US Festival '83

Every so often I see posters for concerts and say to myself, Self says I, that would have been fun.

At the time, “Woz” was on leave from Apple after surviving a plane crash that left him unable to create new memories for half a year. Hoping to put together the “Super Bowl of Rock Parties” with a lineup of the best acts in rock music, Wozniak teamed up with heavy-hitter San Francisco promoter Bill Graham to help with the booking.

Why did I miss this? Oh yeah, it was in CA, I was 39, married, I just got laid off...

“The festival was completely booked,” Fey recalls, “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 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.’” So Fey called Bowie, who was then touring Europe a month after the release of his blockbuster album Let’s Dance. He would return that August for two sold-out shows at Angel Stadium. “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.”

Open air, 700,000 people, 112 degrees, two people died, it probably would have been terrible. :o

Wow

In between Quarterflash and Missing Persons (feat. Terry Bozzio) you might see this little-known act called U2. This was pre-Unforgettable Fire and they were just getting big on the basis of "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

Arguably Quarterflash was a bigger band at the time since they had a #3 hit ("Harden My Heart") while "Sunday Bloody Sunday" only charted to #7. :eyeroll:

And, no Who, no Stones, no Springsteen: in the early 80s, it was briefly thought that maybe there would come a time when people would move on from classic rock.

I remember a buddy making fun of A Flock Of Seagulls:

A Flock o' Seagulls??? I guess A Box o' Frogs was already taken, then?

Couple years later on July 13, 1985 there was this...
I was 21 and high as a kite. I think the ticket was like $40 which was BIGLY expensive back then.