May 30, 1983
40 years ago today Stevie took the stage at the second US Festival. She played the day with The Pretenders, Joe Walsh, U2, Quarterflash, Berlin, Los Lobos and David Bowie on rock day.
I remember listening to the radio broadcast which was many days later playing parts of sets of the bands. Stevie's songs were Outside the Rain, Stand Back, and Stop Draggin My Heart Around. Stevie touched those songs for radio broadcast. I prefer the original tracks. There was a Peoples magazine story that featured the event. There was a really cool photo of Stevie in that article.
IMHO Stevie rocked the day. It was no White Winged Dove concert and was definitely more raw and spontaneous.
The highlights for me are:
Her intro to the audience after GDW but for radio it was her intro right away.
Her banter was funny. Telling everyone she was going to hand out the Wild Heart to everyone like Girl Scout cookies. She introduces David Bowie and says that he should hire her. The best part is her getting lost in the audience during Stand Back and literally fighting her way back to the microphone.
Even though the Wild Heart tour was about to begin or began, key parts of this band was different for this event.
Mark Goodman interviewed Stevie in that infamous swaying back and forth interview where she talks about Nightbird. Stevie and Mark were good friends and would do coke together. In the clip I am posting, Mark was flattered when Stevie told him that she would stay up all night watching him on MTV.
Total attendance 670,000. Van Halen had the biggest pay day 1.5 million for performing and was the highest paid. Fleetwood Mac the year prior was the highest paid. Stevie was introduced by her dad.
My favorite from this set is a rocking Outside The Rain, Angel, and a fantastic How Still My Love featuring Stevie's arms on windshield wiper duty.
After Joe Walsh's set the crowd was getting dangerously close to the stage. Some guy came out and kept asking and demanding the crowd to "Stand Back." He must of said Stand Back about 50 times. I always found that funny because when it aired on the radio, Stand Back was racing up the charts.
Clip of radio broadcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHeYPiDQDpE