Us Fest article Spin Magazine

[desertangel]

The May issue of Spin Magazine has an article about the Us Festival celebrating the 25-year anniversary. I posted my memories on an Us Fest website years ago and left my email addy. Steven Russell, a writer for Spin, contacted me for an interview, along with 3 other fans who went. There are quotes from Stevie and Lindsey, too... can't tell if they're all new or if some were "used." It's a great issue on summer concert festivals, worth picking up a copy at the store.

Here is the article and a pic of Fleetwood Mac that is included. The other pic is of the festival grounds.

“Sweaty & Filthy & Crazy & Drunk”

Fake spaceships! Eccentric millionaires! Casual nudity! The Joe Sharino Band! Twenty-five years later, the performers, organizers and fans who made the Us Festival the most over-the-top music event in U.S. history tell all.
By Steven Russell
May 2007 – Spin Magazine.

After Apple Computer, the little company he cofounded with Steve Jobs, went public, introverted tech whiz Steve Wozniak became an instant millionaire. As much as “Woz” believed in the power of technology in the hands of the individual, he also believed, earnestly, in the power of music to unite millions. More than a decade after the bloodshed of Altamont, however, a large-scale, destination American music festival was considered a risky venture. Undaunted, Woz cracked open his bottomless checkbook and, during the summers of 1982 and ’83, brought rock and tech together in the California desert for a massive, eclectic extravaganza that combined ‘60s idealism, 70s decadence, and ‘80s cash into one big, glorious mess.

Steve Wozniak: I crashed my plane in 1981 and had amnesia for five weeks. When I came back to life, I called Steve (Jobs) and quit Apple. Around this same time, I was listening to KFAT, a very interesting radio station that played progressive country music. It totally changed my life. So here I am with this incredible wealth and I thought it would be great to have a festival like Woodstock where people would come from all over to listen to this music.

Woz shared his idea with Dr. Peter Ellis, cofounder of the University of Phoenix. Ellis suggested calling it the Us Festival to reflect the passing of the “Me Decade” 70s.

Wozniak: At our second meeting, Ellis needed some money to get started, so I handed him a $2 million check. I think then he knew I was serious. We were trying to find a location and San Bernardino County was in a bit of a depression and looking for something to spur revenue. But the site required $10 million in improvements.

Carlos Harvey: (Us Festival controller) When I was assigned to the job, I said, “Wow, this can’t be done.” The site was just a field with a big mountain in the middle. We created the amphitheater by moving the mountain and pushing the dirt uphill. We even paid to build our own interstate off-ramp.

Wozniak: We weren’t getting anywhere booking groups, so (legendary promoter) Bill Graham agreed to do the booking and stage management. Bill talked us out of having only country acts. To get the sort of audience we wanted, we had to go for mainstream rock n’ roll.

Harvey: I would see the money going out-my God, so much more money than these bands have ever been paid.

Pat Benatar: Our bookers said it was going to be like a techno fair, and my husband (guitarist Neil Giraldo) was into all that new computer stuff. I’d played big concerts before, so I figured it was just another gig.

Ric Ocasek: (The Cars) We liked Apple-that’s kind of why we did it. In fact, I had an Apple IIe, which was more of a typing machine. You wouldn’t have imagined that the future would be wrapped around it.

With Graham handling the talent, Woz’s Unuson (a clumsy acronym for “Unite Us in Song”) Corp. focused o the festival’s five Tech Expo tents, featuring cutting-edge Atari games and a satellite TV system offering 50(!) channels.

Wozniak: We also prepared books and courses on working together-our “Us” theme-and distributed them to 3,600 schools in all 50 states. With a big show like this, we wanted to make an impact on people.

On September 1, 1982, two days before the festival was to begin, Woz traveled to the site to oversee a check of the sound and lights.

Wozniak: At 2am, my wife went into labor-two weeks early-so we had to find a natural childbirth place nearby. We didn’t tell people we were leaving. She had the baby the next afternoon.

In Woz’s absence, the frenzy of deadline activity continued. The 500-acre festival grounds, situated between mountain ranges, featured 110,000 campsites, 1,800 Porta-Potties, two helipads and a laser-light platform atop a nearby hill. The 500-foot-wide stage was the largest ever constructed for a concert, with a record-setting 400,000-watt sound system and an enormous Diamond Vision video screen. On Friday, September 3, 1982, the start of Labor Day weekend, thousands of ticket holders (who paid $37.50 for all three days) and gate-crashers began pouring into the site, followed by the performers.

Mark St. Pierre: (attendee) I was 23, working at a military hospital in San Francsico. We borrowed a friend’s RV and loaded it up with beer and food. Coors Light was $6 a case, so we had 16 cases-and a bunch of liquor, especially vodka for the mornings. We left San Francisco Thursday night and pulled into San Bernardino at sunrise.

Kevin Olsen: (attendee) Traffic was backed up for miles. We were in my Toyota pickup-we called it the “rock truck” because it had stickers on the tailgate of all the concerts we’d seen-and we burned out the clutch going uphill and had to push it the last two miles into the campground.

Marky Ramone: (The Ramones) It was a massive area. All the other bands had big tour buses, but we arrived backstage in our van. The sun turned it into a convection oven and if we put on the air conditioner, the engine overheated.

Carrying his newborn son, Wozniak walked onstage to announce the opening of the festival. British agitprop rockers Gang of Four kicked off a new-wave-heavy first day.

Andy Gill: (Gang of Four) We went onstage and I couldn’t believe the crowd, this extraordinary ocean of people that stretched to the horizon. And people were still turning up.

Ramone: New wave was happening-bands that softened up punk to get played on the radio. We were the only real hardcore punk band on the bill. All the other bands wanted our autographs. We didn’t expect them to want to hang out with us. The Ramones weren’t the most social band.

Gill: After we played, Ian Copeland (booking-agent brother of the Police’s Steward Copeland) and I were fooling around backstage, and his car keys got chucked into a lake. It was a practical joke that went too far.

Ramone: So there we were onstage, in the desert, wearing leather jackets in 115-degree heat. By the second song, I was drenched. We stank like hell, but we didn’t care.

Olsen: I’d put on sunscreen, which was a magnet for dust and would turn into mud. So I’d get hosed off by the water cannons. Then start the whole routine over again.

The Police, riding the popularity of 1981’s The Ghost in the Machine, were the first evening’s headliner.

Wozniak: It was a hot night, a full moon was behind the stage, and the audience was mesmerized, Bill Graham said you see something like that once in a decade.

St. Pierre: The Police were fantastic. Afterward, it was a long walk back to the RV and people were waiting on us because they knew we had supplies. My friends and I sat on the roof drinking all night while my little sister sold beers for a buck apiece. Plus, we had some nice weed, so we were popular.

Saturday’s lineup offered some of the biggest acts in mainstream rock, but the first on was a local band that had played Wozniak’s wedding.

Joe Sharino: (The Joe Sharino Band) A few days before the festival, my phone rang at home and it was Woz. He says, “What are you doing Saturday?” I started calling the rest of the band-they thought we were going to play some side stage, like where the clown makes balloons.

St Pierre: The campground had big water tanks with pull handles and there were a lot of nude showers going on. The water would just knock your shorts right off.

Sharino: I spotted Carlos Santana standing backstage by himself, almost like a lost soul. I introduced myself and he’d actually heard of me. He was talking about how excited he was to play at this thing. And here’s a guy who played Woodstock!

Many audience members sought much-needed shade in the Tech Expo tents on Saturday, witnessing demonstrations by synthesizer pioneers Robert Moog and Herbie Hancock.

St Pierre: We walked through the tents and saw the whole Unuson thing Wozniak was pushing. But mostly, we just played Pong.

Benatar: Some of us went to the exhibits and checked out the tech stuff. There was, like, Ric Ocasek playing with the computers. It was sort of surreal.

St Pierre: There was a heavy push for Scientology, too. A booth was dedicated to the new Battlefield Earth book. My dad had told me I should read Dianetics and that was all I knew of L. Ron Hubbard until the Us Festival. I was like, “Holy smokes, my dad is onto something.”

Sharino: I got to the stage about 40 minutes before we were supposed to play and Bill Graham starts screaming at me! I’m thinking, “My career is over-Bill Graham is pissed at me!” Then somebody tells him, “No, not this guy.” It was a case of mistaken identity.

Wozniak: Graham was very much in charge of his crew, but there were problems with his people not respecting our gold passes. I mean, I own the festival! They had their own passes with these little color stickers for levels of access. So we went to a local store and bought the same stickers. It worked.

Sharino: Woz walked up to the mic and said “Ladies and gentlemen, these are real people-the Joe Sharino Band.” I think it was a complement. We were thinking that if we didn’t get booed of f the stage, we were doing good, especially since we decided to play originals instead of covers. But we closed with the Youngbloods’ “Get Together” and the whole audience sand along. Amazing.

During Eddie Money’s set, the giant video screens suddenly switched to live images of Soviet teens dancing in a studio. Pushing technological and political envelopes, Unuson staffers had arranged a satellite hookup with Moscow using equipment abandoned by NBC when the US pulled out of the 1980 Olympics.

Wozniak: This was just so rare and historic-of course I wanted to do it. But Bill thought it was a fake being broadcast from a local studio. I couldn’t accept that and told the crowd what they were seeing. There was a lot of booing, because the Cold War was still going on. The Soviet Union was like Al Qaeda is now.

Olsen: We worked our way up close for The Kinks; then somebody pulled the plug and cut their set short. Bill Graham took the mic and said “If Mr. (Ray) Davies wants to play a full set, he should show up on time.” So when Graham was walking around between bands, I’d yell, “Hey, Bill!” He’d look and I’d yell “*uck you!” I must have done that 20 times.

Benatar: We weren’t doing high art up there; we were just bashing away. And the crowd went wild. I mean, they’d been out there for a while, baking in the heat with no shade They were sweaty and filthy and crazy and drunk. The staff was hosing them down and they were screaming like banshees. I don’t know where they were peeing and stuff.

Many festival-goers were still burrowed into their sleeping bags when the Grateful Dead plugged in at 10am on Sunday, the festival’s final day, which would culminate with headiner Fleetwood Mac.

St Pierre: We were about 20 rows back for Breakfast With the Dead, but by the end it was packed. We ate this Dark Side of the Moon blotter acid that blew us away for hours. We loved that show.

Wozniak: I didn’t go around meeting every group-“Hi, I’m Steve Wozniak.” I should have, but I’m shy.

Stevie Nicks: (Fleetwood Mac) We flew over the crowd coming in-I can’t even explain what a high it was to see that many people. My best friend since I was 14, Robin, was with me. She’d been diagnosed with leukemia eight months before and then she’d gotten pregnant. She stopped all treatment but was in remission. I remember Robin was wearing little white shorts and a red wig. I was so happy to have her there.

Lindsey Buckingham: (Fleetwood Mac) From the point of view of someone who lived through the ‘60s, the whole festival scene had a certain innocence. When we met Steve backstage, he was such a fan. Not only of Fleetwood Mac, but of the idea that music could cause some sort of positive change on a sociological level.

Nicks: Everybody was smoking a lot of pot and doing other drugs, but that night we were pretty sober, because the audience was so huge and we didn’t want to make a mistake. It was a long set and it was a great set. When we left, Robin and I flew over the festival and I swear to God we felt like the whole audience waved to us. I told the pilot to go slow because we needed to take this in. We believed in the energy from all those people.

St. Pierre: We hadn’t eaten anything all day, so we bought a huge plate of noodles. We’re all just as happy as we can be-then Fleetwood Mac’s helicopter flew about 15 feet over our heads and blew rocks and crap all over our noodles.

Nicks: Two weeks later, the cancer nailed Robin again. The baby was delievered by Caesarean section and she died three days later. The Us Festival was the last time I ever saw her. Her son, Matthew, is 24 now. We tell him stories about the Us Festival, because he was there, too.

Wozniak: It took a few weeks to figure out the festival had lost, like, $10 million. I was in shock. A big accounting firm said we lost money because people sneaked in without tickets. That tricked me into thinking that if we did a second show and had more controls we’d do better.

Sharino: Our next gig was for 120 people.

Just nine months later, Us Festival ’83 was held over Memorial Day weekend. The site was the same, as was the ideal of bringing people together in a spirit of cooperation to enjoy an even more eclectic rock roster-including an all-star Heavy Metal Sunday. Behind the scenes, however, some things had changed.

Patrick Stansfield: (stage coordinator) The Unuson people felt that Bill Graham took them to the cleaners in terms of what acts were paid, so for ’83 the brought in (Colorado-based promoter) Barry Fey. But all promoters view someone like Woz with a pocket of cash saying, “Book me some acts,” as their natural prey.

St. Pierre: Driving down in ’83, we saw a lot more cars flying Us Fest flags and making a big deal out of the whole thing than the year before.

Frank Conley: (attendee) I was an 18-year-old cadet at West Point. I’d missed ’82, so the day after school let out, I got a ride with a friend from New York to Colorado Springs, then went to a military base in uniform and hopped a cargo plan to Sacramento. From there it was a long bus ride to San Bernardino. Then I paid $3 to stand in the back of a truck with a bunch of other people going to the festival.

Before the concert got under way, the Clash held a press conference to decry the $1 million reportedly being paid to fellow headliner Van Halen and demand that Wozniak make a sizeable donation to charity. The festival’s opening day, Saturday, May 28, 1983, again spotlighted new wave.

Laura Stuckey: (attendee) When the English Beat started playing that bass riff from “Mirror in the Bathroom,” you could feel the ground vibrate. That’s how phenomenal the sound system was. Everybody was on their feet dancing – and that was a lot of people.

Wozniak: The Clash made a bit of a stink, taking some sort of workingman’s revolutionary stance. I met their manager the day before the show and handed him a little joke slot machine that squirted water. He didn’t like jokes.

Stuckey: Just before The Clash, a spaceship appeared in the night sky. It was very realistic-flashing lights and everything-but if you looked close, you could see it was tethered to a helicopter. An alien appeared on the big screens and talked about peace and unity. It was cheesy, but it fit.

Stansfield: The Clash demanded to put up banners that read Sex, Style, Subversion, and Clash Not For Sale. I thought about projecting their paycheck up beside it.

Conley: I was blown away. Joe Strummer was so angry. He was ripping into the United States and commercialism. I just remember the energy.

Stansfield: They left the stage for a good 15 minutes. Meanwhile, people were leaving in droves. When they finally decided to do an encore, I grabbed a microphone and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Clash have left the building!” and cut all the mics. Strummer sucker punched me. My stage manager hit him in the forehead and told the other guys, “You played, you’ve been paid, get the *uck off the stage.” Their manager started screaming “Fascist! *ucking pigs!” But there were six of them and 40 of us.

Us Fest ’83 was guitarist Mick Jones’ final performance with the Clash.

Stuckey: After the Clash, the new-wave fans were coming back into the campground and the heavy metal fans for the next day were arriving. The metal people thought we were wimps and people started throwing rocks. Some Porta-Potties were knocked over and stunk up the campground. Heat and Porta-Potties don’t mix well.

A Guiness World Record 350,000 people attended Heavy Metal Sunday, testing the festival’s ability to handle the crowd and the ability of teased hair to withstand 100-plus-degree heat.

Tommy Lee: (Motley Crue) I remember arriving by helicopter and looking down on something I’d never, ever seen before-3000,000 people! Whoa! I was really excited and *ucking nervous all at once. Kinda felt like puking, actually. When we got onstage-holy *hit! We renamed it the Dust Festival. A sea of people in dust. I’ll never forget that.

Ozzy Osbourne: I played the second year, didn’t I?

Wozniak: I woke up from a nap around noon and couldn’t believe the size of the crowd. For the first time, I was scared about the number of people.

Stansfied: Heavy Metal Sunday went really smoothly. It was a big production-Judas Priest came onstage riding motorcycles. Sharon Osbourne was having a pissing match with security and I stepped in and cooled it out. She sent me a Tiffany pen as a thank-you.

Osbourne: I do remember it being *ucking ridiculously hot. I mean, the bands are getting paid all this *ucking money for playing a few songs, then there’s this *ucking immense crowd and there’s no *ucking water for them to drink. It was like being in the middle of a forest fire.

Stuckey: When someone would spray you with a mister, it was a true act of kindness. I was sitting there waiting for my boyfriend and I must have been looking pretty weary, because this tall blond guy walked by and misted my face and all down my front. I had to go find someone else to spray because, you know, pay it forward.

Stansfield: Tons of bare boobs. A lot of bad sunburn.

Wozniak: I went backstage and met Van Halen. David Lee Roth was really friendly. I guess he was getting a little drunk, but he ran ten miles a day and the other guys didn’t. They were slacking and needed to get in shape.

Osbourne: Bowie got $1 million and Van Halen had a clause I their contract that if any act got paid more than them, then they got paid more, too, or some *ucking deal. I mean, the money this Wozniak guy was throwing around was ridiculous.

Conley: I lived off stuffed potato skins all weekend. I didn’t bring a sleeping bag, so I slept in a ditch under my military-issue blanket and used my laundry bag for a pillow.

David Lee Roth: (from a backstage MTV interview before Van Halen’s set) The Clash are having a lot of problems, man: They’re trying to save the nation, they’re trying to implement cultural change…and they have a new drummer, so they’ve got their hands full. By the way, The Clash did save the world for about a half hour last night, ladies and gentlemen.

Osbourne: Honestly, I don’t know why Van Halen even bothered getting up there, they were so *ucking drunk.

On Monday, a fresh-faced Irish band called U2 played on the bottom half of the bill, between Quarterflash and Missing Persons, while headliner David Bowie would make his first live appearance in the States since 1978.

Stansfied: Two days after the incident with the Clash, U2 came onstage and said “We’re happy to play here. We think Steve Wozniak is a great guy and if other people don’t, that’s their problem.” U2 got it and the crowd loved them.

Olsen: They were playing “The Electric Co.,” and Bono started climbing a rope ladder up the lighting tower, holding a white flag. He climbed all the way to the top-it must have been 50 feet off the ground-and threw the flag into the audience. I don’t think he was supposed to be up there.

Wozniak: Bono climbing the tower-I got concerned about that.

Dale Bozzio: (Missing Persons) As soon as I stepped on that stage, it looked like an ocean of people, swaying left and right and forward and it never ended. I grabbed my Polaroid just to prove what I was looking at. Everybody went crazy so I threw the picture into the crowd. I wish I’d put it in my pocket.

Stansfield: The plastic silver fishbowls on Dale Bozzio’s boobs were the sexiest thing I’d ever seen in my life.

Bozzio: I made an outfit with a sun visor and silver reflective material so I didn’t bake. We also had an oxygen tank and a little cognac to get us through. We got paid $350,000 for playing for one hour in the middle of the day. That’s like a year’s pay. It was so much money I thought it was a joke-until they ordered up the helicopter.

Nicks: The relationship formed with Fleetwood Mac in ’82 carried on the next year, when Steve asked me to play before Bowie. My solo record had just came out, so I was more terrified in ’83.

Bozzio: I stood on the side of the stage during Stevie Nick’s set. She’s an idol of mine, so I was so pleased to be playing the same day as her. But they didn’t let us stand on the stage with Bowie.

Nicks: I was incredibly excited to meet Bowie, but he didn’t offer a welcoming hand to the person playing before him. I was disappointed, but I know he was nervous. It doesn’t matter how big a star yu are-there’s no way you can look out at all those people and not be nerved out.

Stansfied: Bowie was a huge *ukcing production. It was the whole Let’s Dance show with China Girl and all these theatrical vignettes. Even the band had costume changes.

St. Pierre: I hooked up with one of the girls who’d been camping next to us and we danced and made out through the whole show. She loved Bowie, so that sort of helped.

Wozniak: Since it was May and we were in the desert, it got cold by the time the last act played at night. The crowd lit bonfires to keep warm.

Conley: While Bowie was doing his Modern Love encore, I was heading through all the people and garbage to the exit. I didn’t have a plan, so I took a shuttle van to the airport. I’d been sleeping in a ditch and hadn’t taken a shower in a week. I looked like hell.

Nicks: The Us Festival gig was a big feather in my cap. But I still don’t have a computer.

Wozniak: The second one lost money, too. But I had a lot more fun in ’83.

Buckingham: There’s a certain irony to the Us Fest. Wozniak wanted to put together something that could be shared by a ton of people and be socially significant. On the other hand, he achieved the ultimate extension of what has now become the corporate show, where someone has the money to invite an artist to their home to play for their friends.

Wozniak: There are people who are actually interested in doing another Us Festival. You’d be shocked at how far along we are.**

[danax6]

Everybody was smoking a lot of pot and doing other drugs, but that night we were pretty sober, because the audience was so huge and we didn’t want to make a mistake.

How considerate!

Thanks for posting, that was a fun read.

[trackaghost]

Wow, thanks for posting that - a great read.
V. cool they interviewed you too.

[GarboSpeaks!]

That was a really cool article. Read the whole thing. Almost felt like I was there. I can't imagine really having been there though! What a series of acts. GD! I'd kill for that exact show right now! Instead of following SN around, I'd just pony up now, but for the exact same bands as then. I love that Bozzio was "wowing" over Stevie. She's SO much fun. Missing Persons. Ah, flashback time. Anyway, the whole Bowie thing though, that sorta sux. Hope he isn't really like that. I adore him too!

[sparky]

Great article.

OMG Missing Persons got 350??
Stevie must have made between 750 and 850.
That was a ****load of money 23 years ago.

[Livia]

What a great article - thanks for posting!

That St. Pierre guy was cracking me up.

[desertangel]

Glad you guys enjoyed it. I thought Steven Russell did a fabulous job picking through all the quotes and sequencing them the way he did. We talked on the phone for almost an hour, recounting the experience from beginning to end. Mr. St. Pierre must have been really fun to talk to! It's always a blast to recall that space in time. As Mr. Graham said, you know when you're there experiencing it that it's something really unique. Stevie was right, there was a ton of energy in that place. After all these years, to learn what the musicians thought is a VERY cool thing for me.

There is one particular part of the article that really made me laugh... when Tommy Lee said he felt like puking from nerves when he saw all the people. You can just see and hear him saying that...

[aleuzzi]

yeah, I read this earlier this week. I thought the section about the deadhead trying to eat his noodles while the FM helicopter blew dust and stones into the food was hilarious--and sad...

Stevie's warmth comes through here as genuine. Lindsey's comments were pretty insightful, too.

[SpyNote]

Holy crap, Laura! You were there? And now you live to tell about it. I love you even more than I already do

[desertangel]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

Holy crap, Laura! You were there? And now you live to tell about it. I love you even more than I already do

I had just gotten out of rehab and was totally straight, so not only did I live to tell, but remember as well. Gawd, those were some of the freakin best years of my life ... 81-85 completely rocked.

Go get the magazine. I'm not a real magazine person, but this particular edition epitomizes the die-hard concert goer. Better yet, I'll send you a signed copy if you want. just let me know.

[PenguinHead]

I love the Fleetwood Mac group photos from this event (the ones will Bill and Steve). Christine's amazing legs are featured prominently!

[The Tower]

Originally Posted by desertangel

Nicks: I was incredibly excited to meet Bowie, but he didn’t offer a welcoming hand to the person playing before him. I was disappointed, but I know he was nervous. It doesn’t matter how big a star yu are-there’s no way you can look out at all those people and not be nerved out.

I'm surprised that Stevie would have met Bowie that night- he was over two hours late. Then again, the coke probably kept her spinning around backstage for hours and hours and hours.

I remember how filthy I was that day. I was wearing lemon yellow Op cord shorts and by the time Stevie came on stage they were black Op cord shorts.

[Somajoseph]

It was great to get home today after spending 5 days in the desert-Palm Springs-and read this article.
I went to the Us Festival in 83, when I was 19 years old, and it was an amazing experience. I still have my ticket stub!
It really was just out in middle of nowhere, and I do remember being blown away by the sound system, it was just towering over the audience in the front. I actually drove down the night before and got there at dawn in my pickup. I remember letting people jump in the back of it because they had you park in this dirt lot and then bussed us over in some old busses.
My memory is a bit foggy on the details, but I do remember they had a few spots where they had showers set up and everyone who was close enough just stood under them and headed back to the show.
I was really close and saw all the sets. It was the 80's, so it was fun to see Missing Persons, U2-who blew everyone away, and the Pretenders. It was such an eclectic lineup with Stevie & Bowie.
I was pretty close when Stevie finally came onstage but the crowd got crazy andit was really swaying and for a minute it felt as if you werent really standing on your feet, that was actually scary. Stevie was vocally on really singing the **** out of Outside the Rain, and I think it was the first performance of the Wild Heart tour.
I didnt even stay to watch Bowie. After Stevie was through I was sunburt, exhausted and done.
A great time!

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by Somajoseph

It was great to get home today after spending 5 days in the desert-Palm Springs-and read this article.
I went to the Us Festival in 83, when I was 19 years old, and it was an amazing experience. I still have my ticket stub!
It really was just out in middle of nowhere, and I do remember being blown away by the sound system, it was just towering over the audience in the front. I actually drove down the night before and got there at dawn in my pickup. I remember letting people jump in the back of it because they had you park in this dirt lot and then bussed us over in some old busses.
My memory is a bit foggy on the details, but I do remember they had a few spots where they had showers set up and everyone who was close enough just stood under them and headed back to the show.
I was really close and saw all the sets. It was the 80's, so it was fun to see Missing Persons, U2-who blew everyone away, and the Pretenders. It was such an eclectic lineup with Stevie & Bowie.
I was pretty close when Stevie finally came onstage but the crowd got crazy andit was really swaying and for a minute it felt as if you werent really standing on your feet, that was actually scary. Stevie was vocally on really singing the **** out of Outside the Rain, and I think it was the first performance of the Wild Heart tour.
I didnt even stay to watch Bowie. After Stevie was through I was sunburt, exhausted and done.
A great time!

Great story, Joseph. Stevie looked grrrrrr8 at the Us Festival. Does anyone have a copy of the Us Festival that isn't on its 800th generation?

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by The Tower

I'm surprised that Stevie would have met Bowie that night- he was over two hours late. Then again, the coke probably kept her spinning around backstage for hours and hours and hours.

I remember how filthy I was that day. I was wearing lemon yellow Op cord shorts and by the time Stevie came on stage they were black Op cord shorts.

Op as in Ocean Pacific? please say no.