US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 6-4-1983 - Day 4, Part 3: Willie Nelson

The third album I can present from Day Four (Country Day) of the 1982 US Festival is a set by Willie Nelson.

Nelson is such a famous figure that I assume he needs no introduction. So I'll just describe a bit where his career was at the time of this festival. In short, he was doing very well. Remarkably, even though this was only the sixth month in the year of 1983, he'd already released THREE new studio albums since the start of the year! One was an album with just himself, another was a duet album with Waylon Jennings, and a third was a duet album with Merle Haggard. All of them made at least the Top Five in the country charts. The album with Haggard included the song "Pancho and Lefty" (written by Townes Van Zandt), which hit Number One in the singles chart, and would go on to be considered one of the greatest country songs of all time. Rolling Stone Magazine also listed it as one of the top 500 greatest songs of all time, period.

Since Nelson had done a duet album with Jennings earlier in the year, and Jennings played at the festival earlier in the day, it made sense that they would duet together. But apparently Nelson thought that Jennings wouldn't show, because he performed the song "Good Hearted Woman" by himself. Then, just one song after that, Jennings showed up on stage. So they did another song together, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," then did a duet version of "Good Hearted Woman."

Also, near the end of the set, Nelson played his signature tune "On the Road Again," and then immediately played the whole thing a second time.

Technically, this set has been officially released as the album "Live at the US Festival, 1983." But it's such a rare album that I couldn't find it anywhere. Instead, I found a YouTube video and converted that into mp3s. The sound quality is excellent.

With this album, I'm finally done posting all I have from the 1983 US Festival. Nelson was the final act on the final day.

This album is an hour and 22 minutes long.

032 Whiskey River (Willie Nelson)
033 Stay All Night [Stay a Little Longer] (Willie Nelson)
034 Funny How Time Slips Away (Willie Nelson)
035 Crazy (Willie Nelson)
036 Night Life (Willie Nelson)
037 talk (Willie Nelson)
038 If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time [Instrumental Version] (Willie Nelson)
039 talk (Willie Nelson)
040 If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time (Willie Nelson)
041 Good Hearted Woman (Willie Nelson)
042 talk (Willie Nelson)
043 Sweet Memories (Willie Nelson)
044 Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings)
045 talk (Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings)
046 Good Hearted Woman (Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings)
047 Why Do I Have to Choose (Willie Nelson)
048 Help Me Make It through the Night (Willie Nelson)
049 Bloody Mary Morning (Willie Nelson)
050 Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Willie Nelson)
051 Instrumental (Willie Nelson)
052 Blue Skies (Willie Nelson)
053 Georgia on My Mind (Willie Nelson)
054 All of Me (Willie Nelson)
055 Stardust (Willie Nelson)
056 My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (Willie Nelson)
057 I Can Get Off on You (Willie Nelson)
058 Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground (Willie Nelson)
059 On the Road Again (Willie Nelson)
060 On the Road Again [Second Version] (Willie Nelson)
061 Always on My Mind (Willie Nelson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17046257/VA-1983USFstvlDay0403WlliNlsn_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/HUmFfB3y

Similarly to the situations with the other two albums for Country Day, I had to resort to making a screenshot from a YouTube video for the cover art. 

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 6-4-1983 - Day 4, Part 2: Waylon Jennings

The second act that I have from Day Four (Country Day) of the 1983 US Festival is set by Waylon Jennings.

Waylon Jennings is one of the biggest legends in the history of country music. No doubt he and another music legend, Willie Nelson, were the main draws for Country Day. 

Jennings had a long music career (he died in 2002), which I won't attempt to summarize here. But I'll note that from about 1975 to 1982, he was at his commercial peak, with his albums typically hitting Number One on the country charts, or at least getting very close. But as the 1980s went on, country radio changed, and didn't play older artists like him as much as they used to. At the time of this festival, he was one week away from releasing another album, called "It's Only Rock and Roll." The lead single, "Lucille" (a cover of the 1950s classic), would make it to Number One on the country charts, his twelfth to top the charts. But he would only have one more chart topping song after that, in 1987. He would later say he wasn't feeling musically inspired at this point in his life.

Here's his Wikipedia entry if you want to know more:

Waylon Jennings - Wikipedia

Jennings married Jessi Colter in 1969, and they stayed married until he died in 2002. She became a country star in her own right. During this set, they performed a duet on the song "Storms Never Last." But that appears to have been only involvement with the US Festival, though I'm sure she was popular enough to have done a set on her own.

Technically, this set has been officially released as the album "Live at the US Festival, 1983." But it's such a rare album that I couldn't find it anywhere. Instead, I found a YouTube video and converted that into mp3s. The sound quality is excellent.

This album is an hour and two minutes long.

006 talk (Waylon Jennings)
007 Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand (Waylon Jennings)
008 Clyde (Waylon Jennings)
009 Amanda (Waylon Jennings)
010 Just to Satisfy You (Waylon Jennings)
011 Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line (Waylon Jennings)
012 Lucille (Waylon Jennings)
013 I've Always Been Crazy (Waylon Jennings)
014 talk (Waylon Jennings)
015 Breakin' Down (Waylon Jennings)
016 Lonesome, On'ry and Mean (Waylon Jennings)
017 Jack of Diamonds (Waylon Jennings)
018 Theme from 'The Dukes of Hazzard' [Good Ol' Boys] (Waylon Jennings)
019 talk (Waylon Jennings)
020 Storms Never Last (Waylon Jennings & Jessi Coulter)
021 Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way (Waylon Jennings)
022 Rainy Day Woman (Waylon Jennings)
023 Women Do Know How to Carry On (Waylon Jennings)
024 I Ain't Living Long like This (Waylon Jennings)
025 Good Hearted Woman (Waylon Jennings)
026 Honky Tonk Heroes (Waylon Jennings)
027 Luckenbach, Texas [Back to the Basics of Love] (Waylon Jennings)
028 Mental Revenge (Waylon Jennings)
029 Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (Waylon Jennings)
030 talk (Waylon Jennings)
031 I Can Get Off on You (Waylon Jennings)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17046250/VA-1983USFstvlDay0402WylnJnnngs_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/MwGj81Jg

I had the same situation with the cover art as with the other acts on this day. I couldn't find any photos, so I used a screenshot from a YouTube video for the cover photo.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 6-4-1983 - Day 4, Part 1: Hank Williams, Jr.

When people talk about the 1983 US Festival, if they know anything at all, they probably talk about the first three days of the festival. But there was a much lesser known fourth day. It was in the same location, but was separated in time by several days. That's because the theme of the fourth day was Country Day, and it was assumed that the types of fans who wanted to see that would be very different than the types who attended the previous three days, with a focus on new wave and heavy metal.

The attendance went way down for Country Day. I couldn't find exact numbers, but I read one of the musicians on stage guessed it was about 50,000 people. The list of acts was impressive, but the Los Angeles area was far from the best place in the U.S. to have such a concert.

I was able to find at least some music from all the acts for the first three days, but that definitely wasn't the case for Country Day. In fact, I could only find three. Here are the acts I was unable to find any music from whatsoever:

The Thrasher Brothers
Ricky Skaggs
Emmylou Harris
Alabama
Riders in the Sky

Frankly, I've never even heard of a couple of those, since I'm not a big country fan. But I would have liked to hear some of them, especially Emmylou Harris. If anyone has any of this and wants to pass it on to me so I can post it, that would be great. Curiously, there's a website called "Historic Films" that has film footage of most or all of the 1983 US Festival, including Country Day. Unfortunately, it's not available for the general public. One has to pay for a special account, and then it costs a $100 for each hour of film, and I'm sure there are severe limitations on the rights to use that. So that's kind of a non starter. But it shows the recordings still exist, at least.

There also are no audio bootlegs that I know of from Country Day. I have a small amount of music from the set by Hank Williams, Jr. because I found a video of it on YouTube. 

Hank Williams, Jr., naturally, is the son of country legend Hank Williams. He's had a very successful country music career of his own. He was only four years old when his father died, in 1953. At first, he struggled to find success in music as a Hank Williams imitator. But in the mid-1970s he discovered his own style, influenced by Southern rock. He had a banner year in 1982, when nine of his albums of original material were in the country album charts at the same time. One song from that year, "A Country Boy Can Survive," was one of the best selling country songs that year.

Here's his Wikipedia page if you want to know more:

Hank Williams Jr. - Wikipedia

This album is only 14 minutes long. Although that's very short, we're lucky that it includes his two biggest hits, "A Country Boy Can Survive" and "All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)."

001 Hank Williams Junior Junior (Hank Williams Jr.)
002 Honky Tonkin' (Hank Williams Jr.)
003 If You Don't Like Hank Williams [Kiss My Ass] (Hank Williams Jr.)
004 A Country Boy Can Survive (Hank Williams Jr.)
005 All My Rowdy Friends [Have Settled Down] (Hank Williams Jr.)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17046219/VA-1983USFstvlDay0401HnkWllimsJr_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/inpK2rGR

The Country Day of the US Festival is so obscure that I couldn't find a single photo of Williams from it, not even in black and white. But since there is the YouTube video footage I mentioned above, I took a screenshot from that and used it for the cover.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 9: David Bowie

The ninth and final act on Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival is David Bowie.

In 1983, David Bowie was probably at the commercial peak of his long music career. His album "Let's Dance," released in April 1983, sold ten million copies worldwide, his biggest selling album by far, and turned him into a superstar.

It so happened that Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak was a big Bowie fan, and the US Festivals were basically vanity projects bankrolled by Wozniak.  

Berry Fey was the promoter organizing the festival with Wozniak. He later recalled, "The festival was completely booked, and Van Halen had a favored-nation clause in their contract that said no one could get more than them – and they were getting $1 million. Then Steve [Wozniak] came to me and said, 'God, Barry, I really love David Bowie.' I say, 'Steve, there's no room. Let's put this to bed.' And he says, 'Well, I really do love David … Could you try? It is my money and my festival.'"

Fey called Bowie, but Bowie was touring Europe to support the "Let's Dance" album. He wasn't due to perform in California until August, months away. He could only spare a single day flying to the U.S. and back to make the festival.

Fey said, "David tells me: 'We'll have to interrupt our tour and charter a 747 to bring our equipment and get it right back again.' So I went to Steve: 'David's gonna cost you a million and a half, but it's gonna cost you an extra half a million for Van Halen.' He just shrugged his shoulders: 'So?' The addition of Bowie ultimately cost $2 million."

Bowie and his band arrived on the morning of the day they were due to play, flying by helicopter from the airport. When they got backstage, they found a party started by Van Halen the night before was still going strong. Carmine Rojas, bassist for Bowie, later recalled to Spin Magazine that the drug use was heavy. "Everybody was packing – and I don't mean guns. Everybody was holding, as they said back in the day."

Carlos Alomar, guitarist in Bowie's band, also remembered the time. "We were shitting bricks, alright. David used to freak out over California and New York [concerts, because of their high profile], and he would always tell us, 'Don't go partyin'!' – just like all the other bands that got totally ripped up and fucked up before the [US Festival] gig. We had done that before, and David sometimes was a little cautious and would say, 'Listen guys, don't party too hard because I need you to be [on your game].' Well, that doesn't work! He did not ask us that for the US Festival. We remained what we will call primed – we were totally fuckin' hyper and primed the minute we hit the stage. We were bouncing off the walls. So no, we did not do that 'get plenty of rest before the show bullshit.'"

Alomar added, "It was a huge, huge deal. We had to understand how special the occasion was. Van Halen, David Bowie – this is top of the line. This was a job that had to be fabulous. It had to be our best."

Rojas further commented that the concert went over well with the crowd. "It was majestic. The sound coming off the big speakers, and the audience singing along with you, it's powerful. It's very tribal. It touches on your emotions strongly when you have people [singing] back and forth with you like that, and you're one huge team. That's a very powerful, positive energy. And David was such a leader and frontman, controlling all of that – and he was loving it."

Alomar was similarly pleased. "I look back at that performance and can still see David turning around and smiling at me. We had this thing where he'd give me the cues and then I'd cue the band. So we always had this connection going. And sometimes when he looked back at me that night, I was like 'Dude, you're lookin' like a Cheshire cat right now' [Laughs.]. There was a different smile, a look of, 'We nailed it. We did it. They went for that one. Oh, they loved that one.' It was that kind of joy. It wasn't that regular 'this is a cue' look. No, it was 'listen to that.'"

Of all the acts for the 1983 US Festival, I had the most trouble with the music of this one. For the vast majority of the others, I was able to find soundboard bootlegs, or at least videos of similar high quality that I converted to audio. But not with the Bowie set. He wasn't even included in the Westwood Radio One network show of highlights from the festival. All I could find was an audience bootleg that has the problems typical of audience bootlegs.

So at first I considered not including this, for fear that the sound quality wasn't up to snuff with the rest. But then I decided that Bowie was one of the headliners, one of the biggest acts, so I had to include his music. I resolved to do my best trying to improve the sound. For instance, I used the MVSEP audio editing program to get rid of most of the audience noise, other than at the ends of songs and during key moments of massive cheering during songs. That helped a lot. I also used the UVR5 program to improve the mix, mostly by boosting the lead vocals relative to the instruments. 

I think this set sound a lot better now, way better than the bootleg I started with. It's still not as good as most of the rest from this festival, but I think it's definitely listenable. 

The end of Bowie's set marked the end of the main portion of the US Festival, after New Wave, Heavy Metal, and Rock days one after another. Most people went home. But it wasn't actually the end of the festival, as there was a Country day a few days later. I only have a small portion of that to post, but I'll be posting that too.

This album is an hour and 36 minutes long.

118 Star (David Bowie)
119 Heroes (David Bowie)
120 What in the World (David Bowie)
121 Golden Years (David Bowie)
122 Fashion (David Bowie)
123 Let's Dance (David Bowie)
124 Breaking Glass (David Bowie)
125 Life on Mars (David Bowie)
126 Sorrow (David Bowie)
127 Cat People [Putting Out Fire] (David Bowie)
128 China Girl (David Bowie)
129 Scary Monsters [And Super Creeps] (David Bowie)
130 Rebel Rebel (David Bowie)
131 White Light-White Heat (David Bowie)
132 Station to Station (David Bowie)
133 Cracked Actor (David Bowie)
134 Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie)
135 Space Oddity (David Bowie)
136 talk (David Bowie)
137 Young Americans (David Bowie)
138 Fame (David Bowie)
139 The Jean Genie (David Bowie)
140 Modern Love (David Bowie)

https://www.imagenetz.de/gP67q

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/b4FEajuJ

The cover photo comes from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 8: Stevie Nicks

The seventh act on Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival is Stevie Nicks.

There were very few acts that appeared at both the 1982 and 1983 US Festivals. In fact, there were only two: Oingo Boingo and the English Beat. But one might count Nicks as a third, because she performed at the 1982 festival as part of Fleetwood Mac, and then in 1983 as a solo act. In 1982, Fleetwood Mac was touring to support their "Mirage" album released that year. Nicks returned in 1983 because she wanted to promote her new solo album, "The Wild Heart."

"The Wild Heart" album actually wouldn't be released until a couple of weeks after the US Festival. At the time of the festival, only the lead single, "Stand Back," had been released. As a result, she didn't play any of the songs from it except for "Stand Back."

This concert was a bit unusual for her since it was taking place a month before her tour to support her new album was scheduled to begin. So she did just one concert two days before it, in order to warm up. Apparently, her "Wild Heart" concert was a very wild one in terms of her personal behavior, especially drug use. She started dating Joe Walsh at the time (who had the time spot right before her at this festival), and they went on tour together. Walsh was heavily using drugs and alcohol at the time, and Nicks got caught up in taking part in that too to the point that it was negatively impacting her performances and her health. (She would go clean in early 1986, after a doctor warned her that he cocaine addiction had gotten so bad that she could die soon.) Luckily for our purposes though, since this concert took place before the tour got started, the drug use didn't negatively impact her voice and performance much yet, though people in the audience claimed she looked to be high on something.

Aside from the one "The Wild Heart" song, the songs were generally a split between songs from her first solo album "Bella Donna" and Fleetwood Mac classics that she wrote, plus a cover of Tom Petty's "I Need to Know."

This album is an hour and 16 minutes long.

094 talk (Stevie Nicks)
095 Gold Dust Woman (Stevie Nicks)
096 talk (Stevie Nicks)
097 Outside the Rain (Stevie Nicks)
098 Dreams (Stevie Nicks)
099 talk (Stevie Nicks)
100 Gold and Braid (Stevie Nicks)
101 I Need to Know (Stevie Nicks)
102 talk (Stevie Nicks)
103 Gypsy (Stevie Nicks)
104 talk (Stevie Nicks)
105 Angel (Stevie Nicks)
106 talk (Stevie Nicks)
107 Leather and Lace (Stevie Nicks)
108 talk (Stevie Nicks)
109 Stand Back (Stevie Nicks)
110 talk (Stevie Nicks)
111 How Still My Love (Stevie Nicks)
112 talk (Stevie Nicks)
113 Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (Stevie Nicks)
114 The Edge of Seventeen (Stevie Nicks)
115 talk (Stevie Nicks)
116 Rhiannon (Stevie Nicks)
117 talk (Stevie Nicks)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039579/VA-1983USFstvlDay0308StviNcks_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/LbsWAEUV

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 7: Joe Walsh

The seventh act on Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival is a set by Joe Walsh.

Joe Walsh is famous both for a successful solo career and for being a member of the band the Eagles. The Eagles were asked to perform at the festival, but they broke up in 1980 and some of the band members were on bad terms with each other. So I suppose having Joe Walsh as a solo artist was kind of a next best thing.

After the Eagles broke up, Walsh released a solo album in 1981, "There Goes the Neighborhood." At the time of the festival, he was on the verge of releasing another, "You Bought It - You Name It." That was released just a month after the festival. But apparently he didn't play any songs from it. If this is the full set, he didn't play any songs from either album. The closest was "All Night Long," which was released on a movie soundtrack album in 1980.

Walsh was supposed to play on Day Two, Heavy Metal Day. That wouldn't have been a good musical fit, since his music isn't heavy metal. John Mellencamp was supposed to play on Day Three, but he cancelled due to a dispute with the promoters, so Walsh was moved to Mellencamp's spot. That opened a spot on Day Two, which was filled by Quiet Riot. (I'm not sure who else was asked to play the festival and declined, though I saw one mention that Michael Jackson turned down a big offer.)

I'm not sure if this is the full set or not. It could be, because I can't find any mention of any additional songs. But it also seems a bit short for one of the biggest named acts on Day Three (with the set times generally getting longer as each day went on). In any case, this is sourced from a video, which I broke up into mp3s. I also used the UVR5 audio editing program to boost the lead vocals relative to the instruments, for a better mix.

This album is 50 minutes long.

078 talk (Joe Walsh)
079 Fanfare for the Common Man [Instrumental] (Joe Walsh)
080 In the City (Joe Walsh)
081 Welcome to the Club (Joe Walsh)
082 talk (Joe Walsh)
083 Life in the Fast Lane (Joe Walsh)
084 talk (Joe Walsh)
085 The Bomber [Closet Queen - Bolero - Cast Your Fate to the Wind] (Joe Walsh)
086 talk (Joe Walsh)
087 Funk No. 49 (Joe Walsh)
088 talk (Joe Walsh)
089 Rocky Mountain Way - Rainy Day Women No. 12 and 35 (Joe Walsh)
090 talk (Joe Walsh)
091 Life's Been Good (Joe Walsh)
092 talk (Joe Walsh)
093 All Night Long (Joe Walsh) 

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039577/VA-1983USFstvlDay0307JoeWlsh_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FFJAxBQ7

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 6: The Pretenders

The sixth act from Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival is the Pretenders.

At the time of this festival, the Pretenders were undergoing some changes. They'd released two very successful albums, "Pretenders" in 1980 and "Pretenders II" in 1981. But in 1982, bassist Pete Farndon was fired from the band due to his excessive drug use. He died of a heroin overdose in April 1983, a month prior to this festival. Also in 1982, shortly after Farndon was fired, lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure related to taking too much cocaine.

Later in 1982, the Pretenders released a single of the song "Back on the Chain Gang," backed with "My City Was Gone." Both became classics, and the single reached Number Five on the U.S. charts, the band's biggest success in the U.S. so far. But the band took a long time finishing their third album, "Learning to Crawl." It wouldn't be released until January 1984.

Although "Learning to Crawl" wasn't released yet, the band played four songs from it in this set: the previously mentioned "Back on the Chain Gang" and "My City Was Gone," plus "Middle of the Road" and "Time the Avenger." Most of the rest of the songs were from the band's first two albums. 

However, the set concluded with a cover of the classic Motown song "Money (That's What I Want)." This was done as kind of a jokey reference to all of the intrigues in the news about the big payments some acts were getting for taking part in the festival, including the bickering between bands like the Clash and Van Halen. Lead singer Chrissie Hynde introduced the song by saying, "I'd like to do this song especially for all the bands who played at the US Festival. And especially all the ones who didn't because they weren't getting paid enough."

This album is sourced from a soundboard worthy bootleg, and it is the complete set. I believe all the performances on it are unreleased with the exception of "Money." That was included as a bonus track on a "Learning to Crawl" release. I also was growing up in Southern California at the time. I didn't get to see the festival, but I remember this version of "Money" got played on the radio a lot at the time, even though it apparently never got an official release until much later.

This album is an hour and seven minutes long.

060 My City Was Gone (Pretenders)
061 Message of Love (Pretenders)
062 The Adultress (Pretenders)
063 Talk of the Town (Pretenders)
064 talk (Pretenders)
065 Stop Your Sobbing (Pretenders)
066 Private Life (Pretenders)
067 Time the Avenger (Pretenders)
068 Mystery Achievement (Pretenders)
069 The Wait (Pretenders)
070 talk (Pretenders)
071 Middle of the Road (Pretenders)
072 Up the Neck (Pretenders)
073 Precious (Pretenders)
074 talk (Pretenders)
075 Back on the Chain Gang (Pretenders)
076 Brass in Pocket (Pretenders)
077 Money [That's What I Want] (Pretenders)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039576/VA-1983USFstvlDay0306Prtndrs_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FzL72FUP

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 5: U2

The fifth act on Day Three of the 1983 US Festival is the Irish band U2.

It's important to keep in mind that, by the end of the 1980s, U2 was one of the biggest musical acts in the world, but that definitely wasn't the case at the time of this festival. By this time, the band had hit it big in Britain and Ireland. Their third and most recent album, "War," was released in early 1983 and reached Number One in Britain. But the band hadn't made much of an impression in the U.S. yet. They resolved to change that by touring to support "War." When the tour started in February 1983, they were booked in clubs. But as the tour went on, and word of mouth grew, they moved to halls, and then to arenas. The US Festival, with about 200,000 in attendance on Rock Day, was their biggest break, by far.

Berry Fay was the promoter putting the 1983 US Festival together. He already happened to be a big fan of the band. He later recalled, "They were originally booked to be on the first night with the Clash. But Bono called and said we'd really rather not be on the new wave night, we'd rather be on the rock 'n' roll night. So I just moved 'em, I'd have done anything for those guys."

The set list and performance is very similar to that of the video "U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky." That's no coincidence, because that video was filmed in Colorado just one week after this festival. But the resulting live album "Under a Blood Red Sky" is significantly shorter than the video or this festival performance at only 35 minutes (and most it actually was taken from other concerts on that tour). It was the release of that video and live album later in 1983 that really broke the band in the U.S., especially since the video was repeatedly shown on T.V., starting in July 1983, well before the live album release. The "War" album was lingering in the album charts, but went way up, eventually peaking at Number Twelve.

This is sourced from a soundboard worthy bootleg. As far as I know, everything from this remains officially unreleased.

This album is 57 minutes long.

045 Gloria (U2)
046 I Threw a Brick through a Window (U2)
047 A Day without Me (U2)
048 talk (U2)
049 An Cat Dubh (U2)
050 Into the Heart (U2)
051 New Year's Day (U2)
052 Surrender (U2)
053 Two Hearts Beat as One (U2)
054 talk (U2)
055 Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)
056 Cry - The Electric Co. (U2)
057 I Will Follow (U2)
058 talk (U2)
059 '40' (U2)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039589/VA-1983USFstvlDay0305UToo_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/mCg6sqvQ

The cover photo of the band's lead singer Bono wading into the crowd is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 4: Missing Persons

The fourth act on Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival is Missing Persons.

Missing Persons was formed in 1980. Most of the band members met each other through working with Frank Zappa. At first, they had success with an EP in 1980, then released the album "Spring Session M" in 1982. (The title is an anagram of "Missing Persons.") None of the songs from it were hits, but the album was solid and has since been deemed a new wave classic. One song from it, "Walking in L.A.," became the band's signature song and still gets radio airplay. 

The band put out another album in 1984, but it wasn't well received either critically or commercially. Another album in 1986 got even less attention, and the band broke up. However, the band reunited in 2001 and is still in existence as I write this in 2024.

Here's the band's Wikipedia page if you want to know more:

Missing Persons (band) - Wikipedia

Finally, after three partial sets earlier in the day of the festival, I'm able to present a full set. All the following sets from Day Three are complete as well. I found a video of the set and converted it to mp3 files. I also boosted the lead vocals relative to the instruments via the UVR5 audio editing program.

This album is 55 minutes long.

021 Introduction [Instrumental] (Missing Persons)
022 Mental Hopscotch (Missing Persons)
023 Noticeable Ones (Missing Persons)
024 talk (Missing Persons)
025 Words (Missing Persons)
026 talk (Missing Persons)
027 Tears (Missing Persons)
028 talk (Missing Persons)
029 It Ain't None of Your Business (Missing Persons)
030 Bad Streets (Missing Persons)
031 talk (Missing Persons)
032 U.S. Drag (Missing Persons)
033 talk (Missing Persons)
034 Windows (Missing Persons)
035 talk (Missing Persons)
036 Here and Now (Missing Persons)
037 talk (Missing Persons)
038 Walking in L.A. (Missing Persons)
039 talk (Missing Persons)
040 I Like Boys (Missing Persons)
041 talk (Missing Persons)
042 Destination Unknown (Missing Persons)
043 No Way Out (Missing Persons)
044 talk (Missing Persons

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039567/VA-1983USFstvlDay0304MssngPrsns_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/sBUyVgVn

The cover photo of the band's lead singer Dale Bozzio is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 3: Berlin

The third act on Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival is the band Berlin.

Berlin was formed in 1979, when lead singer Terri Nunn joined an existing band. Nunn's voice and looks were a big part of the band's appeal, but she also was working as an actress in Hollywood at the time, and missed taking part in recording the band's first album, released in 1980. But she returned for the band's 1982 album "Pleasure Victim." It didn't have any Top Forty hits, but several songs got played on new wave radio stations, and it eventually sold over a million copies. The band was still promoting that album at the time of this concert, so most of the songs performed were from it.In 1984, Berlin would have their first hit with "No More Words." But then they really hit it big in 1986 with the song "Take My Breath Away," which would reach Number One on the U.S. singles charts. However, the band broke up after that. The band reformed about ten years later, as is still going as I write this in 2024.

Here's the Wikipedia entry if you want to know more:

Berlin (band) - Wikipedia

I was able to find a soundboard quality bootleg of the music here. Unfortunately, while it contains most of the band's set, it's not complete. Two more songs were played: "World of Smiles" and "Touch." All of the set remains unreleased.

This album is 33 minutes long.

011 talk (Berlin)
012 Masquerade (Berlin)
013 The Metro (Berlin)
014 talk (Berlin)
015 Pictures of You (Berlin)
016 Touch (Berlin)
017 Tell Me Why (Berlin)
018 talk (Berlin)
019 Sex [I'm A...] (Berlin)
020 talk (Berlin)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039558/VA-1983USFstvlDay0303Brln_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dx1R38YV

The cover photo of the band's lead singer Terri Nunn is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 2: Quarterflash

The second act on Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival was the band Quarterflash.

The main forces in Quarterflash were Rindy Ross, the band's lead singer and saxophone player, and her husband Marv Ross, who played guitar and wrote most of the songs. They were formed in 1980 and found success right away. Their first single, "Harden My Heart," reached Number Three on the U.S. singles chart in 1981. Their follow-up single, "Find Another Fool," also made the Top Twenty, and their debut album "Quarterflash" sold over a million copies. Their follow up album, "Take Another Picture," was released in March 1983, two months before this festival. That contained another Top Twenty single, "Take Another Picture."

So far, so good. But unfortunately, their subsequent albums and singles failed to make their mark on the charts. The band finally folded in 2020.

Here's their Wikipedia entry if you want to know more:

Quarterflash - Wikipedia 

Unfortunately, this is another case where the set was almost certainly longer. I was only able to find four songs because they were included as part of the Westwood One radio network's broadcast of selections from the festival. If anyone has any music I'm missing, please let me know. 

This album is 20 minutes long.

005 talk (Quarterflash)
006 Find Another Fool (Quarterflash)
007 talk (Quarterflash)
008 Take Me to Heart (Quarterflash)
009 Harden My Heart (Quarterflash)
010 Take Another Picture (Quarterflash)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039565/VA-1983USFstvlDay0302Qartrflsh_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/2bEeM1Dd

The cover art of the band's lead singers Rindy Ross is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-30-1983 - Day 3, Part 1: Little Steven (Steven Van Zandt)

The first act of Day Three (Rock Day) of the 1983 US Festival was Little Steven, a.k.a., Steven Van Zandt. Technically, the act's name was "Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul," but I'm using the shorter name here.

Before I talk about the artist, I want to mention the theme of Day Three, which the promoters billed as "Rock Day." In my opinion, that name was a bit off, because Day One was "New Wave Day," and this day contained some new wave acts, like Berlin and Missing Persons. Most of the acts from the day were played on new wave radio stations at the time, like U2, the Pretenders, and David Bowie. Only a couple, like Joe Walsh, were clearly "rock" acts. So this almost could have been "New Wave Day, Part 2."

Anyway, Little Steven is best known today for being a member of Bruce Springsteen's back-up band, the E-Street Band. He first joined Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Dukes, and wrote most of their songs in the 1970s. But in 1975 he also joined Springsteen's E-Street Band, and slowly phased out his involvement with the Ashbury Dukes. In 1982, he released his first solo album, "Men without Women." At the time of this festival, he was mainly promoting that album. All three songs here are from it. But he also still was a member of the E-Street Band.

In 1984, he put out a second solo album and quit the E-Street Band to focus fully on his solo career. But that career petered out by the start of the 1990s, when he was unable to get a new record contract. He rejoined the E-Street Band when it reformed in 1995, and he's been a member of it ever since.

Here's his Wikipedia entry if you want to know more:

Steven Van Zandt - Wikipedia

Unfortunately, I only have three songs from this set. I'm sure there was more, since it seems all the sets in the festival were at least half an hour long, but I couldn't find a complete set list. The reason I have these songs is because they were included as part of a Westwood One radio network special that played some selected songs from the festival.

This album is 14 minutes long.

001 Lying in a Bed of Fire (Little Steven)
002 talk (Little Steven)
003 Under the Gun (Little Steven)
004 Angel Eyes (Little Steven)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17039561/VA-1983USFstvlDay0301LttleStven_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UJbfFUjz

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-29-1983 - Day 2, Part 7: Van Halen

The seventh and last act to perform on Day Two (Heavy Metal Day) of the 1983 US Festival is Van Halen.

Van Halen is a very well known band, so I don't feel the need to explain much here. Note this festival took place near the end of the band's era in which David Lee Roth was the lead singer. In 1984, one year later, they would release the "Jump" album which would be a massive success, but Roth would leave after the world tour that followed. At the time, the band was still promoting their 1982 album "Diver Down."

If you want to know more about the band, here's their Wikipedia entry:

Van Halen - Wikipedia

There's much to say about the band's performance. For starters, there was a big controversy about how much they got paid to perform. Multimillionaire Steve Wozniak was bankrolling the entire two US Festivals, and for the 1983 one, he got most of the acts he wanted, even if he had to pay through the nose. As one of the headline acts, Van Halen was paid the most money, a million dollars. That was an astronomical amount for a single concert back in 1983. (It would be about three million dollars adjusted for inflation in 2024, but also, concert ticket prices have gone up way faster than inflation since then.) 

However, after Van Halen signed the contract to perform at the festival, David Bowie agreed to perform as the headliner for a million and a half dollars. It turned out Van Halen's contract included a clause that if anyone else at the festival was paid more, they would have to be paid that much too. So their million dollar fee was also boosted to a million and a half.

These developments pissed off the Clash. They were the headline act for Day One of the festival, while Van Halen was the Day Two headliner and David Bowie was the Day Three headliner. Yet the Clash were only being paid $500,000, and they didn't have any clause to boost that when the others were paid more. As a result, in the weeks leading up to the festival, Joe Strummer, lead singer of the Clash, complained a lot in the press, and especially criticized Van Halen. David Lee Roth, Van Halen's outspoken lead singer, then complained back. 

For instance, in an interview given to MTV earlier in the day, Roth said, "The Clash are having a lot of troubles, man. They're trying to save the nation, they're trying to implement cultural exchange – and change – they're trying to make some, you know, advisements on terminology of what we're going to live. And they have a new drummer. So they have their hands full out there. [Laughs.] What can I say? By the way, the Clash did save the world – about a half hour late last night, ladies and gentlemen. [Laughs.]"

Then, during the actual performance, he threw in another insult in his banter between songs, holding up a bottle and saying, "I wanna take this time to say this is real whiskey here. The only people who put ice tea in Jack Daniels bottles is the Clash, baby!"

If Roth's comments to MTV sound a bit incoherent ("advisements on terminology?"), that's because he was quite drunk when he said them. Apparently, he was rip roaring drunk (and high as well) for the entire day as the band waited to go on stage late that night. But he was hardly the only one getting wasted backstage that day.

Bassist Michael Anthony later recalled, "We had a big backstage setup and we had a lot of guests. That was one big party. Motley Crue back then was just coming up. And Tommy Lee came up to me with a bottle of Jack Daniels in the middle of the afternoon: 'Come on, dude! Fuckin A!' [Laughs.]. I'm like, 'Brother, I'll drink with you. But let's wait until tonight [to really go hard].'"

Anthony further explained, "We were pretty nervous. Roth was probably a little more nervous than everyone else. I don't like to talk smack about anybody, but he was doing interviews all day long, just kind of hyping the whole thing. And Dave was drinking Jack [Daniels] and whatever. He was pretty well plowed. You get caught up in the whole frickin' festival and the whole thing. And the next thing you know, it's kind of like, 'Oh my God, we gotta go on in an hour!'"

Band manager Noel Monk later said, "David liked to drink a little before going out onstage, but very rarely had he imbibed so heavily that it affected his performance. There were a few times overseas when David had gotten drunk before media appearances, but in the States he had always been smart enough to keep things under control. So imagine my surprise when I returned to the trailer a couple hours later and found David drunk and krelled out of his mind. ["Krell" was the band's nickname for cocaine.] I mean, I was mortified; he could barely stand up."

After the Scorpions finished their set, Van Halen wasn't ready to go on, due to Roth being too wasted. Luckily, the band had made a video to get the crowd hyped up. It supposedly showed wild partying going on backstage, including scantily clad or half-naked women, butlers in tuxedos, and midgets and farm animals wandering around (just to add to the chaotic atmosphere). In fact, it was filmed a week before to fake what the backstage party would be like, but the actual backstage party was just like that, only wilder.

However, the video wasn't that long, and mostly the audience just had to wait. Two hours passed before Roth was deemed capable of going on stage. But even then, he was still very drunk. (Curiously, the Clash also started about two hours late the night before, as I explained in the album write-up for their performance.)

Some people complained that Roth gave a poor performance. For instance, Ozzy Osbourne, who had performed earlier in the day, commented, "Honestly, I don't know why Van Halen even bothered getting up there, they were so fucking drunk." And even Monk, the band's manager, later said, "David put on the worst performance I had ever seen from him." However, the rest of the band played well, and the audience responded positively overall.

Bassist Anthony also has a different opinion, saying of the performance, "We were tight behind him. And when I watch the tape back, we were firing on all cylinders. All four of us, whether Roth was drunk or not. The energy was there. The show is there."

I listened to this a couple of times, and in my opinion I think the band sounded fine. It's not even obvious that Roth was drunk, except for the fact that he went off on some long rants between songs a couple of times. I'd be curious if people think this was a bad show by them or not.

This is sourced from a soundboard worthy bootleg. The entire show is officially unreleased.

This album is an hour and 59 minutes long.

001 Romeo Delight (Van Halen)
002 Unchained (Van Halen)
003 Drum Solo [Instrumental] (Van Halen)
004 The Full Bug (Van Halen)
005 Runnin' with the Devil (Van Halen)
006 talk (Van Halen)
007 Jamie's Cryin' (Van Halen)
008 So This Is Love (Van Halen)
009 Little Guitars (Van Halen)
010 Bass Solo [Instrumental] (Van Halen)
011 Dancing in the Street (Van Halen)
012 Somebody Get Me a Doctor - I'm So Glad (Van Halen)
013 Dance the Night Away (Van Halen)
014 God Bless the Child [Edit] (Van Halen)
015 Cathedral [Instrumental] (Van Halen)
016 Secrets (Van Halen)
017 Everybody Wants Some (Van Halen)
018 talk (Van Halen)
019 Ice Cream Man (Van Halen)
020 Intruder [Instrumental] (Van Halen)
021 Oh, Pretty Woman (Van Halen)
022 Guitar Solo [Instrumental] (Van Halen)
023 Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love (Van Halen)
024 Bottoms Up (Van Halen)
025 You Really Got Me - Happy Trails (Van Halen)

https://www.imagenetz.de/gCrgC

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/LdCXssB3

The cover photo of Eddie Van Halen (with guitar) and David Lee Roth is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-29-1983 - Day 2, Part 6: The Scorpions

The sixth act on Day Two (Heavy Metal Day) of the 1983 US Festival is the German band the Scorpions.

Before I say more about the band, I want to discuss the sound quality here, because out of all the acts in the festival, I had the most difficulty with this one. There were some acts where I couldn't find any much from them at all, mostly from Day Four of the festival, which was Country Day. I'll discuss that day later. Of the acts on the other three days, I found at least something, all with worthy sound quality. The one exception of Los Lobos, who were the opening act of Day Three. But apparently they didn't play on the main stage but some smaller side stage, so I don't know if they really count. 

Anyway, the one exception was the Scorpions, because I found some of their music with very high quality, and the rest from an audience bootleg with much lower sound quality. The three high quality songs were "Nobody like You," "The Zoo," and "Can't Get Enough." This is because the Westwood One radio network later broadcast highlights of the festival on the radio, and that included those three songs. The audience bootleg was of the entire set, but a lot of it sounded too rough to merit inclusion, in my opinion. For some reason, some of the songs sounded better than others. For instance, "Always Somewhere" is more of a ballad, and was less fast and busy, so perhaps that helped. Anyway, I rescued the other three songs here from that audience boot. Then I processed them in various ways to try to get them to sound better. For instance, I ran them through the MVSEP audio editing program to get rid of most of the crowd noise (except at the ends of songs). I also ran all the songs in this set through the UVR5 audio editing program to improve the balance between the lead vocals and the instruments. Now, all the songs here at least sound decent, but I should warn you the parts from the audience boot probably sound the worst out of anything else I'm posting from this festival.

Anyway, with that out of the way, here's a bit about the Scorpions. They undoubtedly are the most famous and best selling hard rock/heavy metal act to come from Germany. The band was formed way back in 1965, but they didn't put out their first album until 1972. It wasn't until 1979 when they had an album make the charts anywhere, even in Germany. But they sang their songs in English, and from 1979 they started finding a lot of success internationally, including in the U.S. Their 1982 album "Blackout" took them to another level, selling over a million copies in the U.S., helped by the inclusion of "Nobody like You," their biggest hit at that point.

Their next album, "Love at First Sting" in 1984, would be even bigger, selling three million in the U.S. They would have lots of success for many years after that, eventually selling over 100 million albums worldwide. Their 1990 song "Winds of Change" would be one of the biggest singles of all time, selling 14 million worldwide. But in 1983, they were still relatively unknown but rising in popularity.

Oh, and technically, their name is "Scorpions," not "The Scorpions," but this is one of those band name cases like "The Eagles" where most people add the "the."

If you want to know more about the band, here's their Wikipedia page:

Scorpions (band) - Wikipedia

The band's lead singer Klause Meine later recalled a fond memory he had about the band's festival performance. "Going out there, I never forget this because it was an opening, which is really hard to top. Our people had arranged five fighter jets to fly over the stage and over San Bernardino Valley the minute we hit the stage with the first song. That moment, it was like all hell broke loose. There was huge fireworks, and [the announcer] couldn’t finish his introduction because the fire went off, and on top there were five fighter jets flying over the stage. Then we went out and hit the first song. It gives you chills when you think about it. It was so special, and the timing was amazing. One of the best intros of rock history, I would say."

This album is 36 minutes long.

086 talk (Scorpions)
087 Always Somewhere (Scorpions)
088 talk (Scorpions)
089 Nobody like You (Scorpions)
090 Can't Live without You (Scorpions)
091 Dynamite (Scorpions)
092 The Zoo (Scorpions)
093 Can't Get Enough (Scorpions)
094 talk (Scorpions)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17028231/VA-1983USFstvlDay0206Scrpons_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Gcs78YYR

 The cover photo looks almost staged to me, but it really is of the Scorpions in performance from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-29-1983 - Day 2, Part 5: Triumph

The fifth act to perform on Day Two (Heavy Metal Day) of the 1983 US Festival was the Canadian band Triumph.

Triumph is probably the most surprising inclusion for Heavy Metal Day. Their music is considered more hard rock with a prog rock influence than actual heavy metal. But apparently they were a personal favorite of Steve Wozniak, who bankrolled the entire festival.

The band was formed in 1975, and peaked in popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known today for their 1979 hit "Lay It on the Line," which still gets a lot of play on classic rock stations. Their 1981 album "Allied Forces" was their biggest in the U.S., selling a million copies there. Their 1982 album "Never Surrender" also did well. Most of the songs performed were from those two most recent albums.

Here is the band's Wikipedia entry if you want to know more:

Triumph (band) - Wikipedia

This is a rare case of the music from the festival being officially released. The entire set was released as the album "Live at the US Festival" in 2003. However, I found the lead vocals rather low (like all the music from Heavy Metal Day, strangely enough). So I boosted the vocals relative to the instruments with the UVR5 audio editing program. 

 This album is 51 minutes long.

076 Allied Forces (Triumph)
077 Lay It on the Line (Triumph)
078 Never Surrender (Triumph)
079 talk (Triumph)
080 Magic Power (Triumph)
081 A World of Fantasy (Triumph)
082 Rock and Roll Machine [Edit] (Triumph)
083 When the Lights Go Down (Triumph)
084 talk (Triumph)
085 Fight the Good Fight (Triumph)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17028234/VA-1983USFstvlDay0205Trimph_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bZBtvxUg

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-29-1983 - Day 2, Part 4: Judas Priest

The fourth act on Day Two (Heavy Metal Day) at the 1983 US Festival was the band Judas Priest.

Judas Priest is one of the most famous heavy metal bands of all time. They've sold over 50 million albums worldwide. They were formed way back in 1969, but only really started to take off in the late 1970s. Their big breakthrough was the album "British Steel" in 1980, which allmusic.com has said is the album that "kick-started heavy metal's glory days of the 1980's." It sold over a million copies in the U.S. Their 1982 album "Screaming for Vengeance," which was their most recent album at the time of this festival, did even better. It sold two million in the U.S., helped by the hit single "You've Got Another Thing Comin'." 

So at the time of this festival, they were probably at the peak of their popularity, since no other album would sell nearly as well as "Screaming for Vengeance." However, the band has had a steady career since, and is still in existence as I write this in 2024.

Here's the band's Wikipedia page if you want to know more:

Judas Priest - Wikipedia

Gil Moore, drummer for Triumph (the next band to play), later recalled, "The heat for all the bands was tremendous. I remember watching Judas Priest go out. They had on the leather, and it wasn't just a little bit of leather – we're talking pounds and pounds of it. Each one of their outfits must've weighed ten pounds in black leather and studs. I’m laughing – 'these guys are going to absolutely melt.' It’s like 110 degrees, full-on sun."

I found the music here from a soundboard quality bootleg. All of the music is officially unreleased. The lead vocals were low in the mix, so I boosted them using the UVR5 audio editing program.

This album is an hour and one minute long.

054 talk (Judas Priest)
055 Electric Eye (Judas Priest)
056 Riding on the Wind (Judas Priest)
057 talk (Judas Priest)
058 Heading Out to the Highway (Judas Priest)
059 talk (Judas Priest)
060 Metal Gods (Judas Priest)
061 talk (Judas Priest)
062 Breaking the Law (Judas Priest)
063 talk (Judas Priest)
064 Diamonds and Rust (Judas Priest)
065 talk (Judas Priest)
066 Victim of Changes (Judas Priest)
067 talk (Judas Priest)
068 Living After Midnight (Judas Priest)
069 talk (Judas Priest)
070 The Green Manalishi [With the Two-Pronged Crown] (Judas Priest)
071 talk (Judas Priest)
072 Screaming for Vengeance (Judas Priest)
073 You've Got Another Thing Comin' (Judas Priest)
074 talk (Judas Priest)
075 Hell Bent for Leather (Judas Priest)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17028262/VA-1983USFstvlDay0204JdasPrest_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/9oGPco8X

The cover photo shows guitarist K.K. Downing at this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-29-1983 - Day 2, Part 3: Ozzy Osbourne

The third act on Day Two (Heavy Metal Day) of the 1983 US Festival was singer Ozzy Osbourne.

Osbourne was massively successful at the time of this concert. He was the lead singer of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath from 1968 until 1979, when he was fired due to drug and alcohol problems. But he regrouped and put out two solo albums, "Blizzard of Oz" in 1980 and "Diary of a Madman" in 1981, that sold millions and included classics like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley." Unfortunately, between that second album and this concert, Osbourne parted ways with most of his backing band. In particular, lead guitarist Randy Rhoads was killed in a car accident in 1982. By the time of this festival, he was replaced by Jake E. Lee.

If you want to know more about Osborne, here's his Wikipedia page:

Ozzy Osbourne - Wikipedia

Osborne later recalled about the festival, "I do remember it being fucking ridiculously hot. I mean, the bands are getting paid all this fucking money for playing a few songs, then there's this fucking immense crowd, and there’s no fucking water for them to drink. It was like being in the middle of a forest fire."

Indeed, it was very hot. The high temperature that day was 95 degrees. That actually was significantly cooler than the 1982 US Festival, when temperatures went well over 100.

The festival was particularly important for Jake E. Lee, since it was his first major concert appearance as lead guitarist in Osbourne's band. He later said, "We came out on stage, just before we started playing because I wanted to make sure my gear was working. I did a couple of chunk-chunks on the guitar, and it was so loud. You could feel the air coming out of the PA and the monitors. The stage kind of rumbled and it felt God-like. It was exhilarating. I was like, 'Holy shit, this is going to be awesome.' And then I looked out, and it was just a sea of people. That's when the enormity of it struck me. I remember thinking, 'This is going to be a moment you’ll remember for the rest of your life.'" 

I sourced this from an excellent sounding bootleg. I believe the set remained unreleased. As with all the rest of the Heavy Metal Day music, the lead vocals were low in the mix so I fixed that using the UVR5 audio editing program.

The songs mostly come from the two Osbourne albums mentioned above, but several songs from Black Sabbath were played as well.

This album is an hour and nine minutes long.

030 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
031 Diary of a Madman (Ozzy Osbourne)
032 Over the Mountain (Ozzy Osbourne)
033 Mr. Crowley (Ozzy Osbourne)
034 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
035 Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)
036 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
037 Suicide Solution (Ozzy Osbourne)
038 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
039 Revelation [Mother Earth] (Ozzy Osbourne)
040 Steal Away [The Night] (Ozzy Osbourne)
041 Drum Solo [Instrumental] (Ozzy Osbourne)
042 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
043 I Don’t Know (Ozzy Osbourne)
044 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
045 Flying High Again (Ozzy Osbourne)
046 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
047 Fairies Wear Boots (Ozzy Osbourne)
048 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
049 Iron Man (Ozzy Osbourne)
050 Children of the Grave (Ozzy Osbourne)
051 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)
052 Paranoid (Ozzy Osbourne)
053 talk (Ozzy Osbourne)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17028704/VA-1983USFstvlDay0203OzyOsbrne_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/eqhbcpAJ

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-29-1983 - Day 2, Part 2: Motley Crue

The second act on Day Two (Heavy Metal Day) of the 1983 US Festival was the band Motley Crue.

As I write this decades later, Motley Crue is one of the best known heavy metal bands, having sold over 100 million albums worldwide. But at the time they were relatively little known, so much so that it's kind of remarkable they were included in the festival at all. They had only released one album at this point, "Too Fast for Love," and it had sold well under 100,000 copies at the time. In 1983, their second album "Shout at the Devil" would be their big breakthrough, selling four million copies in the U.S. alone. But that wouldn't be released until September, four months after this festival. Still, the band played about the same number of songs from each album, plus a cover of "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles.

Here's the band's Wikipedia page, if you want to know more:

Mötley Crüe - Wikipedia

Drummer Tommy Lee later recalled, "I remember arriving by helicopter and looking down on something I'd never, ever seen before – 300,000 people! Whoa! I was really excited and fucking nervous all at once. Kinda felt like puking, actually. When we got onstage – holy shit! We renamed it the Dust Festival. A sea of people in dust. I'll never forget that." 

That 300,000 people number is close, but it actually was even larger. The estimate for Heavy Metal Day was about 375,000 people, which was significantly more than any of the other days of the festival. 

I found a soundboard worthy bootleg of this band's entire set. I believe all of their set remains officially unreleased. The lead vocals were low in the mix, so I fixed that with the UVR5 audio editing program.

This album is 42 minutes long.

015 Take It to the Top (Motley Crue)
016 Looks that Kill (Motley Crue)
017 talk (Motley Crue)
018 Bastard (Motley Crue)
019 Shout at the Devil (Motley Crue)
020 talk (Motley Crue)
021 Merry-Go-Round (Motley Crue)
022 Knock 'Em Dead Kid (Motley Crue)
023 talk (Motley Crue)
024 Piece of Your Action (Motley Crue)
025 talk (Motley Crue)
026 Live Wire (Motley Crue)
027 talk (Motley Crue)
028 Helter Skelter (Motley Crue)
029 talk (Motley Crue) 

https://www.upload.ee/files/17028233/VA-1983USFstvlDay0202MtlyCru_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/rdSPdz39

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-29-1983 - Day 2, Part 1: Quiet Riot

To be honest, I never thought I would post albums by the likes of Quiet Riot. But Day Two of the 1983 US Festival was called "Heavy Metal Day" by the organizers, and all the acts fell into that genre (more or less). I'm simply not of fan of this music. However, I do want to post as much of the festival as I can, and this is a part of it. Posting festivals like this sometimes causes me to expand the types of music I share, which is probably a good thing overall.

I don't know much about Quiet Riot. But it seems this band had a lot of turmoil and personnel turnover. They existed for much of the 1970s, but had limited success putting out two albums, both of which were only released in Japan. After breaking up entirely for two years, the band reformed for the 1983 album "Metal Health." This was a huge success, selling about ten million copies worldwide. The album was released in February, and its popularity was still growing at the time of this concert. In November, it would briefly hit Number One in the US album charts. 

However, the band's huge success was short-lived. Their 1984 album sold far less, and all subsequent albums dropped off even more, as turmoil and personnel turnover resumed. If you want to know more, here's their Wikipedia page:

Quiet Riot - Wikipedia

The band was a very last minute addition to the festival. Bassist Rudy Sarzo later recalled, "Quiet Riot was on tour with the Scorpions. We shared the same agency, and they were playing a three-week warmup tour for the US Festival. We did that little tour with them, and the last day of their tour was in Denver. And [US Festival promoter] Barry Fey happened to be backstage, and after our set, he runs in and introduces himself. He says, 'Listen, we have a spot available for the US Festival. Would you guys be interested?' And we said, 'What is that?'" Sarzo laughed.

"He explained what it was, we looked at each other, and our manager happened to be there, and we accepted it right there on the spot. This is two days before the show. Logistically, we had to scramble to make it happen. It meant we had no road crew for the US Festival because our crew was driving our rented U-Haul truck to our gig the day after the US Festival in Detroit."

I took this music from a video file, then converted it into mp3s. I believe all of it is unreleased. The vocals were rather low, so I used the UVR5 audio editing program to boost them relative to the instruments.

This album is 41 minutes long.

001 talk (Quiet Riot)
002 Danger Zone (Quiet Riot)
003 Run for Cover (Quiet Riot)
004 talk (Quiet Riot)
005 Love's a Bitch (Quiet Riot)
006 talk (Quiet Riot)
007 Cum On Feel the Noize (Quiet Riot)
008 Slick Black Cadillac (Quiet Riot)
009 talk (Quiet Riot)
010 Let's Get Crazy (Quiet Riot)
011 Battle Axe [Instrumental] (Quiet Riot)
012 Let's Get Crazy [Reprise] (Quiet Riot)
013 talk (Quiet Riot)
014 Metal Health [Bang Your Head] (Quiet Riot)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17028237/VA-1983USFstvlDay0201QietRot_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/sUcQaHzs

This cover photo is from this exact concert. Rudy Sarzo is on the left and Kevin DuBrow is on the right.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-28-1983 - Day 1, Part 9: The Clash

The ninth and final act to perform on the first day of the 1983 US Festival was the Clash. 

I'm excited to present this album because there aren't that many Clash concert recordings with excellent sound. This one seems to have been overlooked as an audio recording - I could only find poor sounding audience bootlegs of this show. But it turns out there was an excellent video of the set, which I then converted to mp3 files. In my opinion, this is now one of a handful of the best Clash live recordings out there, so this is a must have if you're a fan of the band.

Adding interest, this is the very last concert of what some people would consider the "real" Clash. The two main creative forces in the band were Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, who wrote or co-wrote nearly all of the songs. This turned out to be the last concert with Jones in the band. He was kicked out of the band a few months later. The band put out one more album after that, "Cut the Crap" in 1985, but it has a very controversial reputation.

One might think the band was falling apart at this point, so the performance was poor. In fact, the opposite was the case. The band gave a strong and passionate performance. But there's a weird back story to it which I want to relate in full.

In 1983, the Clash were riding high commercially, thanks to their 1982 hit album "Combat Rock," with two big hit singles, "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go." As a result, they were the closer for the first day, "New Wave Day," and one of the main headliners for the entire festival. The closers for the other two nights were Van Halen and David Bowie. It turned out the Clash were paid half a million dollars to perform, whereas Van Halen was originally to be paid a million dollars. However, Bowie was doing a concert tour in Europe at the time, and held out to be paid a million and a half dollars. The main backer of the festival, Steve Wozniak, had deep pockets after becoming a multimillionaire thanks to his role cofounding Apple Computers. So he agreed to pay a million and a half to Bowie. Then it turned out Van Halen had a provision in their contract that they got to be paid as much as any other act in the festival. So their million got bumped up to a million and a half as well.

This left the Clash feeling miffed. Wozniak was paying huge sums left and right, especially to headlining acts, and the Clash probably could have held out for a lot more. But at the same time, the band had a punk reputation as being anti-capitalist, so it would have hurt their reputation to demand more. The band threaded this needle by demanding an extra $100,000, but insisting that it all be given to local charities to help the poor. Apparently, the promoters agreed to this before the concert began, but nothing was written down. As the time came for the Clash to go on stage, they got wind that that part of the agreement wasn't going to be honored after all. So instead of performing, the band gave an impromptu press conference backstage, insisting the promoters honor their deal to give some money to charity.

Wozniak later said, "The Clash made a bit of a stink, taking some sort of workingman's revolutionary stance."

Brian Setzer, a member of the Stray Cats, later recalled, "I remember they had a press conference going on. I asked [Clash bassist] Paul Simonon, 'What are you guys doin'? Aren't you supposed to be on stage?' He just shrugged his shoulders and laughed."

It took a lot of backstage bickering, but eventually some agreement to give some money to charity was agreed upon. As a result, the band went on stage two hours late!

One of the concert organizers Mark Bliesener later said, "It was just such an angry gig for them. Strummer could not get across to the crowd – at one point he was demanding hostility from them. There was so much rancor all night: were the Clash going on, were they not going on? And there was always an attitude about that band in the industry, especially a lot of American crews and promoters, because they just could not dig what that band was about."

But this could help explain why the band played great that night - they often did their best in a hostile situation. There even is a fitting line in the Clash song "Clampdown": "The fury of the hour, anger can be power, did you know that you can use it?"

Partway through the concert, something else happened that probably pissed off the band even more. Concert promoter Berry Fey later said, "They were bitching about money, but that's why we put a copy of the check up on the video screen – during their set – showing that they got half a million dollars."

However, the drama didn't end when their set was over. Bliesener later explained, "So when the Clash came off... the stage announcer got on the mic in this phony British accent, saying, 'You can shout as loud as you want, but the Clash have left the building.' It was just so obnoxious. Immediately, a fistfight broke out. The Clash's crew were just all over this guy. I think [bassist] Paul [Simonon] might have thrown a punch. But they felt goaded, and the atmosphere was so thick with exhaustion, tension, and testosterone. It was a horrible night, just in terms of the vibe of everything."

Regarding the recording, as I mentioned above, it sounds excellent, definitely on par with a soundboard. However, there are three songs with issues. The end of the first song was cut off ("London Calling"), continuing into most of the second song ("This Is Radio Clash"). Also, part of the fourth song ("Rock the Casbah") was also missing. Luckily, I found an audience bootleg and used that other recording to fill in the missing parts. That's why those three songs have "[Edit]" in their titles. But one can easily hear the drop in sound quality for those parts.

This album is an hour an 18 minutes long.

134 talk (Clash)
135 London Calling [Edit] (Clash)
136 This Is Radio Clash [Edit] (Clash)
137 Somebody Got Murdered (Clash)
138 talk (Clash)
139 Rock the Casbah [Edit] (Clash)
140 Guns of Brixton (Clash)
141 Know Your Rights (Clash)
142 Koka Kola (Clash)
143 Hate or War (Clash)
144 talk (Clash)
145 Armagideon Time (Clash)
146 talk (Clash)
147 Sound of the Sinners (Clash)
148 talk (Clash)
149 Safe European Home (Clash)
150 Police on My Back (Clash)
151 Brand New Cadillac (Clash)
152 I Fought the Law (Clash)
153 I'm So Bored with the USA (Clash)
154 Train in Vain (Clash)
155 The Magnificent Seven (Clash)
156 talk (Clash)
157 Straight to Hell (Clash)
158 Should I Stay or Should I Go (Clash)
159 Clampdown (Clash)
160 talk (Clash)

NOTE: The download link has been removed due to a copyright issue. But check the comments.

The cover photo shows Joe Strummer and Mick Jones from this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-28-1983 - Day 1, Part 8: Men at Work

The eighth act on the first day of the 1983 US Festival was the band Men at Work.

Men at Work was an Australian band that that was massively popular for a couple of years in the early 1980s, then broke up. They put out the albums "Business as Usual" in 1981 and "Cargo" in 1983. Two songs from their debut album, "Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now," hit Number One in the singles chart in the U.S. and many other countries. They had a number of other hits as well, eventually selling about 30 million albums worldwide, mainly from these two albums.

Unfortunately, then the band had a falling out. The drummer and bass player left, apparently mainly over thinking their manager wasn't very good. A third album, "Two Hearts," came out in 1985, but wasn't well received and sold poorly compared to before. They broke up after that. Lead singer Colin Hay went on to a long but much more low key solo career.

Here's their Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more:

Men at Work - Wikipedia 

This is another case where I found a video of the entire set, then converted it to mp3 files. The lead vocals were a little low in the mix, so I boosted them using UVR5. It's particularly nice to have this because there is no official live album from the band's early 1980's heyday. (There is one from a later reunion in Brazil, with most of the original band members gone.)

This album is an hour and one minute long.

114 I Can See It in Your Eyes (Men at Work)
115 talk (Men at Work)
116 No Restrictions (Men at Work)
117 Mr. Entertainer (Men at Work)
118 The Longest Night (Men at Work)
119 talk (Men at Work)
120 Blue for You (Men at Work)
121 Who Can It Be Now (Men at Work)
122 talk (Men at Work)
123 Helpless Automaton (Men at Work)
124 I Like To (Men at Work)
125 Underground (Men at Work)
126 talk (Men at Work)
127 Overkill (Men at Work)
128 talk (Men at Work)
129 Down Under (Men at Work)
130 talk (Men at Work)
131 It's a Mistake (Men at Work)
132 talk (Men at Work)
133 Be Good Johnny (Men at Work)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17013552/VA-1983USFstvlDay0108MnatWrk_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ARASuAPb

The cover photo shows Colin Hay, lead singer of the band, at this exact concert.

US Festival '83, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, CA, 5-28-1983 - Day 1, Part 7: The Stray Cats

The seventh act to perform on the first day of the 1983 US Festival was the band the Stray Cats.

The first day of the festival was billed as "New Wave Day." The Stray Cats were a rockabilly revival band, so they seemingly would have fit better with the third day, which was simply "Rock Day." However, they often got lumped in with new wave music at the time.

The band's drummer Slim Jim Phantom later recalled, "We were very aware that we were bringing evangelical rockabilly to America, because we thought it was under appreciated here. And the US Festival was a mainstream thing. We were kind of validating the whole [rockabilly movement], and we were very proud of that."

In 1983, the Stray Cats were close to the height of their popularity. That would come later in the year with the release of the band's album "Rant n' Rave," which included the big hit "(She's) Sexy and 17." They broke up a year after that. The band's lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Seltzer later recalled, "It was silly to break up the Stray Cats at the peak of our success," but he was feeling burned out and uninspired. The band periodically reunited starting in 1986 and continuing until the present day (as I write this in 2024), but Seltzer has found more success as a solo artist.

As with many sets from the US Festival, I found this music as a video, and then converted it to mp3 files. The sound quality is worthy, though maybe a notch below some of the other sets, with a little bit of buzz, especially between songs. Also, the introduction of the band was marred by the fact that a recording of the song "The Wanderer" by Dion was playing literally until the moment the band started playing. I tried to lower that in the mix using audio editing software like UVR5, but I couldn't get rid of it entirely, due to the song's vocals overlapping with the emcee's vocals. That's what that track has "[Edit]" in its title.

Setzer later recalled, "I hit the stage and said 'Holy cow.' It was a sea of people. I looked out into the field, which was far away from the stage. And my head was on this Megatron thing. That's when it really hit me, when I saw my 40-by-40 foot head. And I just laughed. When I saw that, I thought, 'This is just gonna be a hell of a good time.'" 

Note that the US Festivals were groundbreaking with their use of technology. I think they were some of the first rock concerts to have giant video screens for the crowd, which is what Setzer was referring to with "this Megatron thing." So getting to see himself on a screen like that must have been a brand new experience at the time.

This performance is unreleased. The songs are originals except for tracks 096, 098, 103, 108, and 112.

This album is an hour and four minutes long.

095 talk [Edit] (Stray Cats)
096 Your Baby Blue Eyes (Stray Cats)
097 talk (Stray Cats)
098 Double Talkin' Baby (Stray Cats)
099 Rumble in Brighton (Stray Cats)
100 talk (Stray Cats)
101 Drink That Bottle Down (Stray Cats)
102 Built for Speed (Stray Cats)
103 C'mon Everybody (Stray Cats)
104 Rev It Up and Go (Stray Cats)
105 Stray Cat Strut (Stray Cats)
106 Lonely Summer Nights (Stray Cats)
107 Fishnet Stockings (Stray Cats)
108 Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie (Stray Cats)
109 talk (Stray Cats)
110 Rock this Town (Stray Cats)
111 talk (Stray Cats)
112 Somethin' Else (Stray Cats)
113 talk (Stray Cats)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17013399/VA-1983USFstvlDay0107TStryCts_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/rVUE1Fxm

The cover photo shows the band's lead singer Brian Setzer at this exact concert.