US Festival

Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple and creator of the Apple I and Apple II personal computers, believed that the 1970s were the "Me" generation.[6] He intended the US Festivals, with Bill Graham's participation, to encourage the 1980s to be more community-oriented and combine technology with rock music.[7] The first was held Labor Day weekend in September 1982,[3] and the second was less than nine months later, over Memorial Day weekend in May 1983.[4][8]

Wozniak paid for the bulldozing and construction[9] of a new open-air field venue as well as the construction of an enormous state-of-the-art temporary stage at Glen Helen Regional Park near Devore, San Bernardino, California, just south of the junction of Interstates 15 and 215.[10] (This site was later to become home to Blockbuster Pavilion—now Glen Helen Amphitheater—the largest amphitheatre in the United States as of 2007.) The festival stage has resided at Disneyland in Anaheim since 1985, and has operated under various names and functions as the Videopolis dance club, the Videopolis Theatre, and the Fantasyland Theater.

The festival ran for three days in early September in 110 °F (43 °C) weather;[2][11] there were 36 arrests,[12] and a reported twelve drug overdoses.[12] One "associated" murder of a hitchhiker occurred the day after the event. The festival lost a reported $12 million,[13] and total attendance for the three days was about 400,000.[4] The price for a three-day ticket was $37.50.[3] ($100 2020 equivalent.)

The US festival featured the first implementation of the U.S.-Soviet Space Bridge, a two-way satellite hookup between the United States and the Soviet Union.[14] Organizers had planned to have the US Festival and Soviet rock fans interact as a way to promote goodwill between the Cold War rivals, but it was too dark in California for cameras to pick up the festivalgoers when the link went live.

(Bands are listed below in the order they appeared.)

The reprise festival ran for three days, this time at the helm was Colorado-based promoter Barry Fey, who with Wozniak added a fourth Country Day a week later.[15] In late May, its first day weather was slightly cooler at 95 °F (35 °C), but air quality conditions in the region were the worst in four years.[4][16] The total attendance was reported at 670,000;[17] the festival still lost $12 million.[18] There were two reported deaths.[19][20][21]

In 2003, the band Triumph released a DVD of their US Festival performance, Live at the US Festival. In 2011 Shout! Factory announced plans to release a series of live concert DVDs from the US Festival. The first two of these releases, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, were released November 15, 2011. The third DVD release from Shout! Factory was Quiet Riot, released on March 27, 2012.

On September 18, 2012, Shout! Factory released The English Beat: Live At The US Festival, ’82 & ’83 on CD/DVD.[22]

On November 19, 2013, Icon Television Music released The US Festival 1983 Days 1-3 on iTunes. This is the only US Festival release authorized by Steve Wozniak and the Unuson Corporation.

Judas Priest's 30-year anniversary release of Screaming for Vengeance included a DVD with footage of their set from their 1983 appearance.

• List of historic rock festivals

• Warren, Jr., Jim C. (July 1982). "'Us' Festival Will Feature Music Sept. 3-5 in San Bernardino - 250,000 Expected at Concert and Technology Fair" (PDF). Silicon Gulch Gazette. Computer Faire, Woodside, CA, USA (30): 1, 3, 16. Retrieved January 15, 2020.</ref>

• Steve Wozniak's US Festivals site
• Softalk magazine's 1982 article on the festival
• Video coverage of U2s set May 30, 1983