The Wild Heart Tour: 1983

[vivfox]

the 1st show on The Wild Heart Tour
May 27,1983
Las Vegas, Nevada
Venue: The Aladdin



from BILLBOARD Magazine
Boxscores
Headliner: Stevie Nicks
Opening Act: Joe Walsh
The Aladdin, Las Vegas, Nv.
Produced by: Bill Graham Presents
Ticket Price: $15.50
Available Tickets: 7,500
Tickets Sold: 5,374
Concert Gross: $83,297

[David]

So does anyone have any more information on this show, such as:

1) Did it really happen (considering I had never heard about it until it showed up on one of the tourdates Internet sites)?

2) Was it some sort of pre-tour tryout (considering her tour itinerary starts on Monday, June 20, in Knoxville -- almost 4 weeks later)? It could not have been the actual start of the WH tour because of the 4-week lag.

3) Who was in the band (considering her US Festival band was different from her tour band)?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by David

2) Was it some sort of pre-tour tryout (considering her tour itinerary starts on Monday, June 20, in Knoxville -- almost 4 weeks later)? It could not have been the actual start of the WH tour because of the 4-week lag.

I don't know, I tried to find old pieces about her from May 1983, but this is all I saw. Nothing from any Las Vegas papers. This one is about the Us Festival:

The Associated Press, May 30, 1983, Monday, PM cycle

SECTION: Domestic News

BYLINE: By YARDENA ARAR, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: DEVORE, Calif.

BODY:
A sellout crowd of 300,000 partying to the roar of heavy metal rock turned the US Festival into a "zoo" that left one man bludgeoned to death over a drug deal and a security guard seriously injured.

James Dean Estell, of Pomona, Calif., died Sunday at San Bernardino Community Hospital, about 12 hours after he was bludgeoned in a parking lot at Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino County Sheriff Floyd Tidwell said.

"He was struck in the back of the head with a pipe or tire iron, we believe over a narcotics deal that burned out," Tidwell said.

Sheriff's Capt. Philip Schuyler said a young security guard, whose name was not released, was hospitalized "in quite serious condition" apparently after being beaten by some of his fellow guards early today.

San Bernardino police, who were investigating the incident, said they could not immediately release any details.

Steve Wozniak, the Apple computer designer who reportedly put $16 million into the festival, hoped to attract 200,000 people daily, but said Sunday he feared long lines at concessions, toilets and other facilities.

"I'm worried, I don't like it," he said.

Thousands of the revelers, who paid up to $25 for each day of the festival, stayed overnight at the park. David Bowie, Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders were to perform today.

Estell, 23, apparently was beaten in a dispute as he was selling the hallucinogen PCP, or "Angel Dust," Tidwell said.

David Michael Planton, 22, also known as David Morgan, was booked for investigation of murder and held without bail at the county jail, Tidwell said. Authorities said Planton lives in Orange County.

A 17-year-old girl who was with Planton also was held at Juvenile Hall for investigation of murder. Her name wasn't released because of her age.

The arrests came shortly after the 3:30 a.m. beating, based on information from witnesses, Tidwell said. The violence wasn't surprising, he said, given the size of the crowd and numerous drug transactions.

"You could have a thousand cops in there and you couldn't control the narcotics," he said.

Tidwell said his deputies were concentrating their patrols outside the 54-acre amphitheater about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, which was covered by a sea of humanity.

He said the crowd was "an absolute zoo to us and it drives us up a wall," but added, "There could be riots and there haven't been. The mood is very good."

The concert bill, including Van Halen, Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne, drew a crowd that was overwhelmingly teen-age and male. Many came bare-chested.

Packed like sardines in front of the stage, several passed out after hours in the hot sun and were carried off by friends and medics.

Band after flamboyant band mounted the stage and filled the open-air bowl with sounds driven by 400,000 watts of booming guitars.

The Scorpions drew a huge roar for launching their twilight show by hiring five jets that flew overhead with a vapor trail and what sounded like a sonic boom. The crowd cheered even louder for an elaborate laser light display to the sound of Wagnerian-style orchestra music.

Vince Neil, of Motley Crue, a popular Los Angeles group, said the record turnout proved "heavy metal is not a cult following."

Authorities reported 89 arrests since Thursday. Most came Saturday when the three-day rockfest began with a New Wave program that drew 165,000, according to festival organizers, and 140,000 according to Tidwell.

Deputies made 22 arrests Sunday and 55 percent of the weekend total were for such offenses as assaults, drug sales and conspiracy to counterfeit tickets.

By today, 1,599 people had sought medical attention at eight first-aid centers and a field hospital, compared with 2,642 people last year. But medical coordinator Dean Grose said only 12 people required hospitalization out of 54 major injury cases, including fractures, drug overdoses and heat exposure, with "less than half a dozen" resulting from acts of violence.

Getting there was the biggest problem for most festival-goers. Until midafternoon Sunday, traffic was bumper-to-bumper on local roads and jammed on nearby freeways.

Wozniak, 31, predicted he'll lose $3 million to $5 million on the festival, which continues Saturday with a country music program.

The first US Festival last Labor Day weekend drew about 200,000 on its most crowded day. Wozniak lost a reported $5 million or more.

He said Sunday he doesn't plan a third festival without "outside input." He didn't elaborate, but most observers believe he meant other investors.

[Gypsy0033]

According to the Legacy there was a show. And I find their dates very reliable.
But I will have to check with the elders.

http://www.fmlegacy.com/main.html



Ticket Price: $15.50- ah the good ol days.

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I don't know, I tried to find old pieces about her from May 1983, but this is all I saw. Nothing from any Las Vegas papers.

Very fish, methinks. I'm questioning this "show" at the Aladdin on this date. Stevie & her troupe made no mention of any "kickoff" show in Las Vegas that entire year, & nothing in the newspapers ever surfaced.

So who has an original copy of the Billboard Boxscore tidbit? Did someone play a joke? This "gig" was never on anyone's trade lists in the 1980s.

The Penguin needs an ASK JIMMY (Iovine) feature!

He's probably the only one with enough brain cells left to answer such questions.

[Gypsy0033]

Originally Posted by David

Very fish, methinks. I'm questioning this "show" at the Aladdin on this date. Stevie & her troupe made no mention of any "kickoff" show in Las Vegas that entire year, & nothing in the newspapers ever surfaced.

So who has an original copy of the Billboard Boxscore tidbit? Did someone play a joke? This "gig" was never on anyone's trade lists in the 1980s.

The Penguin needs an ASK JIMMY (Iovine) feature!

He's probably the only one with enough brain cells left to answer such questions.

True ^^^^^^^^^^^

[David]

Originally Posted by Gypsy0033

True ^^^^^^^^^^^

Although someone apparently dug up some Pollstar data on it.

Very mysterious & very confusing, just like Stevie Nicks in those yrs.

At least we can justifiably say that it was not the kickoff date of the tour. Kickoff dates don't take place 4 weeks before the rest of the tour. Maybe it was a dress rehearsal with tickets sold to the public. But you'd expect to see something in the Vegas papers at that time.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by David

Although someone apparently dug up some Pollstar data on it.

Very mysterious & very confusing, just like Stevie Nicks in those yrs.

At least we can justifiably say that it was not the kickoff date of the tour. Kickoff dates don't take place 4 weeks before the rest of the tour. Maybe it was a dress rehearsal with tickets sold to the public. But you'd expect to see something in the Vegas papers at that time.

But could it have been a "rehearsal" for the Us Concert, similar to the way she did a warm up show for Soundstage just a little while ago?

Michele

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

But could it have been a "rehearsal" for the Us Concert, similar to the way she did a warm up show for Soundstage just a little while ago?

Well, perhaps. I'm willing to entertain the thought. But I was at the US festivals (on both final days only), & there was precious little I saw or heard that needed rehearsing -- by any band on the roster. It wasn't the sort of thing that bands would have worried about practicing for, to be blunt (whereas Soundstage was an important filming for posterity). It was nothing but a big, hot, sweaty, crowded party -- & that was just the people on the stage. I have often wondered who pulled that particular group of players together for Stevie for May, & whether the tour band formation had already taken place or took place simultaneously (or afterward). Why, for example, did Benmont not play with Stevie at the US Fest? Did he play with Little Steven earlier that day? How come Glaub got the US Fest gig & not the tour gig? Same with Kunkel: Why didn't he do the tour?

If we had info on the band at this supposed Vegas show, we might have a unified field theory of Stevie's tour world in 1983.

[jr2280]

15 bucks for Joe Walsh and Stevie?

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by David

Very fish, methinks. I'm questioning this "show" at the Aladdin on this date. Stevie & her troupe made no mention of any "kickoff" show in Las Vegas

So who has an original copy of the Billboard Boxscore tidbit? Did someone play a joke? This "gig" was never on anyone's trade lists in the 1980s.

The reason I chose to cover this Tour like I'm doing with the Tusk Tour
is because I do have a bunch of original copies from Billboard Boxscore. In those days I was an avid reader of Billboard Magazine. I learned a lot from that magazine.
I was always under the impression that the Us Festival was her first night of the Tour until I saw the May 27th entry when I recently pulled out the photo album of this memorabilia. So no, this is no joke. It's real.

260 people have viewed this thread in the last 24 hours!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by vivfox

I was an avid reader of Billboard Magazine. I learned a lot from that magazine.
I was always under the impression that the Us Festival was her first night of the Tour until I saw the May 27th entry when I recently pulled out the photo album of this memorabilia. So no, this is no joke. It's real.

260 people have viewed this thread in the last 24 hours!

Very interesting then. So much of history is lost to memory. Your Billboards are a treasure trove. Now, I saved Tv Guides from the seventies to the nineties. I've got to find a way to put those to good use!

Michele

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Very interesting then. So much of history is lost to memory. Your Billboards are a treasure trove. Now, I saved Tv Guides from the seventies to the nineties. I've got to find a way to put those to good use!

Michele

I used to collect old TV Guides too. I had a bunch from the 1960's at one point but during the 1980's I cut them all up and added those pictures and TV listings to my 1970's photo album collections of TV shows and movies. In the last two weeks I have been looking at them. Those and my Fleetwood memorbalia as well, hence the Billboard Boxscores.

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by vivfox

I used to collect old TV Guides too. I had a bunch from the 1960's at one point but during the 1980's I cut them all up and added those pictures and TV listings to my 1970's photo album collections of TV shows and movies. In the last two weeks I have been looking at them. Those and my Fleetwood memorbalia as well, hence the Billboard Boxscores.

Okay, you have to post these Boxscores you have for Stevie/FM. This information is vital to the survival of our planet.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by MacMan

Okay, you have to post these Boxscores you have for Stevie/FM. This information is vital to the survival of our planet.

I don't own a scanner but as each concert date is posted I will type out what each shows statistics were.