Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

This particular weekend was probably the most fun I ever had seeing The Grateful Dead. The weather was perfect, just before the crowds became overwhelming, onsight camping (though we always stayed at hotels) and three days of perfectly performed music. This night my buddy and I sat 4th row center and we were completely blown away by the quality of the performance. I recall making eye contact with Jerry on several occasions during this show and they were way in the zone. Absolutely perfect show to start a perfect weekend. David Lemieux emailed me saying the tapes from these shows are'nt very good though the band definitely were on top of their game. I've only heard a high gen. audience from this show but would love to hear a couple of new sources. SBD or AUD. If anyone knows someone with clean crispy recordings from this run, please urge them to circulate them and/or send me a personal message on where I can find these.

The AUDs I've heard of Alpine '87 don't come close to doing these shows justice--- from what I remember of them at least!

I went to the summer 87 Alpine valley Shows ...Great shows! The hit album "In the Dark" was just released around the time of these shows.

This was my first show. It was a great time the music was awsome. The bus did come by, and I got on and rode it to the end........ and still going

This was my first as well! Came in green...danced out jonesin' for so much more!! At the time I had no idea where this night was gonna lead me! What a good call!!! ( :

I was at the mickey d's driveup in Madison on the way to the Alpine shows and was hearing "Touch of Grey" on the radio, and thinking....Cool.During the 1st set I was next to some locals, I remember one guy had a shirt with a name stitched on it like some gas station guy or something, and he was skeptical of the Dead and Deadheads and all, and was looking at something (beercup?) with a lineup of all shows that had been at Alpine thru the yrs and talking about all the performers he'd been to there, many of whom I'd not have wasted my cash on, but anyway... I was trying for a couple of songs to explain the unexplainable, delineate the nonlinear, etc., and after a particular riff by Jer and Phil created a rift in my frontal cortex, I kind of drifted off, as the band plainly wanted me to Roll Away!, the bell rung, and I figured I was there to dance and not talk. After an ass-kickin' set, I overheard the local gushing "That was fuckin' amazing! I've never seen such a thing! They play totally dependent on audience reaction!! The more you get into it, the better they play! This is by far the best thing I've ever seen or heard!" and so on....and I was musing, "yes, that's what I was trying to say, by gosh, I think he's got it"... Or, as Monty Burns would say "Yes, excellent..." He's hooked! I also remember the girl who made too much of a splash in a puddle she jumped into, and buying her a beer and trying to talk her thru her near overdose.... hope she turned out ok... then there was the apparent herd mentality manifestation to Stand In Line, at the beer vendor where the thirsty were 8 deep waiting for service, when 30 feet away was an identical booth with no customers, the bartenders laughing, hollering and waving their arms at the linestanders who were oblivious to all except "there's the line, that's where you stand to get beer"... What great shows, it felt like Easter squared, with Jerry come back from the dead and into the Dead and apparently cleaned up and energetic and Alive.... Thus did he become to me for the 1st time to be thought of as the Comeback Kid.

I agree with someone else saying tapes don't do this show justice. It just rocked! Stranger>Franklin's to open and Cassidy>Deal to close the first set, and then the whole second set was just flat out non-stop rocking. There was no way you could have walked away from this show with a dry shirt. Other oddities on this night, Weir was wearing his Madonna shirt and had the pink guitar. Some very weird crap after Eyes that just freaked me out, Phil went crazy during Lovin' and Brent also went a little overboard trying to go into Gloria, and Jerry had to shake his head no. This show was just great and was a springboard for the summer tour where the Dead played great almost every night!

I'll join the chorus of the other folks who were lucky enough to say that this was their first. The energy in the crowd was electric, and the music had a clarity that was simply amazing. Before the show started, somebody asked me what I wanted to hear, and I said "Stranger." I had goosebumps when they opened with it. Following it with "Franklin's" was wild. We were up on the lawn, and this little rain shower settled into the valley for a few minutes. The rain stopped at the exact moment that they finished the song. Spooky... The other clear memory was a noise during drums that sounded like a huge viking horn. It seemed wildly appropriate in the valley. There is a good sounding audience version of this one on the Internet Archive. It has some unfortunate edits that my old tapes don't have, but it sounds better than the tapes.

15th. I had been doing this for a while now, but I just didn't know how long yet until young heads started asking me questions about what was going on. I mean, what am I ,information central? But then it dawned on me that these new deadheads were going to need guidence,and learn what this was all about. It was up to the old timers to protect the scene,and as we learned many years later, we may not have done our job. I loved the new sound of the band, and they were inspired again. First nights of three night runs are usually very good. No exeption here.

Got out of the car in the lot and someone said "Welcome Home."I was pretty lost up on the hill with some friends. "Hey, they're singin Feel Like A Stranger and I do feel like a stranger! (that is cool...)" Then "roll away the dew" to a light mist of rain. (Is this really happening?) Space had jungle animal noises. I remember Black Peter. Jerry sounded like a sick old man. I just kept saying "aww" as he sang. Alpine was a great place to see the band. I think my ticket was 14 bucks or so.

This was our honeymoon! We were in a Camper Van Bethoven with some friends and this may have been the funest time ever in my life. My friend Todd was in a wheelchair after and accident and we had a handi-crapper parking pass. Frisbee became the greatest sport on the planet. We drank mushroom tea.

It still blows me away from time to time the things i missed while at a show.This is where the archives come in so handy.Listening to this show this morning and reading what others thought of the show and out of no where the little feeedback jam out of Eyes knocks me back.I did not recall that at all. Considering I think of myself with a good touring memory. Pretty nice. Also what Brent adds to Chinacat with the sax sound effects.

Did the 900 mile drive from LI starting Thursday morning early with my buddy. We only had 2 tickets for Friday night and 1 ticket for Saturday and 1 for Sunday. Arrived late Thursday night and the lot was open drove in parked and set up the tent. The next morning my friend walked up to the box office and we both had tickets for all three nights. Headed off for Lake Geneva, diner for breakfast and picked up a couple of cases of coldies and some ice. Drove back to Alpine found a good parking spot up front close to the entrance and started setting up camp for the weekend. The Silver Hearts would blur most of the activity that happened outside of the Venue for me; all I remember is smiling, laughing and everyone having a great time. The shows this weekend were great; the energy the first night was unbelievable coming from the stage and the music reflected it. Jungle Music Jam going from Eyes into Drums, Brent trying to get the band to do Gloria and Jerry slamming on those breaks and off into the wheel we went. Sugar Touch and we will see you all tomorrow. Saturday, long first set nicely played but they took a lot of time between songs they had it if I remember correctly I think Friday was 7:30pm - Saturday was 6pm and Sunday was a 3:30pm start times. The second set was one continuous jam always love a good playin' Terrapin. Sunday - really nice first set with The Althea - Little Red - Birdsong - Jack Straw being the highlight. The second set was nice but never got into the flows the first two nights did, packing the bags and heading North of the border I guess. Jerry did Dew us but that and the 1/2 step were the highlights for me. Last time I would go to Alpine but had so much fun there in 86/87 with some of my best friends. The place had a great vibe and you felt safe there camping with 20,000 other people out of their heads and searching for that sound.

Top notch China>Rider and the jam outta Eyes with dogs barking was out of this world...

Can you please tell me how I can listen to the show set? Is there a way?