cohibasurfer
one day older than dirt
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2001
- Messages
- 7,550
Happy New Year!!!
Continuing from last year I got the 1982 US Festival Blu-ray for Christmas and since I was stuck in Covid quarantine got to watch it a few times.
The 82 Us festival was held over 3 days on Sept 3-5 1982 in the San Bernardino area. All 3 days hit 110 degrees which made sleeping rather uncomfortable at night. Not because it was too warm but because you thought you were cold. When the temp drops 40-45 degrees at night it is still 65 or so but you'll freeze your ass off. Of course I knew that and brought a sleeping bag for two
For a ticket price of $37.50 for all 3 days you got to see:
Friday, September 3
Gang of Four
Ramones
The English Beat
Oingo Boingo
The B-52's
Talking Heads
The Police
Saturday, September 4
Dave Edmunds
Eddie Money
Santana
The Cars
The Kinks
Pat Benatar
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Sunday, September 5
Grateful Dead
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band
Jackson Browne
Fleetwood Mac
The wife and I decided not to drive down from Seattle but to take the one of the packages that covered all transportation, camp ground air conditioned shuttle buses to and from the event. Worked out to $240 each which wasn't a bad deal IMO. Now having trained in Death Valley I had a pretty good idea of what to pack so between the 2 of us we had about 110lbs of stuff. A bit of overkill but not by much. Food was the biggest item. There were all sorts of stands at the show but nothing at the campground. Water was another. I had 2 collapsible 3 gallon water jugs that we filled up every evening for drinking, cooking and especially cleaning, It was a desert dust bowl and at over 100 degrees dust just stuck to you like glue.
If it was up to me I would have gone back to the campground after The Dead, packed everything up and slept in the air conditioned bus until it was time to go to the airport. However, the wife had other plans so we stayed all the way to the end. I had done most of the prep to tear down the campsite so we got on one of the first buses leaving still all sweaty and gritty but knowing we would have 3 hours in the airport to cleanup before the plane left.
Plenty of videos out there if you care to look.
Fast forward 35 years later and I run into Steve Wozniak in DC at a show I'm working at. We spent 2 hours drinking over priced booze at the hotel bar talking about both US Festivals, stereo gear and ex-wives. I'd like to say he paid but we covered our own although he did leave the tip for both of us. I still have his metal(!) business card.
Not a parrothead and while I don't dislike JB the choice between the bus or him was easy, The Mac was a different story. I am a fan of 60's-70's Mac but the nrw "California" Mac just wasn't and still doesn't do it for me.Damn, what a great experience! Now I'm down a rabbit hole of watching 1982 US Festival videos.
I guess you're not a Parrothead or a fan of Jackson Browne or Fleetwood Mac?
"70's Hits", but a picture of Dimebag Darrell from Pantera in the thumbnail?
"70's Hits", but a picture of Dimebag Darrell from Pantera in the thumbnail?