Talk:US Festival

Pronunciation
Is it pronounced Us, as in "it belongs to us", or U.S. as in USA?--Richy 12:26, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I believe they called it the US festival because they successfully blended Rock and Roll, which was on it's way down, with Heavy Metal, which was hot, with New Wave which was about to take over the music industry. The music was for all of us, not just one genre, in fact they had country music the following weekend. I went there a rocker and three days later went home a fan of the New Wave. Some of those New Wave bands were really unique and very good, especially Flock of Seagulls. They looked pretty weird but the sound was unique and cutting edge. At the time few of us ever heard of those New Wave bands, but now, they are considered pioneers of that sound. William Babishoff (talk) 20:33, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Its pronounced like the pronoun "us". (I was there!)

I was at the first one. There should be some mention of the spore that was kicked up in the clay dust of the site, causing many cases of "valley fever." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.192.31.61 (talk) 03:53, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

If memory serves correct, they moved the `83 festival to earlier in the year to minimize Valley Fever and avoid the big heat. But it was actually hotter at US`83! I don't know how many people got sick but I know my hangover wasn't from any spores! William Babishoff (talk) 20:40, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

If it was pronounced "U.S." there would be the period before and after the S, genius!

I was stoned at the time of the spore. But I remember coughing half to death, and I thought it was from the weed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.51.37.125 (talk) 05:20, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

It may have been from the weed, that was just before Sunk Buds from Mendocino county first appeared in SoCal and most everyone was still smoking that nasty Mexican brick weed sprayed with paraquat! — Preceding unsigned comment added by William Babishoff (talk • contribs) 20:43, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

First large concert to use video screens?
I know for a fact, that Led Zeppelin used them during the 70's. Would that have been considered a large concert? --Richy 20:47, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

van halen
I had heard van halen parachuted on to the stage. is this an urban legend? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.93.110.227 (talk) 07:19, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Forget parachuting onto the stage; I was there, and David Lee Roth absolutely sucked. I waited all day in the blistering heat to see Van Halen, and could not have been more disappointed. Roth ran around the stage like a drunken madman, singing like shit, leaving out lines of lyrics, and coming back in every now and then when he remembered what he was supposed to be singing. It was one of the worst performances I've ever seen, and the most forgettable. Roth totally ruined Van Halen's set that day. He stole 1.5 million, that's for sure.

While it's true David Lee Roth ruined Van Halen's performance with his overt drunkenness, he did get the biggest applause of the night when he insulted the Clash and took about half that whiskey bottle down in one gulp! William Babishoff (talk) 20:00, 18 February 2012 (UTC)


 * This is surely an urban legend because they would not have been given permission to skydive onto the stage surrounded by a thick crowd. The configuration did not allow scope for error: if the skydiver missed his target by a small and unforgiving margin, he would have crashed into the crowd risking injury to himself and anyone underneath him. The small area of the stage would have been cluttered with instruments and equipment and extremely dangerous to land on. The skydiver would certainly have been injured, and possibly killed in the attempt. No responsible skydiving club would have supported such a lunatic and illegal stunt. I know something about this because I have a personal skydiving history. — O'Dea  (talk) 08:20, 13 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Van Halen ostensibly skydived into Anaheim Stadium in 1978 for Summerfest. It wasn't the band, but a group of lookalikes who landed just outside the gate while the band came running on stage wearing parachute gear. Hoof Hearted (talk) 15:03, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

Losing money
I heard at the time Steve Wozniak lost a ton of money but I had no idea how much. There were some people making huge amounts of cash, profiting on the 115 degree heat. The guys selling water atomizers at $5 a piece, quite a high price in 1983 for an empty Windex bottle! William Babishoff (talk) 19:53, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

The Clash blew it
I remember The Clash making their political extortion attempt on the promoters. It was a self fulfilling moment that backfired. The Clash lost many fans that night. I happily sold my ticket for $10 and boycotted their show. I could hear the boo's from 1/2 mile away. I've never listened to their albums since. William Babishoff (talk) 20:19, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Reader comment entered in section: Home video releases
I am moving the following comment by User:2601:200:4204:C8E0:ED62:34FA:627D:97F0 from within the Home video releases section of the article to this talk page. It is not proper article text, but a comment. Perhaps the information in it is useful.


 * The above is not correct: the exact same footage aired on Showtime back when it was a recent event, with MORE footage (If memory serves: they included a tune or two from Quiet Riot and FOR SURE a few from Van Halen's headlining set (Dave was obviously intoxicated, which might be why it was left off this edition). Motley Crue was missing from the original program as well (a licensing issue I assume). Not sure about the other days, but I do recall watching INXS and others from the first day as well, and pretty sure Showtime aired all 4 days in different segments.

— O'Dea (talk) 08:14, 13 December 2019 (UTC)

Formatting for iOS
Hi -- thanks for noticing my change to the bullet points. Interestingly, I made this fix from my iOS app, where the current formatting displays a blank bullet point below "Willie Nelson". I hadn't noticed that this broke the desktop view. Do you know anything we can do with the wikitext to make it display correctly on desktop and not have an extra bullet point on iOS? -- Cloud atlas (talk) 05:11, 4 February 2020 (UTC)