Alpine Valley Music Theatre is a 30,000-capacity

amphitheater An amphitheatre ( U.S. English: amphitheater) 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 ('), meaning "place for vie ...

located on County Highway D in

East Troy, Wisconsin East Troy is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,673 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. As of 2020, th ...

. The seasonal venue was built in 1977 and it features a wooden roof, covering the 7,500-seat

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

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 * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, Rockford, and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The amphitheater was purchased by Nederlander Concerts in 1993, and later acquired by SFX (now

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational Entertainment industry, entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Live Nation (events promoter), Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It ...

) 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 An ...

, Furthur Festival,

H.O.R.D.E. Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere or H.O.R.D.E. Festival was a concert tour, 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 ...

Festival,

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

Monsters of Rock Monsters of Rock was a hard rock and heavy metal music festival. It was originally held annually in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as th ...

Festival,

Ozzfest Ozzfest was an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband O ...

, 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 Beastie Boy ...

and World Series of Rock Festival.

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and a member of the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 196 ...

headlined the venue's inaugural event on June 30, 1977.

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (December 25, 1946 – September 1, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter, author, and businessman. He was known for his tropical rock sound and persona, which often portrayed a lifestyle described as "island escapis ...

& The

Coral Reefer Band The Coral Reefer Band is the touring and recording band of American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett (until Buffett's death in September 2023). The band's name alludes to both coral reefs (in line with Buffett's tropical-themed music) and "reefe ...

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 music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

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 music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

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'', 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 Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...

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 (also known as SRV; 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 (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

& Double Trouble played at the amphitheater along with other

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

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 Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

and his brother

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan Jr. (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was a founding member of The Fabulous Thunder ...

. 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 The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

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 Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

has played Alpine Valley 26 times; their live album, entitled, ''

Live Phish Volume 5 ''Live Phish Vol. 5'' is a live album by American rock band Phish, which was recorded live at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin, a small town that is located southwest of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 8, 2000. At the ...

'', was recorded here on July 8, 2000. In 2010 Phish released a two

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

two CD set of their August 14 performance at the venue that year. Phish has performed two of their longest post-2009 hiatus jams at the venue, playing a version of the song "Ruby Waves" lasting 38 minutes on 07/14/2019 and a version of "Simple" eclipsing 40 minutes on 07/27/2024. 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 as DMB) is an American rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The band's lineup consists of Dave Matthews (lead vocals, guitar), Stefan Lessard (bass), Carter Beauford (drums), Tim Reynolds (lead guitar), R ...

has played a two night stand at Alpine Valley numerous times since 1999. 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. In 2024, the band's second night of their two night stand was evacuated and postponed due to a severe thunderstorm and a nearby tornado. The band returned the following week to play the show.

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

recorded the music video for their song "

Politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

", 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 Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

played a concert at Alpine Valley, with

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...

, 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 Squ ...

on July 9, 2022 - their first performance in almost 11 years.

The Black Crowes The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes ten studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer Geo ...

filmed their " Hard to Handle" music video here.

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

, 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.

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

Notable performances

See also

References

External links