Grateful Dead

I had food, water soda and money this time. I had front row for Dylan the day before and yes, had to go to work after Dylan and all of the Dead shows at Alpine. This is when all of the people started showing up. Great show and lots and lots of people.

Yeah, I remember thinking "Foolish" was "Tangled Up In Blue" at first as it was a first. I was a little let down when Garcia started singing a different tune. But I was won over by the end of the tune. We made the shows from New Hampshire in good time in a car with suicide doors. I was ill prepared and had no tent and maybe one extra shirt. I slept in other people's tents and under the car.

I was still relatively new to the scene at that point and didn't recognize that it was a first time new song and was really grooving it in the front row when I heard someone say it was a new song and realised what a special moment it was. Somehow it had a special energy even before I'd heard it was a new song. Must have been because the boys were buzzing to break it out. A great, great time that Alpine run!! Are you kind?

I believe this was the Sunday show with about 60,000 people on the grounds ! A great scene, cars abandoned along the nearby freeway, just a real trip ! People I worked with could not believe we made it there and back. And a great show, of couse

It was 1988 after all, my friend Heidi and I tried to count all of them, but quickly lost count. Saw "WISNIP" on the way to the show. Left all my cash in one of the 100 or so Port-o-Lets...realized it after walking back to the main gate, RAN BACK with Heidi yelling behind me which one to check--how she knew which one I had used, I'll never figure out-swung open the door, and SHAZAM! there was my little film canister, untouched! Enough money for food, beer, and "odds and ends"!

What a complete load of horseshit that whole scene was. I ended up selling my ticket --which was supposed to be an "extra"-- and fled during the second set of the first show. --Total crowd mismanagement by Alpine Valley. They should've started by kicking everybody out of the lots after the Dylan & Petty gig the night before and not letting anyone back in until first light...or just scheduled the Dylan & Petty gig for a different night. --It was a summer of intense heat and drought, and it wasn't about to get better anytime soon. Everybody was ready for October by the middle of June as it was, and it certainly wasn't conducive to "roughin' it" for five days in a dirt-and-gravel parking lot surrounded by cornfields and cow pasture. --Ticketron never sent the tickets that the boss and I ordered by phone (all four shows for me, and just the Sunday for him) about ten days to two weeks before the first gig, so we phoned in two days before the show and were told to go to willcall, which I knew from trying to score tickets up there the year before was going to involve, literally speaking, a daylong outdoor wait amidst a teeming mob (comprised largely of complete and total jabbering imbeciles) that never seemed to move. So with showtime approaching, and as he was getting swallowed up in the whole willcall nightmare (which he eventually abandoned, once he finally got inside the building after waiting for about six hours), I snapped and sold what was supposed to have been my spare ticket for face value to a complete stranger, and he and I jumped into his van and fled during the second set. I ended up going back for the latter two gigs of the four-show run, but in any case I was well pissed off about it at the time and remain so to this day. Between the dry heat, Alpine's ineptitude in controlling its own space, what I allege to be Ticketron's fraudulent sales practices (they had no intention of mailing the tickets that we ordered and hoped that we wouldn't remember to demand that the charges be rescinded) and the presence of literally thousands of complete jackholes who wouldn't know the Grateful Dead from an abscessed boil on their ass, it was an unmitigated relief to get the hell outta there for a couple of days after an intolerable first 18 hours' worth of it. First and only time I've turned my back on it all, and I'd do precisely the same damn thing all over again. Glad the rest of y'all had such a great time, though!

I rode my Sportster up from Illinois to Milwaukee for Harley's 85th anniversary bash then over to my real destination. Very inviting crowd. Got a ticket and supplies in no time. I had a blanket across the handle bars thing going. Hot. They did try to get everybody out of the camping area at some ridiculous hour... Sorry to the guy selling the "Picture a Bright Blue Ball Spinningx2 Free" TShirt I lost in the crowd. If you hear clapping on your tapes from this show, it was me. Sorry. I ended up a little too close to the taper section. The show seemed short. I was bummed I couldn't stay, I had to ride home south on Monday directly into the heat of the day... This site is cool. I haven't thought of that weekend in awhile. Cheers to the guy who called me Chief. Yeah, I still have the bike. Right On Tom

This was my first Grateful Dead show that involved some extensive travel and camping--needless to say it was overwhelming. Once we got in and parked it was fine, but getting in and out was ridiculous. With all the problems, these Alpine shows were the ones that stamped the "steal your face" on my brain forever. Sure--the bottle was dusty, but the doses were clean!

I got tix for shows 2, 3, & 4 in Madison on 6/19, 1 sold out, trusted to luck for the 1st nite. Made it into the lot and proceeded to relax. There was a carful of youngsters next to me, the most outgoing of which walked right up and introduced himself. He'd never seen the Dead, and was really anxious to. A couple hrs later I saw a guy walking to the side of the lot to take a leak carrying a ticket, I asked him if it was an extra for tonight, he looked at it and said "Oh, yeah, I forgot, I've got to get rid of this, someone couldn't make it", and was kind of apologetic for wanting face value for it...What luck! Later, close to showtime, the kid in the car next door, had kind of passed out and his friends, none of which really seemed like they were into the Dead anyhow, abandoned him and were going into the show. I tended to him and got him woke up and gave him water and aspirin, and walked with him to the turnstiles. We parted ways and as the band was playing an opening "1/2step" I noticed my seat was in the pavillion! As I kept making it through layers of security and making 1/2steps towards the stage, I finally saw my seat was in the front row!!! I truly felt like a stranger but right at home in the spit zone, between Bob and Phil. I saw the gentleman I bought the ticket from next to me, and thanked him again. Promised Land seemed fitting, as I have always relied on the kindness of strangers, foolish heart of mine. Sorry old "mythical suckfest" had such a lousy time, and after all who does the weather command? but not me!

This was an interesting trip. Had to abandon the car on the side of the insterstate and trek across a cow field and golf course to get to the first night's show. Very hot, dry and dusty but still an enjoyable time. Met some very friendly people including a guy named "pond scum" and some heavily accented New Yorkers.Tim

I loved the dust bowl shows. great year, also a great run at alpine in 89' had a great time selling tequila shots for a buck. made alot of friends in those years when Jerry was at the top of his game and taught me how to listen to music. Spencer

Got busted by the heat (literally) going into the shows. A friend of mine was ashing a cigarette into an empty beer can. A dude way up on a cherry picker pointed at our car out of the thousands waiting and the cops rushed in. They said to turn and a drive back to the farm house where it looked like, "all them hippie scums be partying." They had set up a make shift court room. We had two pay two 90 dollars open container fines or have our car searched. Talk about a scam! We had been warned about the a-holes at the valley and had stashed everything in the trunk cept the ashtray can (didn't know it was contraband). What a mistake. They took half our money for a 5 day stay. With the kindness of other we were amply fed and impaired. Thanks for noting suckass Alpine cops and thanks for everything my brothers and sisters.

Kevin-n-Maine ---This place rocked we drove from Portland,Maine with mail order tickets for the whole tour ending in Maine. This was the longest stay I have ever had in a parking lot over a week we got thier before Dylan. The night before was Hank Williams Jr. It was a hot week and water was finnally delivered in milk trucks or you could shower for $3 from the neighbors little side business. I remember a sweet "Blackbird "by bobby one of the nights and of course all the new Foolish Heart songs. I had seats each night in the amputheater it was cool. Wow if I could only go back in time. Kevin Rickett Portland, Me

my memories of the whole week are a bit hazy but small bits n pieces,a bunch of us were there the night before for Dylan and Petty and stayed over in the parking-lot where we camped for the week. On the way to Dylan, the night before in the middle of the night, driving around the farmland of southern Wisconsin, we tried to camp out in a state park named Bong State Park- just for the name we had to stop. It was a real hot and dry summer and without thinking- first thing we did was throw the firewood off the back of truck to start a fire. Bad move, within minutes we were surrounded by the Bong park rangers who were a bit aggressive and threatened to bust the lot of us. We finally calmed everybody down, put out the fire and went to a more secluded part of park and crashed. At sunrise, all I remember was waking up and staring at the entire burned out park- it was clear they had had a big fire there which you couldn't see the night before- there must not have been a moon because it was pitch black outside. My first thought was, did we do this? and lets get outa here quick. We were laughing so hard we had tears. It sounds bad, but after long reflection- we decided we did not start the fire. We made it in time for Dylan, he was great. Then it gets hazy. I remember faces of people I met outside the concert grounds, it was a good time with lots of people, and lots of people looking for a cold drink, it was so hot. I remember we did have an extra ticket and I gave it to a guy who was very happy to have it. I think that I may have been the one who gave Fishman the extra tic for face value. I do remember being way upfront in front row?, I do not know how we got those tickets? But, the show was great, it was a good crowd once the show started. I can't remember if my friends even made it in to the first show of four? but I had great time. I wrote this mostly to say hey to Fishman who I think I may have known you. Glad you had good time. still blissful

Got to see Dylan the night before, got a ride to these shows from someone I met the day we left (Rick?). Had way too much way too fast (pretty much every night).

Very dry, hot and dusty for all four shows. I could not believe the amount of people in the area for the first show, Sunday 6-19-88. I swear there were 60,000 in the show but 100,000 people the area.

Some of you got your years mixed up. Dylan and Petty & The Heartbreakers played before the 1986 run of Alpine shows. I know cuz I was at that show, but left the next day for London so I couldn't go to the Dead shows. Dylan did play before these 1988 GD shows, but he was already into the Never Ending Tour by then. I saw the Dead for the 87, 88, and 89 Alpine runs and had the greatest time.