Van Halen Dates Officially Canceled

[The Sushi Hunter]

I guess that's the new Van Halen.

[JRNYMAN]

They played here a couple of weeks ago and the show left a lot to be desired. Roth, for whatever reason, would leave out parts of songs - sometimes a word here or there and sometimes entire lines. Eddie was Eddie which, even on his worst night is still phenomenal to watch. Wolfie has come a long way and fills the void M.A. left fairly well but I'd still rather see Mikey taking his rightful place on stage - but that's just me. Roth is still in remarkable shape and exhibited no shortage of kicks and standing splits although his jumps weren't nearly as high as they once were. By about halfway through the show, the lyrics omissions had become pretty annoying since there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for them. Then he blew the lyrics to Ice Cream Man - the one song HE wrote the lyrics and music to!
On stage, everybody seemed like they were having a blast - lots of smiles and eye contact amongst the guys and Eddie seemed to be getting a kick out of Roth's trademark antics evidenced by the laughs and grins. Musically, there wasn't one single song I can honestly say sounded really good - mostly due to Roth being off-key a lot and committing numerous "strained-on-and-missed" notes.

In the comments section of the local paper's review of the show, there were some people who said they were backstage after the show and witnessed a lot of arguing and bickering amongst the band members although it's impossible to confirm their claims.

It's bad enough when you find out Kool & The Gang was the opening act and have these pre-conceived notions about what a mis-pairing it is but what's worse is coming away from the show being really impressed with how God damn good they were and how well they pumped up the crowd.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Roth is how old now? Father time is catching up to him, as is true with everyone. Has Roth done drugs throughout his life? If so, that doesn't help any, especially the long term effects to the brain. Personally I'd be depressed going to a concert where the singer was losing it and not remembering the words. But then again, that's just me personally.

[AR]

They played here a couple of weeks ago and the show left a lot to be desired. Roth, for whatever reason, would leave out parts of songs .

He has done that FOREVER. 1:25 into the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gayoRt2qjuY

I thought the show I saw in Atlantic City was really good.

[SF-Dano]

Then he blew the lyrics to Ice Cream Man - the one song HE wrote the lyrics and music to!

Actually an old blues tune written by John Brim with Elmore James. But Roth did give it a bit of a DLR makeover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELjj5HBwTu4

[AR]

The lyric blowing is schtick. Part of the act.

[JRNYMAN]

Then he blew the lyrics to Ice Cream Man - the one song HE wrote the lyrics and music to!

Actually an old blues tune written by John Brim with Elmore James. But Roth did give it a bit of a DLR makeover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELjj5HBwTu4

I stand corrected! Thanks Dan. I was always under the impression Roth had written it - not sure why.

[The Sushi Hunter]

I watched him on Howard Stern a number of years back and it was interesting listening to how he thinks about things. However, cancelling out shows, regardless sucks.

[conversationpc]

Roth has never been a great singer but, judging from a recent performance I've heard portions of, he sounds even worse than usual and I'm guessing that's probably the real reason for the delays and now cancellations.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Roth never been a great singer? I must have bad taste then cause I thought he was a pretty shit hot singer back in the early 80's.

[conversationpc]

Roth never been a great singer? I must have bad taste then cause I thought he was a pretty shit hot singer back in the early 80's.

He was OK for the studio material but he was almost always badly out of tune as a real live singer. Regardless, I prefer the Roth era VH so I'm not saying I don't like the guy as the frontman for VH.

[JRNYMAN]

Roth never been a great singer? I must have bad taste then cause I thought he was a pretty shit hot singer back in the early 80's.

He was OK for the studio material but he was almost always badly out of tune as a real live singer. Regardless, I prefer the Roth era VH so I'm not saying I don't like the guy as the frontman for VH.

Watch/listen to any video on YT of VH live and it's pretty clear Diamond Dave struggles out of the studio. The other element that they've ALWAYS struggled with - whether we're talking about Van Halen or Van Hagar - is their inability to harmonize in tune, and that's mostly Eddie's downfall. Michael would always belt out that high falsetto, high harmony but it was Eddie's off-key, mid-range vocals that muddied it up. If you REALLY want to hear a train wreck when it comes to VH's attempt at pulling off harmony in a live setting, listen to them doing Happy Trails! YIKES!!

[JRNYMAN]

Was perusing some of the vids posted from the most recent shows and came across this one in which Roth stops a fight which is taking place on the floor during Pretty Woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWGo3CW ... re=related
The incident takes place starting at 5:15 into the video.

One thing I'll say about Dave is he's never been one to take shit from anyone or to allow things happening in the audience to be a distraction to the show. At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

[Rick]

Was perusing some of the vids posted from the most recent shows and came across this one in which Roth stops a fight which is taking place on the floor during Pretty Woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWGo3CW ... re=related
The incident takes place starting at 5:15 into the video.

One thing I'll say about Dave is he's never been one to take shit from anyone or to allow things happening in the audience to be a distraction to the show. At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

Love that story. Dave's something else.

[AR]

Was perusing some of the vids posted from the most recent shows and came across this one in which Roth stops a fight which is taking place on the floor during Pretty Woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWGo3CW ... re=related
The incident takes place starting at 5:15 into the video.

One thing I'll say about Dave is he's never been one to take shit from anyone or to allow things happening in the audience to be a distraction to the show. At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

You went to the US Festival? That's fucking cool. Any stories?

[slucero]

At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

1:37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTc9VaNIiI

[Gideon]

That's awesome.

[JRNYMAN]

At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

1:37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTc9VaNIiI

Okay, so I didn't remember what he said verbatim.... but hey, next Memorial Day will be the 30th anniversary of that show so the fact that I remembered it even happened is epic. That was an unbelievable weekend!

[slucero]

my best friend went... i couldn't go.. always have regretted that..

[Rick]

At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

1:37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTc9VaNIiI

Okay, so I didn't remember what he said verbatim.... but hey, next Memorial Day will be the 30th anniversary of that show so the fact that I remembered it even happened is epic. That was an unbelievable weekend!

It was close enough.

[JRNYMAN]

Was perusing some of the vids posted from the most recent shows and came across this one in which Roth stops a fight which is taking place on the floor during Pretty Woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWGo3CW ... re=related
The incident takes place starting at 5:15 into the video.

One thing I'll say about Dave is he's never been one to take shit from anyone or to allow things happening in the audience to be a distraction to the show. At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

You went to the US Festival? That's fucking cool. Any stories?

Yeah, definitely. How could you attend something like that and not?!
Here's one that'll make Andrew proud....

The concert was a 4-day event with the 2nd day being "Heavy Metal Day". The lineup was Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, (Joe Walsh was supposed to play next but cancelled at the last minute.) Next was Triumph, Ozzy, Judas Priest, Scorps and finally Van Halen. The first band went on at 11:00am and VH took the stage at 11:00pm. Each band played longer than the band before them so by the time the Scorps went on at 8:30, they played a full concert. Anyway, I'm getting off topic here.
At the time, I was 19 years old and lived in Northern California near Chico. Chico State was always ranked in Playboy's Top 10 Partying schools and as far as I know, may still be. That being the case, Humboldt's finest Indica buds were plentiful and cheap. This was the stuff all other pot wanted to be and all others were judged by. Almost fluorescent green with purple veins winding their way the entire length of the buds - some of which were as long as your forearm. They sparkled from the amount of crystals in them and God did they stink - so freakin' good! We affectionately called it "Helen Keller" weed due to the fact that after 2 hits...... you get the idea. We were fortunate to have that kind of bud be our everyday, run of the mill stuff - and we knew it. And we were proud of that fact.
We wanted to make sure we had plenty for the weekend so we took an ounce with us - just to be sure.
The gates opened at 9:00am IIRC and anticipating a huge mob we were sure to be at the gate a bit early. No mob. Just a few people waiting. Once inside we scoped out a great spot along the left side of the stage where we would be fairly close but not so close that we would get crushed against the stage and other people which we had heard was the situation the day earlier.
Finding a nice grassy spot, we threw down our blanket next to these beautiful girls who had come all the way from Australia for the festival. We hadn't been talking to them for 5 minutes when my buddy Mike asks, "So, do you get high?" Geez Mike! Give it a minute! But, they said they did so we twisted up a fatty of our heavenly Indica and and they suggested we match each other for a joint. Cool enough. We smoked ours first so proud of its quality and everything about it. When asked what they thought of our pot, they said it was "okay". Mike and I were both shocked and maybe even a little bit offended. "Okay?! That's it, just okay?!" They said that they were just used to theirs which they thought was a little better. Now it was their turn to spark one up. One of the girls pulls out this little, tiny, pinner that looked like you had taken a paper and rolled it up in another paper. It was about a 10th the size of ours and we both instantly felt like were being played. So we decided to smoke their joint and go find some other girls to party with.

By the time we finished their joint, Mike and I were soooooooo fucked up that we ended up sitting right where we were just zoning to the music and watching the people as the place filled up throughout the day - and fill up it did. From where we were which was about 50 feet from the stage, the crowd extended out for almost a mile. When you stood up and looked at the horizon, the crowd never ended. We were so high for so long that we didn't end up smoking any more of ours or anyone elses pot the rest of the day until VH went on 12 hours later.

To this day, I have no idea what kind of pot it was (and we were both fairly certain it wasn't laced with anything) but it was hands down, the most incredible shit I've ever smoked in my entire life. There weren't any side effects or hallucinations or any of the kinds of things that accompany PCP, Vitamin K, Heroin, etc., we were just super duper stoned. Needless to say the oz. we took with us ended up being more than enough for our rock and roll weekend.

[JRNYMAN]

At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

1:37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTc9VaNIiI

How in the Hell did you find that particular sound byte? That's nothing short of impressive Sluce!

[slucero]

At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

1:37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTc9VaNIiI

How in the Hell did you find that particular sound byte? That's nothing short of impressive Sluce!

just googled it.. "DLR squirt bottle" or something like that

[JRNYMAN]

At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

1:37

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTc9VaNIiI

How in the Hell did you find that particular sound byte? That's nothing short of impressive Sluce!

just googled it.. "DLR squirt bottle" or something like that

I know life existed before Google but I just don't seem to remember it and I'm damned sure it wasn't someplace I'd want to live again!

[No Surprize]

Was perusing some of the vids posted from the most recent shows and came across this one in which Roth stops a fight which is taking place on the floor during Pretty Woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWGo3CW ... re=related
The incident takes place starting at 5:15 into the video.

One thing I'll say about Dave is he's never been one to take shit from anyone or to allow things happening in the audience to be a distraction to the show. At the US Festival, for instance, this guy apparently squirted Dave with his squirt bottle which everyone had to try to stay cool since it was so blazing hot. Anyway, this guy in the front row squirted Dave and it pissed him off. So, Dave stops mid-sentence and says, "Hey mother fucker.... don't squirt me with that squirt bottle 'cuz if you do, I'm gonna come down there and fuck your girlfriend!" And, as you can imagine, the entire crowd, which consisted of me and 500,000 of my closest friends, went nuts!

You went to the US Festival? That's fucking cool. Any stories?

Yeah, definitely. How could you attend something like that and not?!
Here's one that'll make Andrew proud....

The concert was a 4-day event with the 2nd day being "Heavy Metal Day". The lineup was Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, (Joe Walsh was supposed to play next but cancelled at the last minute.) Next was Triumph, Ozzy, Judas Priest, Scorps and finally Van Halen. The first band went on at 11:00am and VH took the stage at 11:00pm. Each band played longer than the band before them so by the time the Scorps went on at 8:30, they played a full concert. Anyway, I'm getting off topic here.
At the time, I was 19 years old and lived in Northern California near Chico. Chico State was always ranked in Playboy's Top 10 Partying schools and as far as I know, may still be. That being the case, Humboldt's finest Indica buds were plentiful and cheap. This was the stuff all other pot wanted to be and all others were judged by. Almost fluorescent green with purple veins winding their way the entire length of the buds - some of which were as long as your forearm. They sparkled from the amount of crystals in them and God did they stink - so freakin' good! We affectionately called it "Helen Keller" weed due to the fact that after 2 hits...... you get the idea. We were fortunate to have that kind of bud be our everyday, run of the mill stuff - and we knew it. And we were proud of that fact.
We wanted to make sure we had plenty for the weekend so we took an ounce with us - just to be sure.
The gates opened at 9:00am IIRC and anticipating a huge mob we were sure to be at the gate a bit early. No mob. Just a few people waiting. Once inside we scoped out a great spot along the left side of the stage where we would be fairly close but not so close that we would get crushed against the stage and other people which we had heard was the situation the day earlier.
Finding a nice grassy spot, we threw down our blanket next to these beautiful girls who had come all the way from Australia for the festival. We hadn't been talking to them for 5 minutes when my buddy Mike asks, "So, do you get high?" Geez Mike! Give it a minute! But, they said they did so we twisted up a fatty of our heavenly Indica and and they suggested we match each other for a joint. Cool enough. We smoked ours first so proud of its quality and everything about it. When asked what they thought of our pot, they said it was "okay". Mike and I were both shocked and maybe even a little bit offended. "Okay?! That's it, just okay?!" They said that they were just used to theirs which they thought was a little better. Now it was their turn to spark one up. One of the girls pulls out this little, tiny, pinner that looked like you had taken a paper and rolled it up in another paper. It was about a 10th the size of ours and we both instantly felt like were being played. So we decided to smoke their joint and go find some other girls to party with.

By the time we finished their joint, Mike and I were soooooooo fucked up that we ended up sitting right where we were just zoning to the music and watching the people as the place filled up throughout the day - and fill up it did. From where we were which was about 50 feet from the stage, the crowd extended out for almost a mile. When you stood up and looked at the horizon, the crowd never ended. We were so high for so long that we didn't end up smoking any more of ours or anyone elses pot the rest of the day until VH went on 12 hours later.

To this day, I have no idea what kind of pot it was (and we were both fairly certain it wasn't laced with anything) but it was hands down, the most incredible shit I've ever smoked in my entire life. There weren't any side effects or hallucinations or any of the kinds of things that accompany PCP, Vitamin K, Heroin, etc., we were just super duper stoned. Needless to say the oz. we took with us ended up being more than enough for our rock and roll weekend.

Great story man and I never get tired of hearing them. Those kind of festivals will never happen again with such great bands in their prime. Can you imagine now a US festival of bands like that in their prime of their music careers? I can't. Back in the day we use to go to any and every concert we wanted to when bands headed down to Florida. Hell, tickets were cheap then, you could hit 10 to 12 shows a year for the price you pay for one good seat now. I remember going to see the Stones at what is now the Citrus bowl in Orlando. The Stones were supporting "Tattoo You", Van Halen actually took a detour off their "Fair Warning" tour to open for the Stones for 2 shows. They had an opening act who we didn't pay much attention to due to the fact we had a "rough experience" just getting there. 4 of us, always 4, driving the 3 hours and some change to get there. Left early, and it was so foggy you couldn't see 2 feet in front of your fucking face. Anyway to make a long story short we ran off the road by missing a stop sign, slammed into a park car, got our car off the parked car and finally made it to the concert with our car only managing to get up to 45 mph. So, we settle in and were to the left of the stage with a great angle view. Hot chicks all around us which made it even better. The chicks behind us were snorting cocaine and we were naive as hell to what that was but it wasn't long before they turned us on to an eye opener of it. Of course we had our "skunk" bud aroma and so we were set. I remember when VH came on they opened with "Mean street" and after a couple more tunes David Lee Roth shouted " Do you know what the first thing the newspaper critic will write about this show in tomorrow's paper? "How fucked up Van Halen was." "And you know the second thing they are going to write is"? "How Fucked up the audience was!" Then he bellowed out in a roar, Well this one's for the press and they broke into "So this is love". We all had a great time. Man, their were thousands of hot chicks in the hot ass florida sun. The Stones put on a great show, I remember they opened with "Under my thumb" and when the finally played the first chord to "Start me Up" the crowd to it to the next level. What a great time. It was also the last concert I seen with a personal best friend who was killed by a drunk driver while walking down a sidewalk in his neighborhood when he was only 21. RIP Mick, I miss you to this day and wonder what you might have been.

[JRNYMAN]

Great story man and I never get tired of hearing them. Those kind of festivals will never happen again with such great bands in their prime. Can you imagine now a US festival of bands like that in their prime of their music careers? I can't. Back in the day we use to go to any and every concert we wanted to when bands headed down to Florida. Hell, tickets were cheap then, you could hit 10 to 12 shows a year for the price you pay for one good seat now. I remember going to see the Stones at what is now the Citrus bowl in Orlando. The Stones were supporting "Tattoo You", Van Halen actually took a detour off their "Fair Warning" tour to open for the Stones for 2 shows. They had an opening act who we didn't pay much attention to due to the fact we had a "rough experience" just getting there. 4 of us, always 4, driving the 3 hours and some change to get there. Left early, and it was so foggy you couldn't see 2 feet in front of your fucking face. Anyway to make a long story short we ran off the road by missing a stop sign, slammed into a park car, got our car off the parked car and finally made it to the concert with our car only managing to get up to 45 mph. So, we settle in and were to the left of the stage with a great angle view. Hot chicks all around us which made it even better. The chicks behind us were snorting cocaine and we were naive as hell to what that was but it wasn't long before they turned us on to an eye opener of it. Of course we had our "skunk" bud aroma and so we were set. I remember when VH came on they opened with "Mean street" and after a couple more tunes David Lee Roth shouted " Do you know what the first thing the newspaper critic will write about this show in tomorrow's paper? "How fucked up Van Halen was." "And you know the second thing they are going to write is"? "How Fucked up the audience was!" Then he bellowed out in a roar, Well this one's for the press and they broke into "So this is love". We all had a great time. Man, their were thousands of hot chicks in the hot ass florida sun. The Stones put on a great show, I remember they opened with "Under my thumb" and when the finally played the first chord to "Start me Up" the crowd to it to the next level. What a great time. It was also the last concert I seen with a personal best friend who was killed by a drunk driver while walking down a sidewalk in his neighborhood when he was only 21. RIP Mick, I miss you to this day and wonder what you might have been.

You're right about all the concerts we could attend back then. And the thing is, it didn't matter so much where your seat was, it was more the fact that you were there which is what the US Festival was all about - for us anyway. We knew it was going to be epic, record breaking, historic due to the fact that the promos for it were rampant and fierce. Cal Jam II had broken all attendance records the year before with 250,000 people and it didn't have near the number of bands that were playing at US.
Living near Chico, CA might as well have been the other side of the planet compared to where the concert was being held since neither my buddy nor I had a car at the time and we didn't know anyone else who was adventurous enough to drive that distance "just to go to a concert". But that was the thing - it wasn't just a concert and we HAD to be there. So, as any 19-year-old guys would do back in 1983.... we hitchhiked! 750 miles separated us from US and by God, the fact that we hitchhiked was going to be part of the experience and the story we would be able to tell!
Can you imagine the same situation today: 2 long haired rockers, both with backpacks, cut-offs, concert tee's, packing an ounce of radioactive pot, some mushrooms - just for good measure - hitchhiking along I-5 with a sign that read, "US FEST OR DIE!". We would be picked up by the first cop to drive by!
The story would have been a lot more colorful had we had to wait for hours at a time between rides, or if we had gotten robbed, or if basically anything would have happened other than what actually did. Within 30 mins. of sticking out our thumbs, we got picked up by these 2 girls who were headed to US from Reading, CA (75 miles north) and were happy to have someone to share the cost of gas with. They were far from good looking but that didn't matter - we were now on our way to the show and we were grateful! They ended up being really weird and we parted company with them as soon as we got to the venue.

I could go on and on about the trip and various things we experienced once we got there and subsequently got home - once the show was over, we still had the same 750 miles ahead of us!
Yup, those kinds of festivals don't happen as often here in the U.S. as they did back in the day, but that's what ultimately made them so special and the memories so awesome and cherished. And with how much it now costs just to see one band, I can't fathom how much one of those shows would cost!
Here's the stub for Heavy Metal Day at the US Festival which featured 8 of the biggest and hottest rock bands on the planet at the time.


VH was the headliner but ask anyone who was there, Scorps absolutely stole the show. They were tight, their overall sound was outstanding and they weren't completely and totally wasted the way VH was. It's a wonder Roth could stand up. In their defense though, no-one utilized the stage more than Eddie and Michael did. The stage itself was gargantuan! And on both sides were these long (100 feet easily) runways which Eddie used literally as runways. He would run the entire length of them while jamming which the crowd ate up.

Judas Priest was pretty damned good as well. Apparently it was at that point in the day when the sound engineers finally got their shit together and had all 4 sound columns working at the same time so when JP took the stage, they were twice as loud as any of the previous bands which the crowd appreciated. After the MC introduced them, the first sound you heard was Halford's Harley kicking over and revving which as I mentioned, now that all the speakers were active, filled the entire pavilion and the crowd went absolutely ape shit! And without hesitation, as soon as Halford arrived at center stage, KK wastes no time starting the intro to Breaking The Law which took the crowd to an even higher frenzied state.

Halford lives here in Scottsdale and regularly frequents the live rock band clubs around town. He's a very nice guy and is very approachable.

[The Sushi Hunter]

What made Diamond Dave so cool was not only his singing but also how entertaining he is to watch, in reference to the clip with the squirt bottle. How many guys could stand up in front of a packed concert for minutes without really doing much and have the crowd going apeshit? Great singer, performer and very entertaining.

[JRNYMAN]

What made Diamond Dave so cool was not only his singing but also how entertaining he is to watch, in reference to the clip with the squirt bottle. How many guys could stand up in front of a packed concert for minutes without really doing much and have the crowd going apeshit? Great singer, performer and very entertaining.

No question about it. Diamond Dave was the ultimate showman back then. His physique and the physical shape he was in allowed him to perform moves no one was doing. The popularity of VH and the near cult-like following allowed Dave to do exactly what you stated. Fans were enthralled by him - he could do no wrong. He wasn't afraid to be silly and crude at the same time. Only 2 rockers could wear ass-less pants back then and pull it off: Roth and Halford!

[SF-Dano]

JRNYMAN can either confirm or refute this - I was too young to attend US back in 83 (not by my decision though). My older brother and a few of his buddies went. Upon return he told me a little story about VH. As the story goes, before VH was to come out on stage they showed each member on the big screens prepping backstage. Eddie is loosening his fingers on the guitar, Mikey is drinking, Alex is pounding sticks on the furniture, and flash to Roth...........bangin some chick with a big grin on his face in the camera for all the audience to view on the screens. Now not being there, I can't confirm this, but I would not be surprised.

Also, I have heard that The Scorpions definitely gave the best performance that day. I had never been into them yet (only 13 in 83) and neither was my bro (who is older and had just returned home from a 6yr enlistment in the Navy). He came back from US raving about the Scorps and from that day forth we were both fans.

As for the great festival concerts, it is too bad they just don't happen in the US much anymore. Though missing out on US, luckily I was able to attend a few Day on the Greens, Mountain Aires, and Monsters of Rock. They just don't do 'em like that anymore.

[JRNYMAN]

JRNYMAN can either confirm or refute this - I was too young to attend US back in 83 (not by my decision though). My older brother and a few of his buddies went. Upon return he told me a little story about VH. As the story goes, before VH was to come out on stage they showed each member on the big screens prepping backstage. Eddie is loosening his fingers on the guitar, Mikey is drinking, Alex is pounding sticks on the furniture, and flash to Roth...........bangin some chick with a big grin on his face in the camera for all the audience to view on the screens. Now not being there, I can't confirm this, but I would not be surprised.

Also, I have heard that The Scorpions definitely gave the best performance that day. I had never been into them yet (only 13 in 83) and neither was my bro (who is older and had just returned home from a 6yr enlistment in the Navy). He came back from US raving about the Scorps and from that day forth we were both fans.

As for the great festival concerts, it is too bad they just don't happen in the US much anymore. Though missing out on US, luckily I was able to attend a few Day on the Greens, Mountain Aires, and Monsters of Rock. They just don't do 'em like that anymore.

I wish I could confirm your bro's story but I just don't remember that happening - not saying it didn't, I just don't remember it. Sorry
As for the big festivals....
You have to wonder exactly why concerts in general have become so God Damned expensive. There's a post in the Journey forum which lists how much each band is making for their appearance at some state fair and IIRC, Journey is getting over $250,000, Benetar is making $50K and Loverboy is raking in a paltry $16.5K. Now, a rock concert at a state fair is a gamble for the promoters since they have no way of accurately estimating the number of people who will actually attend any particular show. Country acts traditionally draw larger crowds at state fairs and are easier to bet on. But, c'mon.... really? Does Journey really need to make THAT much more than Loverboy? And maybe that's completely normal by today's standards and I'm surprised over nothing. Or, perhaps it's the God Damned promoters like Live Nation and Ticketmaster who have essentially taken over the distribution and promotion of pro acts and their performances. Or, is it the mega-increased insurance fees all acts must carry due to accidents like the one that happened a couple of weeks ago with Radiohead's rigging collapsing and destroying most of their gear and killing one of their crew. I don't know what the answer is but it just seems nuts that the average ticket price for a single act, in advance is around $75.00!
In contrast to that, Europe seems to have a handle on these types of shows - and they're just a few days away from having their economy completely imploding, yet people still seem to find the funds for not only tickets for these big shows but for a lot of people, attending them means traveling to another country and staying overnight. My bet is on the greedy fucking greasebag promoters here in the states who have their collective hands in the pockets of seemingly every touring act.

Went to a couple of the Day on the Green shows and had completely forgotten about the Mountain Aire gigs. God I miss Northern Cal sometimes. My oldest brother has lived in Tahoe for decades and is the Fire chief of the Tahoe Keys community. Mountain Aire....... awesome setting for those shows!