As we wait for the release of the delayed “US Generation” documentary — not to mention next week’s English Beat CD/DVD combo Live at the US Festival — it’s worth marking today’s 30th anniversary of the first of two giant multi-day US Festivals, envisioned by their organizer, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, as “Woodstock West.”
On Sept. 3, 1982, on a blistering 110-degree heat at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernadino County, Calif., the first US Festival opened with a classic punk/New Wave lineup that included Gang of Four, Ramones, The English Beat, Oingo Boingo, The B-52s, Talking Heads and The Police. Over the next two days things skewed a bit more mainstream, as fans caught The Cars, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac and the Grateful Dead.
Wozniak would reprise the US Festival to even greater success over Memorial Day weekend in 1983 — particularly with its “Heavy Metal Sunday,” which drew more than 300,000 people. The four-day festival featured sets by U2, The Clash, INXS, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings among many others.
To commemorate today’s anniversary, we present, via uploader caioa7x1, the Ramones’ full nine-song set, which they tore through in just over 20 minutes.
Setlist: Ramones, US Festival, San Bernadino, Calif., 9/3/82
1. “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?
2. “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment”
3. “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”
4. “I Wanna Be Sedated”
5. “Beat on the Brat”
6. “The KKK Took My Baby Away”
7. “Here Today Gone Tomorrow”
8. “Chinese Rock”
9. “Teenage Lobotomy”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- The English Beat to release ‘Live! at the US Festival’ CD/DVD in September
- ‘The US Generation’ documentary to mark 30th anniversary of US Festival this Labor Day
LOVE the Ramones!