Halen was big with the album 1984 but the Victory tour was THE show to see. The Jacksons were booked at Irving Stadium, in a suburb outside Big D where the Cowboys play. Eddie & his crew were at Reunion Arena in Dallas proper. Both acts were at the apogee of their popular success, back when the Elephant Man's skeleton belonged to somebody other than Michael.
Since the tour dates overlapped I guessed VH would probably be there in advance and if Eddie was gonna sit in on Beat It, it had to be on Friday. So that's the night I got scalped tickets for, very close to stage right. I kept telling the two delightful young ladies in front of me that Eddie was going to make an appearance. They doubted me until David Lee Roth and a chap who looked very much like Def Leppard's drummer before his terrible accident sat down a few rows ahead of us, ushered in by gents wielding flashlights maybe two songs prior to Beat It. After Edward played and left, so did Roth and companion, the latter flipping the audience off for some unknown reason.
If that was a female playing guitar, one-upping Eddie's show-offy look-at-me crap-o lead (that night anyway, normally I think he's great), then I must've not noticed beyond the androgynous rock star apparel and bouffant that that wuz a ghurrl and that she had just played Eddie's lead better than he had.



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