Alpine Valley Theater, 2699 Highway D, East Troy, WI

Alpine Valley Music Theatre celebrated its inaugural season in the summer of 1977, opening with four back-to-back shows, the first two, Boz Scaggs, followed by Neil Sedaka and Helen Reddy. While many may not be familiar with those artists, names such as Chicago, Bob Seger, Harry Chapin, Jimmy Buffett, Kansas and Frank Sinatra, also playing in '77, may ring a bell. With 36 shows and a total attendance of over 198,000 guests, it's safe to say that the new venue was a hit.(1) It features a characteristic wooden roof covering the 9,500-seat pavilion, and a sprawling lawn.

Anyone like to contribute a Jerry Garcia Band marquee photo from 9/15/89?

Looks like a party!

The theatre is located roughly equidistant between Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago, so draws a wide regional audience.
Alpine Valley is the usual outdoor pavilion/lawn concert venue. But its grounds are beautiful, and the venue resides in the middle of nowhere.

On August 26, 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan played at the theatre with his group Double Trouble and other blues greats Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and his brother Jimmie Vaughan. After the concert, Vaughan left the theatre by helicopter, and he and four others were killed when the helicopter crashed into a ski hill within the Alpine Valley resort.



Jerry played here on
8/23/80 Grateful Dead
7/11/81 Grateful Dead
8/7/82 Grateful Dead
8/8/82 Grateful Dead
7/6/84 Grateful Dead
7/7/84 Grateful Dead
6/21/85 Grateful Dead
6/22/85 Grateful Dead
6/28/86 Grateful Dead
6/29/86 Grateful Dead
6/26/87 Grateful Dead
6/27/87 Grateful Dead
6/28/87 Grateful Dead
6/19/88 Grateful Dead
6/20/88 Grateful Dead
6/22/88 Grateful Dead
6/23/88 Grateful Dead
7/17/89 Grateful Daed
7/18/89 Grateful Dead
7/19/89 Grateful Dead(2)
This show was attended by nearly six times as many people as expected (200,000 instead of 35,000). At the time, a coordinated Traffic Management Plan was not in place. Attendees arrived earlier and stayed later than the venue itself and damages to personal property, severe congestion on local roads, and inadequate emergency access were consequences of the 1989 Tour.(4)

9/15/89 Jerry Garcia Band(3)





1.)^http://www.alpinestaff.com/about_us.html
2.)^http://www.deadlists.com/default.asp
3.)^http://thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1939
4.)^http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/mitig_traf_cong/summerfest_case.htm