The B-52s Share Their US Festivities

Thirty-eight years after the first US Festival took place near San Bernardino, California on Labor Day weekend 1982, Shout! Factory is releasing The B-52s: Live at the US Festival, a concert DVD of the Athens, Georgia band’s hour-long performance that sweltering September day.

Sandwiched in between earlier sets that day from the likes of Gang of Four and Oingo Boingo, and ahead of Talking Heads and headliners The Police, the B’s sashayed their way through 13 cuts from their first three albums and the then-fresh Mesopotamia EP. This is the first live concert DVD to be officially released featuring all five original members of the group, including guitarist Ricky Wilson, who passed away a little over three years later. The DVD, in stores Sept. 4, is dedicated to him.

In addition to the festival performance, new interviews are included with band members Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson reflecting on Ricky and the US Festival performance and experience. As Schneider recalls, “It was hot as hell in the desert but as soon as we got going we had the audience dancing up a dust storm,” and admit it – as you read that you heard it in Fred’s nutty voice, right? ­