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Alpine Valley Music Theatre is a 37,000-capacity
amphitheater An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
located on County Highway D in
East Troy, Wisconsin East Troy is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,687 at the 2020 census. The village is located southwest of the Town of East Troy. A small portion extends into the adjacent Town of Troy. Geography Eas ...
. The seasonal venue was built in 1977 and it features a characteristic wooden roof, covering the 7,500-seat pavilion and a sprawling lawn. It was the largest amphitheater in the United States until 1993, when the Glen Helen Pavilion (now known as the
Glen Helen Amphitheater The Glen Helen Amphitheater (originally Blockbuster Pavilion and formerly Hyundai Pavilion and San Manuel Amphitheater) is a 65,000-capacity amphitheater located in the hills of Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, California. It is the l ...
) was built in California. The theatre is located roughly equally distant from
Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
, Milwaukee, Rockford, and Chicago, and therefore draws a wide regional audience. The amphitheater was purchased by Nederlander Concerts in 1993, and later acquired by SFX (now Live Nation) in 1999. In 2019 the venue was sold to Consolidated-Tomoka Land Company for $7.5M with Live Nation retaining its lease.


Notable performances

The amphitheater has played host to many concerts and music festivals, including
Family Values Tour The Family Values Tour was an annual rock and hip hop tour held by the American nu metal band Korn since 1998. The first tour took place in 1998 and the second tour in 1999, but the tour took a hiatus in 2000 due to heavy competition from the ...
, Furthur Festival,
H.O.R.D.E. Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere or H.O.R.D.E. Festival was a touring summer rock music festival originated by the musical group Blues Traveler in 1992. In addition to travelling headliners, the festival gave exposure to bands, charities, a ...
Festival, Lollapalooza,
Monsters of Rock Monsters of Rock was an annual hard rock and heavy metal music festival held in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as the Netherlands, Poland, ...
Festival,
Ozzfest Ozzfest is an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy Osbourne, both ...
, PJ20 Festival,
Projekt Revolution Projekt Revolution was a music festival hosted by Linkin Park, bringing artists of various genres of music together. Linkin Park started Projekt Revolution in the year 2002 with just one stage. Then, in 2004, they announced the Revolution Stage ( ...
,
Tibetan Freedom Concert Tibetan Freedom Concert is the name given to a series of socio-political music festivals held in North America, Europe and Asia from 1996 onwards to support the cause of Tibetan independence. The concerts were originally organized by the Beastie ...
and World Series of Rock Festival.
Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until h ...
headlined the venue's inaugural event on June 30, 1977.
Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...
& The
Coral Reefer Band The Coral Reefer Band is the touring and recording band of American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The band's name alludes to both coral reefs (in line with Buffett's tropical-themed music) and "reefer" (slang for marijuana). Origins Current ...
played during its inaugural summer of 1977 and every subsequent year since 1995, with the exception of 2005, 2017, and 2018.
Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar). Their style, which is rooted in blues-ba ...
also performed during the venue's inaugural season in 1977, and has appeared there fourteen times. The
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, a ...
played at Alpine Valley 20 times from 1980 through 1989. Their album, ''
Dick's Picks Volume 32 ''Dick's Picks Volume 32'' is a two-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on August 7, 1982 at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin. It was released on July 20, 2004. Alpine Valley, an outdoor thea ...
'', was recorded here in 1982 and their concert performance video, ''
Downhill From Here ''Downhill from Here'' is a concert performance video by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, near East Troy, Wisconsin, in July, 1989. Produced by Len Dell'Amico and Grateful Dead Productions. It was released by Mon ...
'', documents concerts from 1989. Journey recorded a live album here on September 5, 1981 called "Rollin' On", and had a live broadcast to WLS-FM in Chicago, and KCRW-FM in Los Angeles, California. Mötley Crüe filmed their music video for "Same Ol' Situation" at a concert here on July 7, 1990. On August 26, 1990,
Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...
& Double Trouble played at the amphitheater along with other blues greats
Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...
,
Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...
, Eric Clapton and his brother
Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...
. After the concert, Vaughan left the area on a helicopter to return to Chicago and he and four others were killed, when the helicopter crashed into a ski hill, within the Alpine Valley resort. The Rolling Stones performed 3 nights at Alpine Valley (Sept. 8, 9 & 11, 1989). These were the bands' first performances in Wisconsin since 1975 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The band was interviewed by ABC's 20/20 during their stay in East Troy, WI. Phish has played Alpine Valley 20 times; their live album, entitled, ''
Live Phish Volume 5 ''Live Phish Vol. 5'' was recorded live at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin, a small town that is located Southwest of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 8, 2000. At the time of its release, the album received a mixed reaction from fans, as it ...
'', was recorded here on July 8, 2000. In 2010 Phish released a two dvd two CD set of their August 14 performance at the venue that year. Phish performed one of the longest jams of the Phish 3.0 period (post break up), playing a version of the song "Ruby Waves" lasting 38 minutes on 07/14/2019. The Ozzfest tour came here almost every year and the CD, ''Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millennium'', is culled from performances here. The
Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and back ...
has played a two night stand each year at Alpine Valley since 1999 except for 2001, 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2018. Their live releases, ''Live Trax Vol. 8'' was recorded on August 7, 2004, ''Live Trax Vol. 15'' was recorded on August 9, 2008, and ''Live Trax Vol. 36'' was recorded on July 26, 2015.
Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey (manager), Phil H ...
performed during their
Twisted Logic Tour The Twisted Logic Tour was the third concert tour undertaken by British rock band Coldplay. It was launched in support of their third studio album, '' X&Y'' (2005) on 15 June 2005, in Hamburg. Before the concert run, they embarked in a series ...
on August 13, 2005. It was their largest American show ever, as it sold out the entire venue. Korn recorded the music video for their song " Politics", during the Alpine Valley stop of the Family Values Tour on August 26, 2006.
Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerf ...
played a concert at Alpine Valley, with
Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line- ...
, for their only announced solo show, on August 24, 2007. Rage Against the Machine would later use the venue to kick off their twice-delayed
Public Service Announcement Tour The Public Service Announcement Tour was a reunion tour by American rock band Rage Against the Machine, which began on July 9, 2022, at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin and concluded early on August 14, 2022, at Madison Square ...
on July 9, 2022 - their first performance in almost 11 years. The Black Crowes filmed their " Hard to Handle" music video here. Pearl Jam,
Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and back ...
, Rush and Phish have all regarded Alpine Valley as one of their favorite venues to play. Former Phish road manager Brad Sands regards Alpine Valley as his favorite venue to see the band. Pearl Jam also played their only scheduled U.S. dates at the venue in 2011, as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations. Dead and Company (with former members of the Grateful Dead) have played Alpine Valley Music Theater four times, twice in the Summer of 2016 and twice in the Summer of 2018. On June 23, 2018,
Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...
of
Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...
was a guest with Dead and Company for four songs. The June 22 and June 23, 2018 performances marked the 30th anniversary of Grateful Dead concerts at this venue in the summer of 1988, when they played four shows over five nights. On September 21, 2019,
Farm Aid Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers. History On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United Sta ...
performed at Alpine Valley to a crowd of 36,000, marking the second time the fundraiser came to the state of Wisconsin.


See also

* List of contemporary amphitheatres


References


External links


Alpine Valley Music Theatre - Official SiteHistory of Alpine Valley Music Theatre
{{Authority control Amphitheaters in the United States Theatres completed in 1977 Buildings and structures in Walworth County, Wisconsin Music venues in Wisconsin Theatres in Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Walworth County, Wisconsin