by Ian Carroll
He said ‘Alright, if you think you can throw shit, go for it!’ When you tell people to go for it, they threw everything and the kitchen sink at him! Fucking mud pies! They threw toilet paper.
It got so bad at the end of his set that while ZZ Top’s road crew were changing over, they were so afraid to come out that they were using cymbals as shields! They were holding the cymbals and they were going ‘BING BING BING’.
It was a lot of fun.”
Jay Jay French (Twisted Sister – Guitar)
“One funny thing that sticks in my mind was that there were portable bathrooms where there hook them up to a water supply and it looks like a regular bathroom, even though it’s on wheels.
The bathroom had about four or five stalls in it and regular urinals, but they were just for people in the bands. There were Dio, ZZ Top, Meatloaf, Whitesnake and us. I was sitting in the bathroom on ‘the ole throne’ and then I heard someone come in and sit next to me and I said ‘who’s that next to me?’ and he said ‘it’s Jon Lord’ and I was like ‘how are you doing?’ I was there having a conversation with Jon Lord of Deep Purple on the toilet!! They could probably have sold those stalls for a fortune after the festival, after all the famous bands had come in and dropped a load. So, we finished our conversation and I left, never having even spoke to him face to face. But I actually saw him half hour later and I did say that we’d just had a pretty interesting conversation, which was a very funny thing.
When Meatloaf went on stage, Bob Kulick was playing with him at the time, sporting his bald head, which was way ahead of the times. Meatloaf came on stage and said ‘do you wanna throw something’ and he was nearly buried in the stuff!
I always remember that Whitesnake headlined and that they had helicopters, I won’t forget that! They were definitely making a point that they were headlining.”
Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister – Guitar/Backing Vocals)
“I don’t drink and I don’t do drugs, but I still don’t remember that much.
We went on during the daylight, which was tough for us as we’re used to going on in a dark club or dark hall, to go on in the sunlight it was a bit weird for us.
It was a great show; it was such a good feeling for us, because you don’t have ‘big shows’ like that in the US. It was so new for us and a great feeling. We were up and coming and everyone like us, except for some of those in other bands. They were like ‘what are these fuckin’ idiots doing?’
It was a phenomenal experience and I remember we stayed for the whole night. I remember seeing ZZ Top and Cozy Powell with Whitesnake and his drum solo with the helicopter; it was a great festival and a lot of fun.”
Mark ‘The Animal’ Mendoza (Twisted Sister – Bass)
“It was a really big deal to us, as it was probably this biggest gig that we had done to that date, about 35,000 people or so we’d been told.
It’s always hard opening a show and we’d been told that it was difficult, but we were just glad to get away with not going down badly and getting bottled off.
I do remember Meatloaf getting bottled at that gig.
There was a lot of mud going onto the stage. They were throwing chunks of mud at the band if they didn’t like them.
One the things that made it difficult for us was that we had just come out of making our 3rd album ‘Canterbury’, which had been a difficult album to make. We had introduced a keyboard player and we also had a new drummer and bass player, so we were all still finding our feet. This gig was the first that the keyboard player had done with us, his name was Bob, so that must have been a bit of a shock to him, straight to Donington for you first gig!
Things seemed to go ok but it wasn’t our finest; at least we didn’t die a death.
I remember briefly meeting people backstage like Whitesnake, but not ZZ Top, they kept themselves to themselves in their portakabin.
I do remember that there was a big argument between Meatloaf and Dee Snider and they came into our dressing room so that they could have the argument. There was a big row and I think that they wanted to keep out of the way of their band members, so that they could let off steam at each other and that was quite interesting to hear the two of them, two scary Americans going at each other, face to face.
I did get nervous going to the gig, I can remember someone drove us there and each time you saw signs for Donington, my heart would go as we were getting closer. It’s not far from where I live, it’s probably only an hour or an hour and a halfs drive. We had to leave at some ridiculous time as we were first on at one o’clock in the afternoon, so we were told that we needed to be there for eleven.
I just remember it being a nerve wracking gig and I was worried about how we would be received and I think someone had organised, through the fan club, a banner competition. If you designed your banner and we picked the best one, you’d win a signed album. So there was maybe a dozen big banners in the audience with Diamond Head on and the logo and that was quite exciting to look at and see the support.”
Brian Tatler (Diamond Head – Guitar)
“I did Donington with AC/DC and Twisted Sister.
It was a remarkable festival and a great place to play at, always great promoters.”
Phil Carson (Ex head of Atlantic records)
“The following year I was a guest and I will never forget I was talking to David Coverdale and Ian Paice when a drunk barged in to hospitality area and shouted to David ‘Is it true Tommy Bolin was a Junkie?’ Now Tommy was David’s close friend and band mate who tragically died at a young age and David went white with fury and I had to restrain him before he took the guys head off and security dragged the asshole away.”
Graham Oliver (Saxon – Guitar)
“I also went to the Whitesnake headliner show with ZZ Top, I remember being slightly disappointed that Whitesnake played most of the same set I had played with Ian Paice and Neil Murray when the original band folded, but it was a good show and the crowd loved it, and they are the important people at all festivals.” Bernie Marsden (Whitesnake – Guitar)
“I went to Donington to ’83 in response to the Dio ‘Holy Diver’ album coming out. It was Diamond Head, Dio, Twisted Sister, Meatloaf, ZZ Top and Whitesnake. The weird thing was that we ended up touring with ZZ Top.”
Toby Jepson (Little Angels - Vocals)
“Twisted Sister didn’t come to the Monsters of Rock to be taken seriously AND THEY WEREN’T!”
The Bailey Brothers (Mick & Dez Donington Comperes)
“From what had been a relatively disappointing year (1982), we now came to a year that I still recall as one of the best days ever…topped off by a magnificent version of ‘Mistreated’ by Whitesnake………when Coverdale announced that this would ‘probably be the last time he would ever play this song’ you just knew it was gonna be something special. In fact the overall Whitesnake performance is still my favourite of all the headlining acts over the years. ‘Here I go again’ was also brilliant, especially Coverdale’s singing at the start. Visually the highlight was Cozy Powell’s drum solo, which now incorporated the ‘633 Squadron’ music as well as the ‘1812 Overture’. During the ‘633 Squadron’ section the festival site was ‘dive-bombed’ by light aircraft (helicopters I think). There was over £50,000 worth of pyrotechnics used during the Whitesnake set. Magnificent.
But Whitesnake were not the only band on form on the day.
ZZ Top were riding on the back of their ‘Eliminator’ album and received favourable comments all round. One memory I have of their set was when a naked female started dancing to ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’ just in front of our base camp. This performance was supported by appreciative jeering from all the males in the vicinity.
Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider probably gave the best introduction to a song ever at Donington……… “This next song’s a bit slow for Twisted Sister……but its f*****g mean”. The song in question was ‘Destroyer’ from their ‘Under The Blade’ album.
Apart from Whitesnake, my other favouri
te band of the day was DIO. The band was playing their very first ever live show (apart from a couple of warm-ups). The soon to be classic album ‘Holy Diver’ had just been released. Their set included a mixture of songs from this album plus various Rainbow and Black Sabbath classics including ‘Stargazer’, ‘Heaven and Hell’ etc.
The biggest disappointment of the day was Diamond Head. I had expected them to perform better than they did.
I remember the weather being good this year.”
Paul Hartshorn (Chesterfield)
1984
AC/DC,
Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne,
Gary Moore, Y&T, Accept,
Motley Crue, Tommy Vance
Back for its 5th Anniversary and for what most fans have agreed was the best line-up of all of the Monsters Of Rock Festivals from 1980 to 1996.
With AC/DC back for their 2nd headline appearance at the festival, you couldn’t want for a more popular band to be topping the bill.
With the ‘Flick Of The Switch’ album released the year before, AC/DC slotted ‘Guns For Hire’ and the title track into the set alongside many favourites, now all considered classics; for the encore of ‘For Those About To Rock’ there was the accompaniment of the now famous cannons.
Special guests on the day didn’t come any bigger than Van Halen. Massive in the USA and making a rare UK appearance, British fans were treated to a selection of greatest hits and some from their latest album, the record breaking ‘1984’; the last to feature David Lee Roth who left shortly after to be replaced by Sammy Hagar. Songs played on the day from ‘1984’ included ‘Panama’, ‘Hot For Teacher’, ‘House Of Pain’ and the song that Van Halen are internationally recognised for ‘Jump’.
DLR high kicked his way through the performance and told ‘tall tales’ between songs, Eddie Van Halen played the most intricate and complicated guitar seen at Donington so far, Alex Van Halen playing the largest drum kit in Donington history and Michael Anthony, well he played solid and perfunctory bass.
Also on the bill was Ozzy Osbourne whose band at the time featured another guitar legend, Jake E. Lee; Lee was a former member of Mickey Ratt which went on to become the platinum selling Ratt, he was also an early member of Dio. Lee was the permanent replacement for Randy Rhoads who had died in tragic plane crash with Ozzy’s tour bus; Brad Gillis of Night Ranger had played with Ozzy but was not considered a permanent member.
Gary Moore played his way through a short blues / metal package and showed his guitar skills to all; his set was incredibly loud.
Y&T from the USA and Accept were also appearing on the day, but most people and press were in attendance to see the UK debut of Motley Crue. Having just released the ‘Shout At The Devil’ album, the Crue were starting to make a name for themselves and not just for their music. Known for the wild times and wild hair, Motley Crue’s performance on the day was short, but drew a massive crowd; this would be the first of their four performances to date at Donington.
For the first time in MOR history, there were bars selling actual alcohol inside the venue!!! The annoying problem for most people was that the bars were only open for usual British bar times, these being 11:30am to 2pm and then re-opening from 6pm to 9pm, bizarre compared to the alcohol on sale at Download now, from open to close. You were still able to bring in your own alcohol if dispensed into the appropriate containers.
Highlights of the show and interviews were also featured on BBC2 on ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’.
“It was us Van Halen, Y&T, Accept and more and it was just incredible and it was the biggest show that I had played up until then and to play it in England with all my family and there!
There was the ‘bigness’ of the set, the production, all that was going on and the trucks and the buses and everything, my family were all blown away.
They remember me just bashing my drums in my bedroom and then suddenly I’m playing in front of 80,000 people. That was definitely my best moment so far; there have been others, but that was England and it stood out as being really important.
Simon Wright (AC/DC – Drums)
“We consider ourselves fortunate to have played probably the best Monsters of Rock lineup in the history of the festival. Still to this day people tell us that Castle Donington MOR 1984 was the best lineup the festival ever had. Every band on that bill we were either good friends with or had played shows with. It was cool to see them all and experience such a monumental day together. Of course one thing that will never escape my memories of that show was being bombarded by the punters throwing bottles of piss on stage. When we'd previously supported AC/DC on tour for two months, they warned us that every band who opens for AC/DC gets stuff thrown at them and gets booed off the stage. The AC/DC band and crew were shocked when audiences everywhere never once threw anything at Y&T, but in actual fact, gave us encores almost every night. Same with The Reading festival; heard we would be pelted - never happened. We knew it was the norm for that to happen, but having bottles of piss hit my guitar and splatter up on my body while performing was a real downer. Yeah, we realized they did that with every band, but it sucked anyway and makes you feel like a moving target.” Dave Meniketti (Y&T – Guitar / Vocals)
“I remember our bus driver told Castle Donington security that he had AC/DC in the bus. So Y&T got escorted by police motorcade through the festival grounds to backstage. We felt rather important for a few minutes there. Don't get me started on the piss bottles! I was so angry after our set that I punched out the window in our dressing room. But, when I think back to the ridiculous clothes we were wearing that day--I guess we deserved it. Motley Crue was staying at our hotel, hanging in the bar. The first thing Tommy Lee said was, "Where can I get some flesh." I said, "Good luck, dude, we're in England...The punters here are all dudes". We knew all the bands on the bill that day and it was great fun to catch up with everyone backstage. But AC/DC was the only band that didn't fraternize; they stayed cloistered in their little dressing room trailer. So I barged in and said hello to all of them before they went on stage. All the other bands were fired up and partying, but these guys just sat there as if they were about to go to the gas chamber. It was strange. Maybe they feared the piss bottles!” Phil Kennemore (Y&T – Bass)
“I will never forget when we played the "Monsters Of Rock" festival at
Donington back in 1984.
We just came back from a very long U.S. tour and it was our first concert in
Europe after having the worldwide success with the "Balls To The Wall"
album. And the success stayed on.
We were the second band on stage but the reception was that of at least a co-headliner. Everybody was singing along every song we played and so that festival (together with the other two "Monsters Of Rock" festivals in Germany that same year) became our breakthrough in Europe.
But there were strange things happening as well. During the gig we saw
something big flying onto the stage and when we looked closer, it was a
horse head (a real one - believe me). Also, somebody threw an apple on
stage which hit Wolf's guitar so hard, that the neck pick-up was shot
through the guitar's backside.
But hey - that's rock'n'roll - and I still have great memories about the gig in Donington.”
Stefan Kaufmann (Accept – Drums)
“Saw Eddie Van Halen, standing with Gary Moore on the side of the stage, Gary was in shock, Eddie was just about the best at the time I think! Met Dave Lee Roth and Steve Vai for the first time at Donington.” Bernie Marsden (Whitesnake – Guitar)
“I remember going to the ’84 one, especially to see Van Halen. I remember shaking hands backstage with Eddie Van Halen who was one of my heroes.”
Brian Tatler (Diamond Head – Guitar)
“The first one I went to was AC/DC, Van Halen & Ozzy Osbourne.
I was lucky enough to have a backstage pass and met Eddie Van Halen & Jake E Lee, my absolute hero at the time.”
; Myke Gray (Skin – Guitar)
“Seeing Van Halen with Diamond Dave Lee Roth again should have been the ultimate experience but Dave seemed to think we gave a toss about his experience with a tart in a hotel room that must have took him 5 minutes to tell the story.
Then we get the obligatory drum and bass solo.
Ok, Eddie’s piece was worth witnessing in the flesh, but add up the waffle and all the solos and we could have had another shit load of songs.
It turned out to be their final show with DLR and as huge VH fans we just wanted to hear the songs.”
The Bailey Brothers (Mick & Dez Donington Comperes)
“My first Monsters of Rock was 1984, AC/DC and Van Halen; I joined MCP that year.”
Stuart Galbraith (ex – Donington Organiser)
“We had our own portakabin in the guest area which became a bit of a haven for many of the snappers. We also had our regular local press turn up year in year out, many bringing us little presents; it was like a Christmas club. I remember Maurice being horrified one year to find we’d been burning incense to create a chill out factor – he didn’t think it was heavy enough at all. The local media were always very supportive and there was a tradition in the early days of as many of the acts as possible going into Radio Trent on the Friday night to record a round table. Even the headliners would take part if they could. That just wouldn’t happen now. It was hosted by a DJ called Graham (who came to a very sad end).” Judy Totton (Monsters Of Rock PR
“This was my first year and it featured an absolute barnstormer of a lineup (many, myself included consider this the best MOR lineup). I travelled down via a concert coach company with 1 friend who I managed to lose within 45 minutes of entering the arena. On entering the arena I was absolutely struck dumb by the sheer size of the crowd, the arena and the monster of a stage. As we positioned ourselves stage left Motley Crue hit the stage, they performed a quick energetic set and managed to dodge most of the missiles heading their way, the throwing of empty and piss filled bottles was already a tradition and the openers usually got more than their fair share purely for being the first band up. Next up were German band Accept who seemed to fair better on the bottle front and also seemed to go down reasonably well, however, I was never a fan of Udo’s squawking vocals so I spent most of their set drinking and chatting to some Italians in front of us. After a short break Y&T were up; this was the first band of the day that I really wanted to see and they did not disappoint, I surged forward and secured a decent spot to headbang my way through their set, frantically during the fantastic ‘Forever’. If I remember correctly some bloke dressed as the robot from the cover of their latest album ‘In Rock We Trust’ wondered onto the stage at one point. From then on the day got better and better, next up was Gary Moore, who at the time was doing really well over here and had several hits that were circulating the airwaves, he played like the true axe hero he was, however, I cannot for the life of me remember who else was in his band at the time or what the set list consisted of, I think that the beer was starting to take hold of my senses. Four bands in and a bladder full of beer and it was time to experience my first festival toilets, they did not disappoint and were as dirty and smelly as I had been reliably informed they would be. On the way back into the crowd it was noticeable that the mixture of sun and alcohol was having an effect on many as there were scores of people who were sleeping/ passed out littering the grass near the back, to this day, this is something that has never changed, some people do not seem to manage past the first band before they adopt this position and are then usually covered in crap from their friends or drawn/ painted on. Near the front the crowd was starting to condense as Ozzy hit the stage, he stormed through an impressive rat arsed set which concluded with him emotionally receiving a gold disk on stage from the late, great Tommy Vance for his latest album 'Bark At The Moon'. Next up were special guests Van Halen who I would witness four more times in the future but they were never as good as they were on this day in their original lineup. I stormed to the front and went berserk whilst they played hit after hit from their back catalogue and the current masterpiece '1984' which of course included the rather radio friendly 'Jump'. At one point David Lee Roth informed us that he was going to buy us all a beer; he was always a master of bullshit but I do not know whether or not anyone tried it on at the bar, I had visions of scores of people queued up requesting a beer on Dave’s tab, I could imagine the response that they would get from the staff! By this time the bottle fights had reached fever pitch, but it was now not just bottles being slung about it was anything loose, I just managed to dodge a hail of half full yoghurt pots, all of which hit the bloke in front of me, he was absolutely covered but too pissed by then to actually care. Van Halen finished and it took me some considerable time to get out of the crowd for another trek to the submerged latrines, it was my first time in such a dense crowd and I must admit, I got a wee bit panicky trying to push my way through the masses. At the back of the arena a strange naked cricket match was going on? The rules did not appear to follow the game to the letter but at least ten merry revellers were having fun participating, I wondered if 'cock before wicket' would be considered as out? As dusk descended it was not long before that day’s headliner- the mighty AC/DC burst on to the stage surrounded by masses of lights and easily that day’s best and loudest sound. I was transfixed by Angus and his continual motion and boundless energy, from the second they hit the stage he just kept going and did not stop till the end. I was not the greatest fan of their recorded material at that time but they won me over big time that night, amongst my favourite tunes they played were ‘Highway to Hell’, ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’, ‘Back In Black’, ‘Hells Bells’ (complete with full size bell being twatted by Brian J), ‘T.N.T.’ and ‘For Those About to Rock’ (complete with canon firing finale). For my first time experiencing a festival headline set DC definitely lived up to my expectations.