# US Festival
The US Festival was a pair of privately financed music and technology festivals held at Glen Helen Regional Park near Devore, in [San Bernardino County, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-bernardino-county-california), on September 3–5, 1982, and on May 28–30 and June 4, 1983.[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) Apple Computer co-founder [Steve Wozniak](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-wozniak) conceived, organized, and personally funded both editions through his corporation Unuson, an acronym for "Unite Us In Song"; the name was pronounced as the word "us," not as the initials U-S.[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) • [2](https://lamag.com/news/us-festival-photos/) The 1982 edition carried a budget of $12.5 million,[3](https://www.loudersound.com/features/us-festival-1983) and the 1983 edition secured its performers for an estimated $18 million,[4](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/27/Crowds-arrive-for-US-festival/6289422856000/) but neither came close to breaking even, and the festival ended after 1983.[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Editions | September 3–5, 1982; May 28–30 and June 4, 1983[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) |
| Venue | Glen Helen Regional Park, Devore, San Bernardino County, California[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) |
| Organization | Founded and financed by Steve Wozniak and Unuson; Bill Graham involved in 1982; Barry Fey the principal promoter partner in 1983[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) |
| 1982 budget | $12.5 million[3](https://www.loudersound.com/features/us-festival-1983) |
| 1983 production | Performers secured for an estimated $18 million; 432-foot stage; 400,000-watt sound system[4](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/27/Crowds-arrive-for-US-festival/6289422856000/) |
| Headliner fees | David Bowie and Van Halen, $1.5 million each, then a record for a single performance[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/) • [6](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/there-are-no-rules-eddie-van-halen-the-life-and-times-of-a-guitar-god) |
| Attendance | Over 400,000 across three days in 1982; an estimated 650,000 over the 1983 rock days, about 300,000 of them on Heavy Metal Day[7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1982/CB-1982-09-18.pdf) • [8](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/31/The-body-of-a-young-man-was-found-in/1119423201600/) • [9](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/30/300000-people-drugs-and-rock-n-roll/5764423115200/) |
| Outcome | An estimated $4 million loss in 1982; Unuson acknowledged a loss of up to $10 million from 1983[10](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/04/About-45000-country-music-fans-picnicked-and-relaxed-in/9782423547200/) • [11](https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1983/07/18/Steve-Wozniak-the-wealthy-computer-whiz-turned-rock-promoter-faces-a/8300427348800/) |
## Origin and purpose
Wozniak, flush with wealth from the first wave of personal computing, planned the festival for a full year before the 1982 edition, saying he wanted to assemble first-rate rock acts and "celebrate the concept of US and the '80s and working together."[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/) He set up Unuson to produce the event and hired the concert promoter Bill Graham for 1982; for the 1983 edition the veteran promoter Barry Fey was the principal partner.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/) • [1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) Wozniak declared that profits were beside the point: "We just wanted to do everything the way it should be done."[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/)
The site was a 500-acre park in a mountain pass about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, whose natural bowl was transformed into one of the world's largest outdoor amphitheaters.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/) • [13](https://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/computerFaire/SiliconGulchGazette/30_Jul82.pdf)
## The 1982 festival
The first US Festival ran over [Labor Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/labor-day) weekend, September 3–5, 1982, moving through new wave and post-punk, mainstream rock, and a Sunday that featured the [Grateful Dead](https://www.edgepedia.org/grateful-dead), Jackson Browne, and [Fleetwood Mac](https://www.edgepedia.org/fleetwood-mac).[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) The 1982 lineup also included The Police, The Ramones, The Cars, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.[14](https://www.fleetwoodmacnews.com/2008/05/happy-25th-us-festival.html) Contemporary trade reporting put attendance at over 400,000 across the three days.[7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1982/CB-1982-09-18.pdf) A Washington Post reporter covering the event counted more than 170,000 fans on the Saturday alone, spread across a 57-acre amphitheater facing a 250-foot stage.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/)
**Technology exhibit.** Alongside the music, Wozniak staged a 35-acre computer and technology exhibit under five air-conditioned tents, drawing 140 firms including Atari, Mattel Electronics, Maxell, and Hughes Aircraft.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/) Organizers invested $10,000 in a two-way video hookup with Moscow, allowing about 200 people in a studio to view a live simulcast of the festival; the first use of this U.S.-Soviet "Space Bridge" is noted as a milestone of the 1982 event.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/) • [15](https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/the-us-festival-1982) Wozniak later said the festival was the first concert in the United States to use a large Diamond Vision video screen and to place speakers partway into the audience to balance sound over a larger area.[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/)
## The 1983 festival
The second edition ran over [Memorial Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/memorial-day) weekend, May 28–30, 1983, followed by a country-music day on June 4, with each day given a musical theme.[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) New Wave Day featured [Oingo Boingo](https://www.edgepedia.org/oingo-boingo), the [Stray Cats](https://www.edgepedia.org/stray-cats), Divinyls, Wall of Voodoo, The English Beat, Men at Work, INXS, and a headlining set by The Clash.[14](https://www.fleetwoodmacnews.com/2008/05/happy-25th-us-festival.html) Heavy Metal Day stacked Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Triumph, Scorpions, and headliners Van Halen.[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/) Memorial Day itself closed with David Bowie, making his first U.S. concert appearance in five years, after Stevie Nicks, Joe Walsh, U2, Berlin, and the Pretenders.[4](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/27/Crowds-arrive-for-US-festival/6289422856000/) The country day featured Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Alabama, Emmylou Harris, and Hank Williams Jr.[10](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/04/About-45000-country-music-fans-picnicked-and-relaxed-in/9782423547200/)
**Production scale.** Performers were secured for an estimated $18 million and played on a 432-foot stage surrounded by huge screens and a 400,000-watt sound system.[4](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/27/Crowds-arrive-for-US-festival/6289422856000/) Bowie and [Van Halen](https://www.edgepedia.org/van-halen) were each paid $1.5 million, a fee that entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest ever for a single performance.[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/) • [6](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/there-are-no-rules-eddie-van-halen-the-life-and-times-of-a-guitar-god) Van Halen's fee rose from an agreed $1 million to $1.5 million through a most-favored-nations clause (contract term guaranteeing pay equal to the highest-paid performer) once Bowie's price was set.[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/)
**Attendance and conditions.** Heavy Metal Day drew a sellout crowd of about 300,000, double the opening day, in temperatures in the 90s under eye-watering smog; the three rock days totaled at least 650,000 people by sheriff's estimates.[9](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/30/300000-people-drugs-and-rock-n-roll/5764423115200/) • [8](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/31/The-body-of-a-young-man-was-found-in/1119423201600/) SPIN's oral history records a record-setting 670,000 for the 1983 festival.[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/) The country day, by contrast, drew about 45,000 picnicking fans, and sheriff's deputies made only six arrests there against more than 130 arrests, most drug-related, over the rock weekend, in which two concertgoers died.[10](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/04/About-45000-country-music-fans-picnicked-and-relaxed-in/9782423547200/) • [8](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/31/The-body-of-a-young-man-was-found-in/1119423201600/)
**The Clash.** The band's May 28 set was its last performance with co-founder and guitarist [Mick Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/mick-jones-the-clash-guitarist).[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/) Paid $500,000, the band protested when promoters withdrew from an agreement to give a share of the money to charity, held an impromptu press conference, and took the stage two hours late under a banner reading "The Clash Not for Sale" after a compromise donation was reached.[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/)
## Finances and aftermath
The economics never worked. Wozniak lost an estimated $4 million on the 1982 festival, and before the 1983 edition he said 800,000 tickets had to be sold to break even; a week before the event, fewer than 250,000 of the 900,000 available tickets had been sold.[10](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/04/About-45000-country-music-fans-picnicked-and-relaxed-in/9782423547200/) • [4](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/27/Crowds-arrive-for-US-festival/6289422856000/) Although an estimated 650,000 attended the rock days, a ticket official said paid attendance was far lower.[10](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/04/About-45000-country-music-fans-picnicked-and-relaxed-in/9782423547200/) In July 1983 Unuson acknowledged a loss of up to $10 million from the second festival, and Wozniak faced a potential $25 million total exposure, including a $10 million lawsuit from Entertainment Travel Service and a $5 million suit from food vendors.[11](https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1983/07/18/Steve-Wozniak-the-wealthy-computer-whiz-turned-rock-promoter-faces-a/8300427348800/)
Wozniak nonetheless spoke of a third festival in 1984 to coincide with the Los Angeles Olympics, saying "We've proven we have a terrific product. I still want to see it pay its own way," but no third edition took place and the festival ended after 1983.[11](https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1983/07/18/Steve-Wozniak-the-wealthy-computer-whiz-turned-rock-promoter-faces-a/8300427348800/) • [1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/)
## Legacy
More than 100 hours of professional multi-camera performance and audience footage were recorded across the two festivals, later released in official programs such as the sanctioned US Festival '83 Days 1–3 releases.[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/) • [16](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/us-festival-1983---day-1/umc.cmc.1w2hwxioz9n85ghbogh91ddoo) Writers have argued the event deserves recognition as a forerunner of later American mega-festivals such as Coachella, Stagecoach, and [Lollapalooza](https://www.edgepedia.org/lollapalooza), even though it is often left out of that lineage.[5](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/) The essential lesson drawn by retrospective accounts is that a heavily financed festival can draw several hundred thousand people, function spectacularly, and still be economically impossible for one individual to repeat.[1](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/)
## References
1. [US Festival 1982–1983: Silicon Valley Builds a Rock Utopia, RetroForge Records](https://retroforgerecords.com/festivals/us-festival-1982-1983/)
2. [It Was Spectacular, It Was Doomed: A Look Back (In Photos) at The US Festival, LAmag](https://lamag.com/news/us-festival-photos/)
3. [The story of the US Festival and the historic day heavy metal killed new wave, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/features/us-festival-1983)
4. [Crowds arrive for US festival, UPI Archives, May 27, 1983](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/27/Crowds-arrive-for-US-festival/6289422856000/)
5. [The US Festival, 40 Years Later: An Oral History, SPIN, May 29, 2023](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2023/05/us-festival-40th-anniversary-oral-history/)
6. ["There are no rules. You have 12 notes...": Eddie Van Halen, the life and times of a guitar god, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/there-are-no-rules-eddie-van-halen-the-life-and-times-of-a-guitar-god)
7. [Cash Box, September 18, 1982](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1982/CB-1982-09-18.pdf)
8. [The body of a young man was found in..., UPI Archives, May 31, 1983](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/31/The-body-of-a-young-man-was-found-in/1119423201600/)
9. [300,000 people, drugs and rock 'n' roll, UPI Archives, May 30, 1983](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/30/300000-people-drugs-and-rock-n-roll/5764423115200/)
10. [About 45,000 country music fans picnicked and relaxed in..., UPI Archives, June 4, 1983](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/04/About-45000-country-music-fans-picnicked-and-relaxed-in/9782423547200/)
11. [Steve Wozniak, the wealthy computer whiz-turned-rock promoter, faces a..., UPI Archives, July 18, 1983](https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1983/07/18/Steve-Wozniak-the-wealthy-computer-whiz-turned-rock-promoter-faces-a/8300427348800/)
12. [Woodstock Without Spirit, The Washington Post, September 5, 1982](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/06/woodstock-without-spirit/e1ebead3-c632-4b9d-89bd-9600f32fc3f8/)
13. [An Event Whose Time Has Come, Silicon Gulch Gazette, July 30, 1982](https://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/computerFaire/SiliconGulchGazette/30_Jul82.pdf)
14. [Happy 25th US Festival!, Fleetwood Mac News, 2008](https://www.fleetwoodmacnews.com/2008/05/happy-25th-us-festival.html)
15. [The US Festival 1982, Concert Archives](https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/the-us-festival-1982)
16. [US Festival 1983 – Day 1, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/us-festival-1983---day-1/umc.cmc.1w2hwxioz9n85ghbogh91ddoo)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Music institutions and events › Music festivals › Named music festivals › North American named festivals › Major multi-genre destination festivals*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license