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Thread: Monsters Of Rock 1988 - L.A.

  1. #1

    Monsters Of Rock 1988 - L.A.

    No none cares, I get that, but I was there and I just came across this four minutes of video when the crowd goes into a near riot.

    I was right behind them and only made it up to the front when Dokken was playing. Seemed to take forever because it was extremely wild. I'm kinda short and don't have a lot of girth to fight my way through thousands of people, but I did get my hands on that barrier, momentarily.

    They had to turn the power off for Metallica, that's why they are sitting on the drum riser. They pulled up the gates, as you can see, and that's the only reason I got down there as they could not keep us all out. I remember getting to the bottom of the arena and it looked like a herd of buffaloes, like in Dances With Wolves, all I could see was dust and shadows of people rushing the stage.

    As a young fool, I went into that melee. I just had to be there.

    Seeing it from a different perspective, after all these years, is so bizarre. I do remember the passing of the chairs up to the front, I don't remember the throwing of them. The passing happened right when the Scorps took the stage, I guess the people down there were tired of stepping on them. It had already started long before that, I see now.

    By the time the Scorps came on I was long gone from that disaster happening on the floor. I just remember seeing that flood of broken chairs towards the front, as I looked from up above, where I was safe, along with the food fight that the wind currents turned into a shit storm of food flying around.

    Never seen a show like that and will never forget it, even if my memory is a bit faulty. But I remember how big Metallica was becoming at the time, I remember how messed up this day was. The craziest show I've ever seen, and a doozy it was. Van Halen really killed it that night, opening with Summer Nights, very fitting.



    ETA: OK, looks like I found the whole show. I'll throw embed it in but I have only seen the first few seconds, so see if it's the real deal. Looks like it.

    Though it's just a memory, some memories last forever. Even if Neil hates Lakeside park that lyric stays with me. It's all I have, are memories.

    Last edited by TheLoony; 04-17-2016 at 07:12 AM.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  2. #2
    I remember that tour, because it didn't play Cleveland, supposedly because they had just installed new grass at Municipal Stadium. So the Northeastern Ohio date ended up being at the Rubber Bowl in Akron. Needless to say, my parents weren't going to let my 15 year old self spend the entire day and evening in Akron, so I didn't get to go.

    BTW, if I remember correctly, it was one of the Monsters Of Rock tour where the members of Dokken knew it was "all over". I can't remember which show it was, but they were apparently on their way to one of the venue on one of the dates of that tour, when they had to pull the limo over so Don Dokken and George Lynch could have a fistfight. Like 15 years later, each band member was interviewed individually on the Metal Sludge website, and each told essentially the same story.

  3. #3
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    You guys are lucky hundreds of people weren't trampled. Looks like a nightmare made in hell.

  4. #4
    Sorry, but I forgot to add the real reason for this thread, besides the fact that this footage exists. I was there and know damned well there were no cameras filming it so it was rather unexpected to find this the other night.

    I was standing on chairs to see over the audience in front of me in a sort of safe area, then after Harvester of Sorrow I decided to jump into the fray. At 5'7" and 140 pounds, this is what those in the business call a really bad decision.

    I was fighting for my life, and to get up front like a freaking fool(obviously) and really didn't know what happened. I know the power went off but why, and that is the question I forgot to ask in my OP, but it seems my answers are in the video. It happened in the middle of Whiplash, so I don't think it was intentional, which was my impression at the time but I was getting my ass kicked by thousands of people at that moment and being a bit drunk and tired from a drive that morning into LA from Vegas. I probably wasn't as sober as I'd like to have been nowadays when I'm into this rather weird thing of remembering the shows I have seen.

    IOW, I went into a fray and just as I had entered, that happened. I remember not standing on my feet for more than a few seconds at a time as my feet were not touching the ground yet I was held up by the people around me and seeing all kinds of detritus underneath me, sandals, shoes, hats, clothes, you name it.

    So what does the guy say when this happens and he's talking to the audience? I can't catch what he's saying, it's either you guys are fucking crazy and we had to turn the power off or the most likely explanation is it just happened, but I can't tell.

    I'm Artie Fufkin, with no timing, but I don't think if I had gotten in there earlier I could have gotten up on that barrier. As the full video shows, early in Creeping Death, the first song, the audience starts emptying from the decks and that was the all she wrote. Those gates you see in the four minute video were ripped up long before they made it to the front.

    Ok, there's that. The other question I wanted to ask, which is almost, but not quite, entirely unrelated.

    What the hell happened at another festival, the US fest in '83. I remember it as something happened at the end or after Van Halen played that night but the video shows nothing and I can't find any reference to a riot or anything close to that, any kind of disturbance at the end or after the show.

    All right, I fell asleep the other night and never finished that awful sounding video, because it sounds lousy mainly but sleep does has it's advantages and sometimes is much needed, so it happens. I'm going to finish the video and see what else I may have missed, even though I was there.

    Ok, no wonder I have no clue what they played at the end, it was Last Caress(Misfits) and Am I Evil(Diamonhead), neither of which I knew of at the time nor could I remember because I was getting pummeled. The last song, I can't even tell. I might be able to tell after repeated viewings, but I am clueless after hearing that for the first time. Well, second.

    I can't believe I survived that. It wasn't much better when Dokken was playing and I actually did make it to the barricade, but I only stayed there for a few seconds and bolted as everyone else was much crazier than I was.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I remember that tour, because it didn't play Cleveland, supposedly because they had just installed new grass at Municipal Stadium. So the Northeastern Ohio date ended up being at the Rubber Bowl in Akron. Needless to say, my parents weren't going to let my 15 year old self spend the entire day and evening in Akron, so I didn't get to go.

    BTW, if I remember correctly, it was one of the Monsters Of Rock tour where the members of Dokken knew it was "all over". I can't remember which show it was, but they were apparently on their way to one of the venue on one of the dates of that tour, when they had to pull the limo over so Don Dokken and George Lynch could have a fistfight. Like 15 years later, each band member was interviewed individually on the Metal Sludge website, and each told essentially the same story.
    Dokken was a mess all the way through their career. I'm not surprised they had a fight, I'd only be surprised if they didn't have more fights. Love to see that footage but I'm grateful someone decided to not only record this Metallica bit, but kept it long enough for it to be released onto the net.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    You guys are lucky hundreds of people weren't trampled. Looks like a nightmare made in hell.
    Best show I've ever seen? Not likely. Most memorable experience? Most likely. Nightmare in hell? Well, tell that to me thirty years ago. I would not have listened, and I was in no way prepared to go into that.

    Even people who were there in those days forget how big Metallica was, and was becoming at that time, pre-internet. I don't forget that and it plays into the experience.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  7. #7
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    I do care! I went to this too and it was a great 80s music memory. They played at Chief's Arrowhead stadium in KC, MO when I went. A few random thoughts.

    * I drove up in my '79 dark blue Trans Am with my girlfriend and I remember listening to the newest Rush album at the time "Hold Your Fire" and sort of thinking it was a dull wash of tunes that all sounded alike. My opinion of it has improved over the years though the dull wash of similar sound from track to track remains.

    * We deliberately skipped Kingdom Come's opening set because we thought they were a shit Zep ripoff.

    * It was before Metallica released "Justice" so they were still kinda less known, even though they were about to break BIG! I remember casually walking up on the lawn and watching them from about the 20th row. That sure wouldn't have been an option at one of their shows a year later!

    * The Scorpions kicked butt and took names.

    * Dokken was pretty good.

    * VanHagar was pretty good too.

    * We were subjected to the new Guns N Roses album (Appetite) over the PA during a stadium wide food fight! I had to admit there were some great hooks there, even if I couldn't stand the singer!
    Last edited by Sean; 04-20-2016 at 05:19 PM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Sean View Post
    * We deliberately skipped Kingdom Come's opening set because we thought they were a shit Zep ripoff.

    * It was before Metallica released "Justice" so they were still kinda less known, even though they were about to break BIG! I remember casually walking up on the lawn and watching them from about the 20th row. That sure wouldn't have been an option at one of their shows a year later!

    * The Scorpions kicked butt and took names.

    * Dokken was pretty good.

    * VanHagar was pretty good too.

    * We were subjected to the new Guns N Roses album (Appetite) over the PA during a stadium wide food fight! I had to admit there were some great hooks there, even if I couldn't stand the singer!
    1. So glad someone else said that. Kingdom Clone just sucked and I'm glad I skipped them.

    2. Metallica was "the shit" before ...and Justice. I remember the buzz when Master was coming out, right before I graduated from High School. Word of mouth is a amazing thing and why do you think I went to this show? Wasn't to see anyone else on the bill although they were not disliked.

    3.Yes, they did.

    4. Van Halen opened with Summer Nights, and it was a summer night, and by that time it wasn't so hot and pretty damned nice. They were rather good that night but I was so tired from the frive in and knowing I had to drive home for work the next morning that I skipped out after Alex's drum solo.

    5. Have no clue what the music in between was.

    On the drive home, I got a speeding ticket for flying past a cop near Barstow, and that's all I got considering there was a pot pipe and unopened beers laying all around the back of the car because my friend is a fool. Only cost me about $150 or so. Upon getting back to Vegas, I decided to take surface roads instead of the freeway and the McDonalds had burned down causing me to detour.

    That just had to happen.

    Hollywood couldn't make that crap up.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  9. #9
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    I too split in the middle of VanHagar. It was a long, hot day and I had an hour drive ahead of me.

  10. #10
    I just ran into a guy who was at the same show I was. He was twice my size, at least he is now, and he had 10'th row seats and bolted when the spit hit the fan. Me, in my infinite wisdom, decided to jump into that fray.

    I do believe he was the smarter of the two of us.

    Wiki says this:

    In Los Angeles, the power was shut off during Metallica's set because fans were aggressively rushing the stage. The members of Metallica sat on the drum riser and watched. After a short break, Metallica resumed their set. Fifteen people were arrested.[1]

    Ok, dammit, did it get shut off? Or did a circuit just blow? I can't hear what the guy is saying to the crowd in that video. It looks to be something just blew as it happened in the middle of a song but that actually means nothing. I had always thought the power got turned off but I was fighting for my life down there and can't trust my memory.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

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