The 1983 US Festival 41 Years Later

The Summer of 1983 and the concert of all concerts: the 1983 US Festival. According to the Guinness World Book Of Records, a record-setting 670,000 people turned out for the second and final US Festival over Memorial Day Weekend 1983 at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, CA. It was kind of hard to find it on a map, but they did.

The four-day event was full of 80's rock favorites like Triumph, Flock of Seagulls, Stevie Nicks, Men at Work, and INXS: Heavyweights Ozzy, Motley Crue, U2, The Pretenders. Then the icing on the cake was Van Halen, David Bowie, and the last show ever for the Clash. The complete lineup and set lists can be seen here

The co-headliners, David Bowie and Van Halen, each earned record-setting $1.5 million paydays for their sets. Can you guess which band partied way too hard before their show?

Van Halen was the closing act of day 2 of the 4-day US Festival 1983, which was held on May 28, 29, 30, and June 4. The second day was dubbed 'Heavy Metal Day.' As the band wasn't on tour around that time, rehearsals were held, and Van Halen's paycheck was a whopping $1.5 million.

The Scorpions got the nod before VH, but it was a band from Canada riding high on the success of their album, "Allied Forces." The Band Truimph didn't mind at all and put on a stellar performance. And playing on what they called" Heavy Metal Day," Triumph held its own against Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Ozzy, Scorpions, and Judas Priest.

  Steve Wozniak Even Introduced The Band Triumph on Stage

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak organized the first US Festival on Labor Day weekend in 1982, with a budget of $12.5 million. The festival drew over 400,000 attendees.

In 1983, Steve once again put up a bankroll. The 1983 festival ran for three days over Memorial Day weekend, with an additional day on June 4. The total attendance was reported at 670,000.

The Clash demanded that $100,000 of their $500,000 for the performance be donated to charity before they took the stage for their last show with guitarist Mick Jones before his firing. The festival lost an estimated $12 million, as the 1982 festival had.

With the times and the way they are, music brings people together. But I highly doubt we will ever see a festival of this magnitude again. Money-wise, it seems out of reach, and security on such an event would be impossible.

Pine Knob Music Theatre is an outdoor amphitheater with a Clarkston, Michigan mailing address. Built in the early 1970s, and got its name from the nearby Pine Knob ski area and golf course. Ranks as one of the top concert venues in the world.

The grand opening was back on June 25th, 1972 with its first show with a teen idol from the tv show, The Partridge Family. David Cassidy. David drew crowds of screaming teens all over the country as a solo artist. the seating compacity to start was 12,500.

One feature they had a pathway going right in the middle of the lawn section cutting it in half to a left and right side. Long cement retaining walls that cut through the hill were the logos of every artist or group that had performed there. In the 1980's the wall was filled in to make more seating on the lawn and total seating to 15,000 fans.

Many musicians played Pine Knob for more than 20 years Eddie Money opened the concert season each May. Chicago appeared +80, more than any other act. Bob Seger has played more than 33 sold-out shows, including eight in a row in 1977. Kid Rock with ten consecutive sold-out shows.

One thing artists find out is when it's 11 pm. Pine Knob has a time curfew. If an artist plays past 11 pm they face a $1,000 fine for every minute they play over. The J.Geils band break that curfew many times.

Here are some of the bands that you may remember or not remember or surprised they Pine Knob Music Theater.

The amphitheater held its grand opening on June 25, 1972, with a matinee performance by teen idol David Cassidy. Andy Williams performed the first evening concert two nights later.

Cheech and Chong did their stand-up antics live on stage. The funny thing is the strange smell in the pavilion and the record sales of nachos sold that night. Folk artist David Bromberg was the opening act. How tough was that? To play before Cheech & Chong?

1972-73  Sonny & Cher Tour went all around the United States. In fact to look at one of the official tour books you could buy at the concert check out by clicking here:

No footage of the Monkees at Pine Knob that I have searched for all over social media. From the live albums in my collection and a live release from Rhino Records. They were pretty good in concert. Did find this live footage from one of their tours.

Spinal Tap played in from of a huge sold-out crowd playing all their hits from the movie. The crowd sang along with every song. What made it even more incredible was a hard-core Detroit band ALYZE was also on the bill to open up.