Rare or unseen VH photos #3

Halenberg:

The graphics on Ed’s shirt would make for one funky lookin’ guitar.

Barry Shultz Photography

http://www.barryschultzphotography.com/artist/van-halen/

Oh that’s a good one. I didn’t realize Brownsville Station were also on the bill and Cheap Trick backed out.

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/bay-city/index.ssf/2014/11/seger_nugent_and_reo_once_rock.html

Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Van Halen among those who once rocked Elmer Engel Stadium in Bay City
A panoramic photo of the crowd at the Bob Seger concert at Bay City Central High School’s Elmer Engel Stadium in 1978. Organizers say 25,000 people turned out that night for the show, which also featured Van Halen, Brownsville Station and Salem Witchcraft. The stadium was voted by MLive readers as Michigan’s grandest high school football stadium. (Photo Courtesy Steve Welter)

By Pati LaLonde | For Mlive.com
on November 23, 2014 at 5:30 AM, updated November 23, 2014 at 10:59 AM
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BAY CITY, MI — June 25, 1977, was a red letter day for rockers REO Speedwagon.
Not only did their first live album, “You Get What You Play For,” go platinum, but the band performed in front of 16,000 screaming fans at Bay City Central’s Elmer Engel Stadium.

Firefall (“You Are the Woman”) also played that night in what would become a four-year event known as “Summer Celebration.”
It was also a red letter day for the student members of Central’s Junior Booster Club. Under the leadership of seniors Steve Welter, Jim Robison and Donny Schmidt and teacher Jack Carney, four concerts during four consecutive summers raised around $100,000 for athletic programs at Bay City Public Schools.
Summer Celebration concerts

Here is a look at the bands that performed at the Summer Celebration concerts held at Bay City Central High School’s Elmer Engel Stadium from 1977 to 1980:

• 1977— REO Speedwagon, Firefall
• 1978— Bob Seger, Van Halen, Brownsville Station, Salem Witchcraft
• 1979 — Ted Nugent, The Babys with lead singer John Waite
• 1980 — Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder, The Rockets
The original idea was to raise funds doing dances in the gym and shows in the auditorium, but the idea of an outdoor concert in Engel Stadium took root.
It wasn’t easy; the kids didn’t have a track record for putting on a concert of this magnitude.
While the initial idea was to bring in the Bay City Rollers — a Scottish group, who according to lore, got their name by throwing a dart at a map of the United States — but concert promoters said no.
REO happened to be touring in the area, and they signed on instead. With students from T.L. Handy and Western high schools on board, the kids constructed a stage, got enough power to the stadium for lights and sound, and hit the road — literally — delivering the approximately $25 tickets to record outlets all over the state.
It was magical, says Welter.
“That very first year, the Thursday before the show, at the sound check, the power of hearing that music going through the big speakers and realizing just what it was really going to sound like, I thought how cool it was going to be,” said Welter. “And looking out over the stadium, seeing that everything was prepared.”
The success of that first show, coupled with the knowledge that these kids could deliver the goods, set the stage for three more shows.
Those kids also included Bill Hanson, “J” Bob Kelley, Pat Patterson, Mike Krygier and Jerry Babinski.
“There was a community advisor, Paul Owczarzak who worked very closely with Jack,” said Krygier. “Paul was instrumental in all of the show. He and Jack were really the adults that had everything on the line. Jack more than anybody.”
Pat Patterson’s dad Tom Patterson, a local attorney, handled the legal aspects.
The 1979 Bay City Central High School yearbook shows scenes from the 1978 Bob Seger concert staged at Elmer Engel Stadium. The stadium was voted as Michigan’s grandest high school football stadium in a recent MLive poll.
Yfat Yossifor | The Bay City Times
As amazing as that first concert was, it was nothing compared to the summer of 1978 when Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band took the stage at Engel Stadium.
With a seating capacity of 7,100 people — that was how many bleacher seats there were — it is an understatement to say the stadium was filled to the brim with the 25,000 fans inside, and thousands more on the practice field across the street and the sidewalks around the school and down the block.
“People started camping out Wednesday morning on the practice field,” remembers Welter. “We were busy the morning of the show setting up and the stadium was empty. I looked outside (the stadium) and it was a mass of humanity. Then seeing what the stadium looked like once people got in. It was nuts. Seeing it empty and seeing it seven hours later filled to the brim with people, it was just an incredible sight.
“You never forget that kind of thing.”

David Lee Roth, left, and Michael Anthony of Van Halen perform at Bay City Central High School’s Elmer Engel Stadium during the “Summer Celebration” concert in 1978.
Photo by and courtesy of Michael Krygier

 
The concert bill that year also included a relatively new band on the national scene — Van Halen, as well as Detroit-based Brownsville Station (“Smokin in the Boys Room”) and Salem Witchcraft. Cheap Trick was on the ticket, too, but backed out at the last minute.
As amazing as that day was, Welter remembers one particular moment during Seger’s set.
“Alto Reed, Bob Seger’s sax player, climbed into a cherry picker that took him to the top of the press box,” he said. “The next thing you knew, all the lights hit him and he was doing a solo. That was awesome.”

That concert was the largest concert in the State of Michigan that year, remembers Krygier, who was a freshman at the time.
To put the number in perspective, Krygier says take a look at DTE, which holds 15,274, or Joe Louis Arena, which holds 20,058.
“It helps you to understand the size of the event,” he said. “If you had to put a price tag on the show it would be $250,000.”
The kids followed that up with Ted Nugent and The Babys with lead singer John Waite.
Bob Seger, second from left, and members of the Silver Bullet Band, on stage during a concert at Bay City Central High School’s Elmer Engel Stadium.
MLive File Photo
 
The fourth and final year saw a return of Seger, along with Mitch Ryder and The Rockets.
Krygier also remembers the fact that if Bay City Police Chief Jerry VanAlst and Sheriff Kevin Green hadn’t gone to bat for the kids, none of it would have happened.
“They went to a City Commission meeting and spoke out on our behalf,” Krygier said. “If they had not stepped up and said, ‘We support what these young guys are trying to do, it is well organized, well thought out,’ it never could have happened. We worked with them months in advance planning security and parking.”
They also had Jim Barcia, a state senator at the time, on their side. The group was honored by the State of Michigan for what they were doing.
After four years Summer Celebration had run its course, said Krygier.

Its from ebay as a Balance Tour cd bootleg but the photo is from the 5150 Tour.
Looks like it might be one of the last shows at the Cow Palace were Ed had cut his hair short in the bet with Sammy & Al..

Cool did you take these photos in 1984 ?

PT5150: Cool did you take these photos in 1984 ?

Not my pics, found them on another forum.