DVD, Festivals — November 20, 2013 at 12:05 am

U2, The Clash, INXS, English Beat and more featured on ‘US Festival 1983’ DVD

US Festival 1983 overhead shot

Thirty years after drawing an alleged 670,000 music fans into the middle of nowhere in California, the 1983 installment of the US Festival — a four-day event over Memorial Day Weekend that year — will be commemorated next month with a DVD concert film featuring performances by U2, The Clash, English Beat, INXS, Divinyls and more.

“US Festival 1983: Days 1-3,” already out digitally via iTunes, will be issued on DVD on Dec. 3 by MVD Entertainment as an officially sanctioned released by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s UNUSON Corporation, which put on both the Labor Day 1982 festival and its 1983 follow-up.

The new film collects 23 performances from 14 acts spread over the fest’s New Wave, Heavy Metal and Rock days (the Country Day is excluded entirely), with performances by Men at Work, Stray Cats, Berlin, Judas Priest, Triumph, Missing Persons, Quarterflash and more.

Below, check out the tracklist and video of U2’s performance of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (via Rolling Stone).

 

Video: U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” at US Festival 1983

 

US Festival 1983

Tracklist: “US Festival 1983: Days 1-3”

1. INXS, “The One Thing”
2. Divinyls, “Boys in Town”
3. English Beat, “Jeanette”
4. Stray Cats, “Rock This Town”
5. Stray Cats, “Please Make Up Your Mind”
6. Men At Work, “It’s A Mistake”
7. Men At Work, “Who Can It Be Now”
8. The Clash, “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
9. Judas Priest, “Breaking The Law”
10. Judas Priest, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”
11. Triumph, “Magic Power”
12. Triumph, “Fight The Good Fight”
13. Triumph, “Lay It On The Line”
14. Triumph, “A World Of Fantasy”
15. Scorpions, “The Zoo”
16. Scorpions, “Can’t Get Enough”
17. Berlin, “Sex”
18. Quarterflash, “Find Another Fool”
19. U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
20. U2, “The Electric Co.”
21. Missing Persons, “Words”
22. Stevie Nicks, “Stand Back”
23. Stevie Nicks, “Outside The Rain”

 

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42 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for posting this! Had no idea this was coming out. Wish there was more of the show, or at least New Wave day, but will take it.

    One question, though. Why so much Triumph? Was anyone really asking for that? :)

    • There is a whole DVD of Triumph’s set from the festival that was released a decade ago.And it turns out the sets of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings are available on DVD also. It would make the most sense to put out a 2 to 2.5 hour dvd highlighting each day. This release doesn’t seem really thought out very well.

  2. Only one track from the Mick Jones last set with The Clash? And where are Oingo Boingo and Bowie????????

  3. So they are going to piece meal it, sorry not wasting my money on crap. Release the whole thing or it will be seen “free” on the internets.

  4. Richard Rider

    Well, at least they had the good sense to forego the Country Day altogether. :)

    Pretty sure I remember Boingo and Flock of Seagulls performing at this festival. But I agree that 3 Triumph tracks is questionable, to say the least. Still……. nice to see this getting some form of an official release.

  5. no b52’s or boingo. 4 tracks by triumph (whoever the hell they are). PASS.

  6. where are you all seeing 3 triumph tracks?

    I’m seeing FOUR!

  7. really sad so few tracks will only be released on dvd – what a wasted opportunity…

  8. Agreed…I would buy it for the Oingo Boingo performance alone!

  9. Wooh! Triumph! WTF!?!

  10. I loved Triumph! Rik Emmett was extremely talented. I agree though they should’ve only added 2 and added Oingo Boingo for 2 tracks. Although, I didn’t know Boingo was at this festival. One of the best bands of all time!

  11. I am sure the Edge looks back on this footage with longing for the days when he had hair.

  12. This looks like shit.

  13. I’ll have to check my program, but I’m pretty sure Wall of Voodoo performed also. Oh well, at least there’s plenty of TRIUMPH!!

    • These comments are cracking me up! From now on I’m going to stop saying “MORE COWBELL!” and start saying “MORE TRIUMPH!”

  14. If publishing companies & what’s left of major record labels can get the entire Amnesty International concerts out in 1 large DVD set then surely the parties involved with the US Festival could either put out the whole thing in 1 package or at least put them out in individual day packages. From what I understand most bands only played 30-40 minute sets anyway which could easily fit onto 4-6 DVD’s per day and put any extra off-stage material onto a seperate DVD as bonuses. And call me naive but I think the Apple Corporation could probably cover the upfront costs.
    Not to mention this festival would be a shoo-in for the Library Of Congress!

  15. A few years ago you could find most of the performances on YouTube, so the video is out there. Alot of it has been pulled recently…

    I loved Berlin’s performance, especially “Tell Me Why”. Guess it’s back to obscurity for most of the footage :(

    • yea, why put it out for free, when you can package it and sell it.

      • but Alex, they aren’t packaging and selling that footage so yes, bootleggers upload!

        It would have been appropriate to release a 4DVD set documenting each of the four days of the festival.

        Unfortunately, this looks like it’s going to be one of those $10 or less discount bargain bin titles.

    • I just watched Missing Persons complete performance on YouTube. Hadn’t seen all of that before. EXCELLENT. Terry Bozio shines.

  16. they aint fooling us. This is being put out by the Triumph people, and the U2 stuff is like bonus footage.

    Triumph needs your money !

  17. What? No Van Halen performances?

  18. Steve Stubbs

    Triumph were the organisers favourite band so I think this is the reason why they have 4 songs on the DVD .

  19. I was SO excited to hear about this release now SO disappointed to see the play list!!!! I was like 13 at that concert and attended the 83 New Wave Day. TOTALLY agree with the wise comments above: Triumph? REALLY? Wasted opportunity to really document the whole event on each individual day. Not going to buy it now….

  20. Hector Herrera Jr

    I was in the Front Row for Both 1982 and 83 Us Festivals. I had the time of my life !!!!

  21. I remember listening to the US Festival on the radio “live” back in the day and heard great music from people not on the dvd, such as Joe Walsh, Van Halen & Motley Crue. What gives? A fun but not complete dvd.

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