Metal Day - Part One
As I came to, I felt something poking the small of my back.
Was it a stick? A Wire?
It was something - Fuck. I heard people yelling and screaming, laughing and saying stuff like:
"That was so gnarly man!"
"That was so gnarly man!"
"I'm so fucked up, dude!"
"That was the best fucking show I have ever seen in my life!"
It was dark - I was very disoriented.
I went to sit up and... BAM! Head to metal - not the good kind.
"Fuck!" I shouted as I saw stars.
I laid my head back down hard and as I did I felt gravel dig into the back of my head.
"Owwwwwuuuhhh! SHIT!"
Where the hell was I?
I turned my head sideways and I could see people's feet kicking up gravel in the moonlight as they passed. Also, there were chicken bones everywhere. What the fuck? I remembered eating a bunch of chicken Doug's mom sent with us. We threw them under the van when we were done.
There were lots of people, and they were pumped. The whole place was buzzing with talk and laughter, rebel yells, chicks screaming, and a mixture of metal music blaring from hundreds of car stereos. I heard car doors slamming, ignitions turning, and then a familiar voice, amongst the din.
"Damn, I thought for sure he would be here, Dougie."
That was Paulie. Good sign.
"Me too man, fuck. The last time I saw him, it was right before the Scorpions were about to go on. I was waiting to take a piss in one of those nasty Porto pissers, and he said he was going up front by himself. I was like 'No, dude! Wait' but he was gone!"
Paulie started to unlock the door of the Manalishi, while they were talking. I was under the van.
I was under ... the van?
Now it all started to come back to me.
"HEY! WAIT! Paulie! Paulie, don't start this van, motherfucker! Paulie!"
I scrambled out from under there as fast as I could.
*****
I walked out of the massive crowd of 375,000 people on Metal Day at the US Festival, the day New Wave died, as Van Halen sang 'Happy Trails,' a cappella.
I walked out of the massive crowd of 375,000 people on Metal Day at the US Festival, the day New Wave died, as Van Halen sang 'Happy Trails,' a cappella.
Oh my God, what a day!
By that time, I was so high, I am surprised I was still walking. I was fine, up until about halfway through Van Halen's set. There was something in a joint I smoked with some good people down front, I knew it because I tasted it when I was taking a hit. I had to get the fuck out of there.
I had fought my way down close to the front before the Scorpions took the stage a couple of hours earlier. Standing in the middle of an ocean of people at a heavy metal concert is a one-of-a-kind experience. If you have never tried it, I highly recommend it, everybody should jump in the pile at least once in their life. Making your way up front at a packed concert is not easy, it's an art. It takes balls and determination, and it helps if you love the band.
I had fought my way down close to the front before the Scorpions took the stage a couple of hours earlier. Standing in the middle of an ocean of people at a heavy metal concert is a one-of-a-kind experience. If you have never tried it, I highly recommend it, everybody should jump in the pile at least once in their life. Making your way up front at a packed concert is not easy, it's an art. It takes balls and determination, and it helps if you love the band.
This was different though, this was history. I did not know the magnitude of it at the time, but there was a sense that I was in the middle of something very special, some kind of cosmic shift. You may be thinking to yourself, it was just the chemically enhanced weed I had smoked in the middle of a sweaty mass of people, like a scene out of "Apocalypse Now," but I am telling you, this was history.
This was my Woodstock.
Paulie and I had been jamming in Camarillo with Doug and some other dudes for about a month. We had been contemplating going back home to Nashville, but for now, we would surf in the morning, go to work at the solar factory, and then go practice with the band until 11pm or so. I don't even remember how we found out about the US Festival, but as soon as we found out who the bands were going to be on Metal Day, we bought our tickets.
Memorial Day weekend 1983, San Bernardino, California, Sunday, May 29.
Paulie and I had been jamming in Camarillo with Doug and some other dudes for about a month. We had been contemplating going back home to Nashville, but for now, we would surf in the morning, go to work at the solar factory, and then go practice with the band until 11pm or so. I don't even remember how we found out about the US Festival, but as soon as we found out who the bands were going to be on Metal Day, we bought our tickets.
Memorial Day weekend 1983, San Bernardino, California, Sunday, May 29.
After the New Wave day on Saturday, attended by less than 100,000 nice people, over 350,000 Metal Heads descended on Glen Helen Regional Park to watch...
Quiet Riot
Motley Crue
Triumph
Ozzy Osbourne (First show with Jake E. Lee)
Judas Preist
Scorpions
Annnnnnnnnd...
VANNNN HALENNNNNN!
Eddie and the boys were reportedly being paid $1.5 million, the highest amount ever paid for one performance at the time. Even though Randy Rhoads had stolen my Metal heart, before it was broken the day he died, Eddie was always the man. By this time, I had seen Van Halen at least once on every tour they had ever done. They were our band. They were my band. Ozzy, Triumph, Preist, and the Scorps were the cream of the Metal crop, Quiet Riot and the Crue were interesting young upstarts. This promised to be the best concert I had ever experienced and my hopes were as high as I would be. It didn't hurt that I was going with my badass brother in our badass new, old van, The Green Manalishi.
The plan was: Drive down Saturday afternoon and camp in the parking lot, get a little shit-faced, just a little, then wake up early the next morning, and hit the hill.
The sun was low in the California sky as we came down a long grade of interstate into the valley where the event was being held. A mystical haze permeated the dark blue, pink, and purple sky on that late Saturday afternoon, in San Bernardino. I looked over at Paulie and smiled as the panorama unfolded before our eyes.
Quiet Riot
Motley Crue
Triumph
Ozzy Osbourne (First show with Jake E. Lee)
Judas Preist
Scorpions
Annnnnnnnnd...
VANNNN HALENNNNNN!
Eddie and the boys were reportedly being paid $1.5 million, the highest amount ever paid for one performance at the time. Even though Randy Rhoads had stolen my Metal heart, before it was broken the day he died, Eddie was always the man. By this time, I had seen Van Halen at least once on every tour they had ever done. They were our band. They were my band. Ozzy, Triumph, Preist, and the Scorps were the cream of the Metal crop, Quiet Riot and the Crue were interesting young upstarts. This promised to be the best concert I had ever experienced and my hopes were as high as I would be. It didn't hurt that I was going with my badass brother in our badass new, old van, The Green Manalishi.
The plan was: Drive down Saturday afternoon and camp in the parking lot, get a little shit-faced, just a little, then wake up early the next morning, and hit the hill.
The sun was low in the California sky as we came down a long grade of interstate into the valley where the event was being held. A mystical haze permeated the dark blue, pink, and purple sky on that late Saturday afternoon, in San Bernardino. I looked over at Paulie and smiled as the panorama unfolded before our eyes.
It was fucking MEGA!
There were a couple of lakes around the site, and a sea of humanity sloping up a huge hill, opposite the biggest stage I had ever seen in my life.
New Wave day was in full swing, and this was the most people I had ever seen at a concert.
Little did I know the size of the crowd would triple in less than 24 hours.
"Dude!"
"I know man."
What else could be said? Nothing. Nothing else could be said.
"Where the fuck are we going to park?" Doug said, chewing on a fried chicken leg his mom had packed, jarring us from our mystical, Metal moment. I guess, something else could be said.
Looking over to our left, we saw our campground for the evening: A huge parking area turned into party central. The parking pass came with the tickets, so we were golden. Paulie whipped the Manalishi into a spot next to some dudes on lawn chairs, drinking beer from a huge cooler. They were blasting "Piece of Mind," the new Iron Maiden on their portable stereo.
Oh yeah, this was going to be our kind of hang.
It's hard to describe the hugeness and awesomeness of the scene. We were parked among at least 10,000 other cars, trucks, vans, and campers with their various Metal loving owners, and this was just in our particular section. There was weed for days, and enough alcohol to float a battleship. There was some other stuff going around too, but I did not want to get too gnarly, there was the fucking show of all shows going on tomorrow, and it started early.
"Dude!"
"I know man."
What else could be said? Nothing. Nothing else could be said.
"Where the fuck are we going to park?" Doug said, chewing on a fried chicken leg his mom had packed, jarring us from our mystical, Metal moment. I guess, something else could be said.
Looking over to our left, we saw our campground for the evening: A huge parking area turned into party central. The parking pass came with the tickets, so we were golden. Paulie whipped the Manalishi into a spot next to some dudes on lawn chairs, drinking beer from a huge cooler. They were blasting "Piece of Mind," the new Iron Maiden on their portable stereo.
Oh yeah, this was going to be our kind of hang.
It's hard to describe the hugeness and awesomeness of the scene. We were parked among at least 10,000 other cars, trucks, vans, and campers with their various Metal loving owners, and this was just in our particular section. There was weed for days, and enough alcohol to float a battleship. There was some other stuff going around too, but I did not want to get too gnarly, there was the fucking show of all shows going on tomorrow, and it started early.
I did not want to be Larry Cole! Larry was a guy that used to hang out, and we would see him at shows at Municipal Auditorium. He would be the dude raising total hell outside when we were standing in line, you knew he was totally fucked up on God knows what.
"Heeeeeelllll Yeah Mikey! We gonna ROOOOCCCKKK DUDE!!! Wooooo Hoooooooooo!!!!"
He would go on and on, fucking with people, yelling at girls:
"Heeeeeelllll Yeah Mikey! We gonna ROOOOCCCKKK DUDE!!! Wooooo Hoooooooooo!!!!"
He would go on and on, fucking with people, yelling at girls:
"PARRRRRRTAY BABY!"
We would get to our seats if we were sitting, he would be a few rows down doing the same shit for the whole hour before showtime while everyone waited for the lights to go down. It never failed, about three songs into the first band I would look over and there was Larry, head hanging sideways, or cocked back like he was trying to catch raindrops, with his mouth wide open, totally passed out in his seat. If we were at Starwood Amphitheater or Hermitage Landing, he was out cold on the grass.
So, even though we were in the world's largest party, parking lot, campground, on the night before the biggest Metal show in history, we paced ourselves.
Paulie and I were serious about our drinking, as I'm sure you have seen, but we were more serious about our Metal. We didn't know it at the time, but we were on the verge of a cosmic shift, a turning of the tide, a changing of the strings of life, new drum heads, on the drums of destiny.....
"So this means we only drink beer dudes, no mixing it up. We just smoke weed ok? No fucking blow, or acid, or mushrooms, or any of that shit, got it? If we get with any chicks or anything, we meet back here at 9am and go in together. Tomorrow is going to be too fucking gnarly to waste it!"
We had no idea.
We would get to our seats if we were sitting, he would be a few rows down doing the same shit for the whole hour before showtime while everyone waited for the lights to go down. It never failed, about three songs into the first band I would look over and there was Larry, head hanging sideways, or cocked back like he was trying to catch raindrops, with his mouth wide open, totally passed out in his seat. If we were at Starwood Amphitheater or Hermitage Landing, he was out cold on the grass.
So, even though we were in the world's largest party, parking lot, campground, on the night before the biggest Metal show in history, we paced ourselves.
Paulie and I were serious about our drinking, as I'm sure you have seen, but we were more serious about our Metal. We didn't know it at the time, but we were on the verge of a cosmic shift, a turning of the tide, a changing of the strings of life, new drum heads, on the drums of destiny.....
"So this means we only drink beer dudes, no mixing it up. We just smoke weed ok? No fucking blow, or acid, or mushrooms, or any of that shit, got it? If we get with any chicks or anything, we meet back here at 9am and go in together. Tomorrow is going to be too fucking gnarly to waste it!"
We had no idea.
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