Alpine Valley Music Theatre facts for kids
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Alpine Valley
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| Location | County Highway D East Troy, Wisconsin |
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| Coordinates | 42°44′16″N 88°26′01″W / 42.73778°N 88.43361°W |
| Owner | Consolidated-Tomoka Land Company |
| Operator | Live Nation |
| Type | Outdoor amphitheater |
| Seating type | Reserved, Lawn |
| Capacity | 30,000 |
| Opened | 1977 |
The Alpine Valley Music Theatre is a large outdoor concert place in East Troy, Wisconsin. It's called an amphitheater, which means it's a special kind of outdoor stage with seats that rise up. This cool venue opened in 1977. It has a big wooden roof that covers 7,500 seats. There's also a huge grassy area where 30,000 people can sit on the lawn to watch shows. For a while, it was the biggest amphitheater in the whole United States!
Alpine Valley is located in a spot that's about the same distance from big cities like Madison, Milwaukee, Rockford, and Chicago. This makes it easy for many people to visit. Over the years, the ownership of the theater has changed a few times. In 2019, Consolidated-Tomoka Land Company bought it, but Live Nation still manages the concerts there.
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Famous Concerts and Festivals
Alpine Valley Music Theatre has hosted many amazing concerts and music festivals. Some of the well-known festivals that have taken place here include Family Values Tour, Furthur Festival, H.O.R.D.E. Festival, Lollapalooza, Monsters of Rock, Ozzfest, PJ20 Festival, Projekt Revolution, and Tibetan Freedom Concert.
Early Performances and Regular Visitors
The very first concert at Alpine Valley was on June 30, 1977, with Boz Scaggs as the main performer. Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band also played there in its first summer. They have returned almost every year since 1995, except for a few times. The famous rock band Aerosmith also performed in 1977 and has played at Alpine Valley fourteen times!
Legendary Bands at Alpine Valley
The Grateful Dead played at Alpine Valley 20 times between 1980 and 1989. They even recorded part of their album, Dick's Picks Volume 32, here in 1982. Their concert video, Downhill From Here, shows performances from 1989.
Journey recorded a live album called "Rollin' On" at Alpine Valley on September 5, 1981. This concert was even broadcast live on radio stations in Chicago and Los Angeles, California.
The band Mötley Crüe filmed their music video for "Same Ol' Situation" during a concert here on July 7, 1990.
On August 26, 1990, the blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughan and his band Double Trouble played at the amphitheater. Other great blues artists like Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray's brother Jimmie Vaughan also performed. After the concert, Stevie Ray Vaughan and four others were in a helicopter that crashed into a nearby ski hill. Everyone on board was killed in the accident.
The Rolling Stones performed three nights at Alpine Valley in September 1989. These were their first shows in Wisconsin since 1975. The band was even interviewed by a TV show called 20/20 while they were in East Troy.
Phish and Dave Matthews Band
The band Phish has played at Alpine Valley 26 times. Their live album, Live Phish Volume 5, was recorded here on July 8, 2000. In 2010, Phish released a DVD and CD set of their August 14 performance that year. Phish has also played some of their longest songs at this venue, including a 38-minute version of "Ruby Waves" in 2019 and a 40-minute version of "Simple" in 2024.
The Dave Matthews Band has often played two-night shows at Alpine Valley since 1999. Several of their live albums, including Live Trax Vol. 8 (2004), Live Trax Vol. 15 (2008), and Live Trax Vol. 36 (2015), were recorded here. In 2024, one of their shows was stopped and rescheduled because of a big thunderstorm and a tornado nearby. The band came back the next week to play the show.
Other Notable Performances
The Ozzfest tour came to Alpine Valley almost every year. The CD, Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millennium, features performances from this venue.
Korn filmed the music video for their song "Politics" at Alpine Valley during the Family Values Tour on August 26, 2006.
Rage Against the Machine played a concert at Alpine Valley with Queens of the Stone Age on August 24, 2007. Rage Against the Machine also started their "Public Service Announcement Tour" here on July 9, 2022. This was their first performance in almost 11 years!
The band The Black Crowes filmed their music video for "Hard to Handle" at Alpine Valley.
Many famous bands, like Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Rush, and Phish, have said that Alpine Valley is one of their favorite places to play. Pearl Jam even chose Alpine Valley for their only scheduled U.S. concerts in 2011, as part of their 20th anniversary celebration.
See also
- List of contemporary amphitheatres
