September 3, 1982: The Us Competition, an extravagant music and know-how occasion staged by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, kicks off in California. The pageant prices $8 million to stage, and boasts appearances from among the largest musical acts of the day.
It’s a wild enterprise for Woz, who’s on hiatus from Apple after surviving a severe aircraft crash in 1981.
Us Competition: A change of course for Woz
Quite than returning to Apple as quickly as he may after the crash, Wozniak pursued a wide range of different pursuits. He even attended engineering lessons on the College of California, Berkeley, beneath the title “Rocky Raccoon Clarke,” apparently to keep away from drawing consideration to himself.
With a private fortune of $116 million, Apple’s lovable geek put collectively a far bolder enterprise with the Us Competition. It was an try to stage Woz’s personal model of Woodstock.
The title “Us Festival” was not quick for “United States,” however reasonably the collective time period for everybody. It was quick for “Unite Us in Song.” It was speculated to have a good time the passing of the “Me” Decade that had been the Nineteen Seventies. Whether or not purposely or not, it additionally referred to Wozniak as a brand new household man. His spouse went into labor the night time earlier than the pageant opened.
Us Competition showcases prime bands
To carry his pageant to life, Woz enlisted legendary rock promoter Invoice Graham (whose title is used for San Francisco’s Invoice Graham Auditorium, the place Apple sometimes held occasions over time). Graham crammed the Us Competition card with rock luminaries starting from The Grateful Useless and The Ramones to The Kinks and Fleetwood Mac.
Due to the size of the pageant, many artists charged obscene quantities of cash to carry out.
“I would see the money going out — my God, so much more money than these bands have ever been paid!” recalled Us Competition controller Carlos Harvey years later.
Woz throws a large celebration
Graham stored Wozniak on a good leash, however allowed him to decide on one progressive nation singer for the occasion. Woz went with Jerry Jeff Walker, the singer who scored a Sixties hit with the tune “Mr. Bojangles.”
Wozniak insisted that the occasion not happen in a stadium, however reasonably occur open air like Woodstock. The location, the 500-acre Glen Helen Regional Park in Devore, California, was chosen because of this.
It was an unlimited enviornment — with 1,800 porta-potties, a few helipads and one of many largest staging areas ever assembled on the time. It additionally allowed attendees to camp at some stage in the occasion.
Us Competition: Know-how and music collectively
Woz being Woz, know-how was additionally an enormous a part of the Us Competition. It was described as a three-day “celebration of contemporary music and technology.”
Robert Moog attended to offer an illustration of his well-known synthesizer. A “Sensadome” provided a 360-degree multimedia mild present. And jazz legend Herbie Hancock led a dialogue in regards to the Apple II/Alpha Syntauri music system.
Woz’s standing as Apple co-founder was signified by a big hot-air balloon, emblazoned with the Apple brand, which floated by the primary staging space. A number of members of the unique Macintosh crew attended the weekend pageant, though Steve Jobs didn’t.
Reminiscences gained, cash misplaced
Steve Wozniak thought of the Us Competition successful, regardless that the occasion misplaced a large sum of money. Though the viewers for all three days proved spectacular, a big proportion of people that turned up by no means paid. They both used counterfeit tickets or just climbed over the perimeter fences.
That didn’t cease Woz from staging a follow-up Us Competition the subsequent 12 months. This time, his losses got here to $13 million. At that time, he referred to as a cease to his concert-promoting days.
“If I do this for another 55 years, I’m in trouble,” Wozniak mentioned on the time.
Did you attend the Us Competition? Go away your feedback beneath.