US Festival to early 1985. The 1984 album and tour weren't really one of classic Van Halen's finest moments, despite how much the record sold.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by Terry
Jury's still out on Van Halen from after the US Festival to early 1985. The 1984 album and tour weren't really one of classic Van Halen's finest moments, despite how much the record sold.

Wholly agree Terry......

Ed's insistence on the keyboards, on the 1984 album itself and during the tour, most noticably during what was supposed to the guitar solo during "Jump", was disappointing...

[Seshmeister]

The US festival vid is not overdubbed at all.

If anyone wants it you can get it on Kazaa.

Eventually....

Cheers!

[DLR7884]

I just listened to the old tape I had of the show off of the radio the other day, while I played the video at the same time.

The audio isn't the same during the 3 radio tracks, not the whole way through, just at certain points.

DLR7884
It was a shitty overdub, too.

[wiseguy]

I agree

[Terry]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
Wholly agree Terry......

Ed's insistence on the keyboards, on the 1984 album itself and during the tour, most noticably during what was supposed to the guitar solo during "Jump", was disappointing...

The 1984 tour was the only time I got to see Halen live. The production was phenominal. Definitely the largest I'd seen, and this was a year (Sept 1983 to Sept 1984) when I caught Quiet Riot/Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Twisted Sister/Dio, Motley Crue/Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest and the Scorpions. In terms of the stage show, Halen blew those other acts away.

But Dave just didn't want to sing that night. He was telling a lot of dirty jokes (one of which I still remember), and Eddie took a long guitar solo. It was St.Patrick's Day night, and the band would only play a few songs in a row before someone took a drum solo, a bass solo, a Dave rap or a guitar solo. At one point during a break in Eddie's solo, someone yelled "Play some SONGS!!!", and half the crowd cheered.

Yeah, I thought that Jump synth solo replacing the guitar solo was lame, too. I remember going, "What the fuck is this?"

In retrospect, cinsidering the way the band was headed at that point, I hate to say it, but it's probably a good thing Roth left at that point. The music was starting to get soft.