It was August in the Bay Area in the year 1985. I was 13, almost 14. I was a HUGE metalhead. In 1985 the three albums I listened to most this year were Iron Maiden "Live After Death", Metallica "Ride the Lighting", and Anthrax "Spreading the Disease".
I lived in Los Gatos, California. A nice, sleepy place to grow up. Also, a nice place to get bored and angry... the breeding ground of the suburban metalhead.
Every year, at the Oakland Stadium, Bill Graham Presents put on a GIANT day long concert called Day on the Green. My brother had been to several and I'd always wanted to go.
This was my year. I was a good kid. The parents trusted me, but more importantly, they trusted a certain subset of my friends from the swim team. Krista Bindewald, Jason Starr, and Mitch French allowed my stupid 13 year old self to tag along to this event which would forever change my entertainment priorities.
DAY ON THE GREEN 1985!
We get into Oakland and park. Hang out in the parking lot for a while taking in all the sights and sounds. It was Heavy Metal Parking Lot! So many mullets. So many denim jackets. So many concert t-shirts as well as the debauchery that was typical of these parking lot events.
Finally, we enter the venue. It's the huge stadium where the Oakland A's play.
The opening act was Victory. Remember them? No? You're not alone. Totally forgettable band.
Next up was Yngwie Malmsteen. The Danish shredder. I owned a couple of his albums. He's an incredibly impressive technical player, but I'd really rather listen to what is obviously his biggest influence, Richie Blackmore. I enjoyed it because I had never seen anyone play a guitar in that fashion ever, but then again, this was the second band I'd ever seen perform at a big rock show.
Third band... the reason I am here... Four guys in jeans, ratty t-shirts and denim jackets walk on stage. The crowd is unmoved. A couple "check checks", some chucky strums of the strings, then CREEPING DEATH! METALLICA! I lost my fucking mind. They ripped through about a 45 minute set playing all the greats from Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning as well as their soon to be famous cover of Am I Evil. During Creeping Death, hearing 70,000 people shouting "DIE! DIE! DIE!" along with James Hetfield was downright terrifying and exhilarating. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. I was exhausted after their set. It was just that intense. Nothing the rest of this day was going to top this.
If you look up videos of Cliff Burton performing, the number one video that comes up is Metallica performing "For Whom The Bell Tolls" from this very concert!
Fourth band, Y&T. Remember them? If you're of a certain age, you'll remember their annoying hit "Summertime Girls" which, of course they played. Again, being a Bay Area kid of the 80s, I was of course well aware of their music. I actually really dug their albums Black Tiger and Mean Streak before I was introduced to Maiden, Priest, Motorhead and Metallica. They're a good live band, I just wasn't into them anymore. (I would see them again a year later in San Jose when a friend won tickets.)
Fifth band. Ugh. Ratt. I was transitioning out of the glam metal stuff. Motley Crue jumped the shark with Home Sweet Home and Smokin' In The Boys Room. Ratt was another of that ilk that I had given up on. They're good performers and Warren DiMartini is a motherfucker of a guitar player, but I was pretty much done with their brand of music. I wanted more intense, more metal, more angry music.
Final band of the evening... THE SCORPIONS! I was a huge Scorpions fan. This was kind of the beginning of the end of this band for me. It was the World Wide Live tour after the Love At First Sting album. Rock You Like A Hurricane. Yeah, that tour. I loved that album as well as Animal Magnetism and Blackout... especially Blackout. I still listen to that one to this day!
Simply put, The Scorpions were fantastic. Consummate performers and really good players. When I listen to them now, I always laugh a fair amount because their lyrics would fit nicely in the high school poetry anthology under the section "Lovesick, whiny teenagers". I was one of those at this point in my life, so I totally related to it. Now it just makes me laugh.
Regardless, they were great! Big light show. Fireworks. Giant drum solo and ripping guitar solos. I was enthralled for every second of their set. I've never seen them since and honestly, probably wouldn't go even when they do come around the next time. Too much separation between that era of the band that I still love and the sappy, power ballad warriors they turned into.
We get back to San Jose super late. The parents were asleep.
When they asked me in the morning how the show was, I believe my response was, "WHAT?!"
I can't even estimate how many shows I've been to since that day in August 1985, but it's in the hundreds for sure. I was hooked!
Comments