As summer is ending here in 2010, it's a great time to remember the Monsters of Rock Tour from the summer of 1988. Monsters of Rock tours were very popular in the USA and worldwide back in the 1980s. Some of the best rock and metal bands played together on tour. In the summer of 1988, you could see 20,000 fans in Akron, Ohio withstanding the 100 degree plus heat just to see Van Halen headline the Monsters Tour at the "Rubber Bowl". Check out the cities and tour dates listed below. Van Halen had just released their "OUO812" album, which is a good album in the post David Lee Roth - Van Halen era. The Monsters Tour was a great warm up to Van Halen's "OU812" tour that followed. There were also other great bands like Dokken, The Scorpions, and Metallica on the Monsters Tour '88. Dokken was hitting the road even before Monsters of Rock that same year like with concerts in Buffalo, New York playing their newest and biggest hit "Dream Warriors".
I was at the Orange Bowl with friends in Miami, Florida that summer in June, 1988 going to the Monsters Tour where I saw Van Halen for the second time. It was loud, packed, and one giant party while the bands jammed and got the crowd off their seats screaming! It was difficult to find any professional videos of the 1988 Monsters of Rock Tour. I did find on YouTube a couple of cool commercials, and one amateur poor quality audio/video of Van Halen in San Francisco performing "Summer Nights" as their first song opening the Monsters of Rock concert. Please share your memories of Monster Tours you have attended. When I went tt wasn't a big expensive event like you may see today, however it was a memorable experience listening to big named bands with great raw metal music and lots of fun sharing with friends. - Kenny Leibow
1988 (year with most Monsters of Rock events - including a touring one in the USA)
Bands included Kingdom Come, Dokken, Metallica, Scorpions and Van Halen
• United Kingdom
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Spain
• USA (toured - played several dates in several states)
Monsters of Rock Cities and Dates in the USA 1988
Pre-tour warmup gigs
• 23 May 1988: Los Angeles, California - The Troubadour (Metallica only)
• 24 May 1988: Los Angeles, California - The Troubadour (Metallica only)
Tour
• 27 May 1988: East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theater
• 28 May 1988: East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theater
• 29 May 1988: East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theater
• 4 June 1988: Miami, FL - Orange Bowl
• 5 June 1988: Tampa, FL - Tampa Stadium
• 10 June 1988: Washington DC - RFK Stadium
• 11 June 1988: Philadelphia, PA - JFK Stadium
• 12 June 1988: Foxboro, MA - Sullivan Stadium
• 15 June 1988: Pittsburgh, PA - Three Rivers Stadium
• 17 June 1988: Pontiac, MI - Pontiac Silverdome
• 18 June 1988: Pontiac, MI - Pontiac Silverdome
• 19 June 1988: Orchard Park, NY - Rich Stadium
• 22 June 1988: Akron, OH - Rubber Bowl
• 23 June 1988: Akron, OH - Rubber Bowl
• 24 June 1988: Oxford, ME - Oxford Plains Speedway CANCELLED
• 25 June 1988: Oxford, ME - Oxford Plains Speedway
• 26 June 1988: East Rutherford, NJ - Giants Stadium
• 27 June 1988: East Rutherford, NJ - Giants Stadium CANCELLED
• 2 July 1988: Houston, TX - Rice Stadium
• 3 July 1988: Dallas, TX - Cotton Bowl
• 6 July 1988: Indianapolis, IN - Hoosier Dome
• 8 July 1988: Memphis, TN - Liberty Bowl CANCELLED
• 9 July 1988: Memphis, TN - Liberty Bowl
• 10 July 1988: Kansas City, MO - Arrowhead Stadium
• 13 July 1988: Minneapolis, MN - The Metrodome
• 16 July 1988: San Francisco, CA - Candlestick Park
• 17 July 1988: San Francisco, CA - Candlestick Park CANCELLED
• 20 July 1988: Spokane, WA - Joe Albi Stadium
• 23 July 1988: Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum CANCELLED
• 24 July 1988: Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
• 27 July 1988: Seattle, WA - Seattle Kingdome
• 30 July 1988: Denver, CO - Mile High Stadium
Original Monsters Of Rock Commercial – 1988
Van Halen - Summer Nights (live 1988) San Francisco
(Monsters of Rock Tour)
1988 Monsters Of Rock
16 comments:
I had tickets to the CANCELLED June 27 show at Giants. I will never recover. Thanks for posting this list of shows!
I still remember the orange bowl concert like it was yesterday...it was raining like hell during dokken's set and I got a black eye from the giant cup fight!! What a day!!
My boyfriend and I attended the Monsters of Rock concert in Spokane, WA on July 20, 1988. We drove up from Boise, ID. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to.
We arrived when the gates opened at 10:30 a.m. By the mid-afternoon the temperature on the canvas that covered the astroturf reached 120* F! They were handing milk jugs of water out to the crowd to pass around for hydration. Between bands they were hosing down the crowd with fire hoses to keep us cool.
The music was awesome, the crowd was fun....picture the Heavy Metal parking lot movie...and the weather was hot and sunny.
I had to be passed under the stage when the heat and crowd pressure got the best of me during Metallica, which was a total bummer. Coming out from under the stage, looking like a drowned rat, I ran right into George Lynch of Dokken. How embarrassing! Any other time it would have been totally thrilling.
During the Scorpions set I got up on my boyfriend's shoulders. While up there I was lucky enough to make eye contact with Matthias Jabs, the babe guitar player for the Scorpions.
We stayed until Van Halen's last song and had the time of our life. It's now 2014, almost 16 years later and I still remember everything very well. We made memories of a lifetime that I will be forever grateful for.
On a very sad not, my then-boyfriend and lifelong love passed away almost a year ago. I wish he was still around to reminisce with. I love and miss you Zane, rest in peace!
Whoa! Scratch that...it's been almost 26 years (God that makes me feel old!) since the concert! It doesn't feel like THAT long ago.
Me and a buddy went to the one at arrowhead stadium in kc, mo, What a long hot day and one hell of a night to remember. High light of the show was the great tunes and the big cup toss that the crowd did.
Hello- I was at the Monster show in 1988. I was 18 and the only guy who crashed the stage at the end of the show. I somehow jumped on the left side and ran up the ramp in front of the speakers and could not see back in the stage and almost crashed into Michael Anthony doing a full sprint! If we would of crashed that would of been epic.... I have been looking for footage of the concert for years and haven't found it yet. If anyone knows where video of the show is let me know. Michael G. Houston, TX
This was at the Rice Stadium show July 2, 1988, Houston, TX
July 24, 2014 at 9:37 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Hello- I was at the Monster show in 1988. I was 18 and the only guy who crashed the stage at the end of the show. I somehow jumped on the left side and ran up the ramp in front of the speakers and could not see back in the stage and almost crashed into Michael Anthony doing a full sprint! If we would of crashed that would of been epic.... I have been looking for footage of the concert for years and haven't found it yet. If anyone knows where video of the show is let me know. Michael G. Houston, TX
August 11, 2014 at 3:13 PM
I was at the JFK show in Philadelphia. One of the last shows at the crumbling down stadium. kingdom come had just released Get It On. The song had such a Led Zeppelin sound I remember people thinking it was the mighty Zeppelin!Metalica was in its early stages. Doken was pretty good. It was the first time I had a chance to see The Scorpions live. A band i had loved from the first record. This was the only time I caught Van Halen outdoors. This was pre 0u812 tour. They sounded great. The rock was so loud the was were flaking and falling apart! The stadium was so bad I remember the dirt halls leading thru the stadium on to the old ball field. this was one of the last concerts at JFK Stadium. even though the stadium was in such bad shape I still think to this day it couldnt have gone out in better style! One of the best rock n roll days of my teenage life. A GREAT SHOW!!!! Glad I was there.
I was at the JFK show in Philadelphia. One of the last shows at the crumbling down stadium. kingdom come had just released Get It On. The song had such a Led Zeppelin sound I remember people thinking it was the mighty Zeppelin! Metalica was in its early stages. Doken was pretty good. It was the first time I had a chance to see The Scorpions live. A band I had loved from the first record. This was the only time I caught Van Halen outdoors. This was pre 0u812 tour. They sounded great. The rock was so loud the walls were flaking and falling apart! The stadium was so bad I remember the dirt halls leading thru the stadium on to the old ball field. This was one of the last concerts at JFK Stadium. Even though the stadium was in such bad shape I still think to this day it couldnt have gone out in better style! One of the best rock n roll days of my teenage life. A GREAT SHOW!!!! Glad I was there.
My sister and I drove from Nashville to Memphis for the July 9th concert. It just happened to be my 28th birthday too! I remember how excited we were for a road trip and concert. We arrived a bit late and missed part of Kingdom Come, but what a concert it turned out to be!! There were 40,000 people there. It was hot and crazy. We heard someone yelling our names from above us and it was a couple guys we knew in Nashville! They were squirting people on the ground with fire hoses because it was so hot. there was a girl down front on a guys shoulder's. She pretty much flashed the bands all day. Sammy Hagar took a fire hose and sprayed her down! I was so excited to see the Scorpions for the second time and I was fired up to see Van Halen. One of the best concerts I ever went to. Right up there with Led Zeppelin in 1977
I was there doing security with other KAST security members loved it , thanks Don and Kristi , I was on the stage in front of speakers at monsters show and perimeter duty at dead, two day event. Whole other story there
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I saw the show at Alpine Valley....it was awesome!! A concert stage set up at the bottom of a skiing hill-the skiing cabin was one big bar-I was 23 and trashed by the time kingdom cone was done (first band to play). It was a mega concert-four head-liners with one opening band! I remember the Metallica fans were talking some serious shot to the Dokken fans “pussy rock”...it was hilarious!! Awesome show. After EVH passed last week I was walking down memory lane and found this page—great memory (what I can remember anyways-lol)! I do remember being pissed it was Sammy and not DLR singing for VH but they were still good. Awesome show! Awesome memory! Rock On!!
I saw the show at Alpine Valley....it was awesome!! A concert stage set up at the bottom of a skiing hill-the skiing cabin was one big bar-I was 23 and trashed by the time kingdom cone was done (first band to play). It was a mega concert-four head-liners with one opening band! I remember the Metallica fans were talking some serious shot to the Dokken fans “pussy rock”...it was hilarious!! Awesome show. After EVH passed last week I was walking down memory lane and found this page—great memory (what I can remember anyways-lol)! I do remember being pissed it was Sammy and not DLR singing for VH but they were still good. Awesome show! Awesome memory! Rock On!!
I remember being there but that's it. Don't remember who I went with and can't find my t-shirt but know I bought one !! Hahaha those were the days !!!
I was at the Akron show and unfortunately I don't remember much because of all the fun things I had ingested... oops!
I was on a phone call with one of my high school buddies I saw the show with who has worked for several of the big metal bands throughout his career and he asked me if I remember drinking wild turkey with James and Lars before the show in the parking lot..... 33 years later and that was news to me. I do remember my buddy Al's car broke down when we were leaving the parking lot and waking up to his mom picking us up and bringing 3 pizzas to feed the animals!! Thanks Mrs. Brooks!!
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