US FESTIVAL (1983) VAN HALEN / OZZY OSBOURNE / JUDAS PRIEST / SCORPIONS / MÖTLEY CRUE

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The US FESTIVAL took place over Memorial Day Weekend in 1983 (May 28-30, 1983). One of these days (the 29th) was Heavy Metal day, with between 350,000 - 500,000 fans attending just that day. The day also put the concept of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal in the minds (and ears) for the more mainstream American population.

As you see on the poster Quiet Riot wasn't on it. But John Cougar Mellencamp canceled his performance, leaving an opening on the bill. Joe Walsh was moved to Mellencamp's spot, creating an opening for a new band. Promoter Barry Fey caught Quiet Riot opening for Scorpions in Denver and offered them the gig on the spot.

Eye Witness: I was 13 years old. I went with my sister and a few of her friends. My sister is 2 years older than me. It was one of the first times I ever smoked pot and drank. We left my parents house in Van Nuys, California at 3:30am to head out to San Bernardino, California. Back in 1983, the freeway system in that area wasn't finished like it is today and it took a long time together there and with the volume of people it took hours. We parked 10 miles from the venue and road buses in. It was like being in Bangladesh, people were hanging on the outsides of the buses, riding on the roof. Total madness.

We didn't go for the whole festival, only Heavy Metal Sunday. That day still holds a record for the most people at a concert on one day in the United States.

We got to the venue around 10am and started walking. We must have walked 20 miles by the time that weekend was said and done. We set up camp half way from the stage to the rear of the lawn right behind one of the repeater speaker towers. The venue was so big that they had MASSIVE towers which held speaker stacks that were timed to repeat the music coming from the stage. Meaning that as the music traveled out from the main speakers on the stage, the speaker towers were delayed slightly so the music flowed out on time. I've been out to the venue many times for shows since. It has been reworked and the parking lot is now were those towers used to me. It is still the largest open air amphitheater in the United States and yet it is a mere fraction of it's original size.

To say it was F'n Loud that day would be a serious understatement! My ears rang for weeks after that show. I remember it being so hot, people were passing out. The amphitheater was built into the side of a mountain at a slight angle and they put all the drinking fountains at the top, back of the lawn. Over the course of the weekend, so much was water pumped through the water fountains that is just turned the lawn to mud! By the end of the day, everyone was muddy and dirty. But we didn't care...

I remember in the middle of the day, at the peak of the heat, seeing Judas Priest come out on stage, FULL LEATHER! They rocked so hard, I don't know how they didn't pass out in the heat.

To see the VERY top of the Heavy Metal genre live in their peak has always been one of my greatest memories!

Note #1: A big part of the band introductions down below is from the site Albums that Shouldn't Exist. With changes and additions by me.

Note #2: The setlists that is below each video is the actual set they played, not always what is captured on video/audio.

Note #3: Patreons can download the shows as video or mp3 at the bottom of this post. Also notice that the sources and concerts are not the same between video and mp3. Usually the mp3's contain more of the concerts than the video versions.

VAN HALEN

The headliner, Van Halen was almost on there peak when this festival took place. It was also 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."

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. 

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SETLIST

Romeo Delight

Unchained

Drum Solo

The Full Bug

Runnin' With the Devil

Jamie's Cryin'

So This Is Love?

Little Guitars

Bass Solo

Dancing in the Street

Somebody Get Me a Doctor

Dance the Night Away

Cathedral

Secrets

Everybody Wants Some!!

Ice Cream Man

Intruder

Oh, Pretty Woman

Guitar Solo

Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love

Growth

Bottoms Up!

You Really Got Me

Happy Trails

SCORPIONS

At the time of the festival, Scorpions latest album was their 1982 album "Blackout", that 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. 

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."

For some reason, Scorpions seems to be the only band from this day that you can't find the entire (or almost entire) concert with. We just get this 15 minutes of video, and there exist an audience audio recording that's about 36 minutes (Patreons can download it)

Here's "No One Like You", "The Zoo" and "Can't Get Enough".

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SETLIST

Blackout

Don't Make No Promises (Your Body Can't Keep)

Loving You Sunday Morning

Make It Real

Lovedrive

Coast to Coast

Always Somewhere

No One Like You

Can't Live Without You

He's a Woman - She's a Man

Another Piece of Meat

Dynamite

The Zoo

Can't Get Enough

TRIUMPH

The fifth act to perform on Day Two (Heavy Metal Day) of the 1983 US Festival was the Canadian band Triumph. To many Triumph was probably the most surprising inclusion for Heavy Metal Day. Their music is by many 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.

This concert 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. 

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SETLIST

Too Much Thinking

Allied Forces

Lay It on the Line

Never Surrender

Magic Power

World of Fantasy

Rock & Roll Machine

When the Lights Go Down

Fight the Good Fight

JUDAS PRIEST

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

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SETLIST

The Hellion

Electric Eye

Riding on the Wind

Heading Out to the Highway

Metal Gods

Breaking the Law

Diamonds & Rust

Victim of Changes

Living After Midnight

The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)

Screaming for Vengeance

You've Got Another Thing Comin'

Hell Bent for Leather

OZZY OSBOURNE

Ozzy recall 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.'" 

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SETLIST

Over the Mountain

Mr. Crowley

Crazy Train

Suicide Solution

Revelation (Mother Earth)

Steal Away (The Night)

Drum Solo

I Don't Know

Flying High Again

Fairies Wear Boots

Iron Man

Children of the Grave

Paranoid

MÖTLEY CRÜE

Mötley Crue 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.

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. 

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SETLIST

Take Me to the Top

Looks That Kill

Bastard

Shout at the Devil

Merry-Go-Round

Knock 'em Dead, Kid

Piece of Your Action

Live Wire

Helter Skelter

QUIET RIOT

Quiet Riot was added to the legendary 1983 US Festival as a last-minute replacement for John Cougar Mellencamp. Festival promoter Barry Fey caught the band on their warm-up tour in Denver and, needing an opener for the massive "Heavy Metal Sunday," booked them just two days before the show. 

The band had to leave their road crew behind to drive the gear to their next tour stop in Detroit, forcing them to use their management team as temporary roadies. Riding high on the unexpected breakout success of their album Metal Health, the early-afternoon slot at Glen Helen Regional Park served as their massive testing ground. It helped skyrocket them to become the first Heavy Metal band to top the Billboard 200.

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TRACKLIST

Danger Zone

Run for Cover

Love's a Bitch

Cum On Feel the Noize

Slick Black Cadillac

Let's Get Crazy

Battle Axe / Guitar Solo

Let's Get Crazy

Metal Health (Bang Your Head)

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