In 1982 I went to The Greek Theater in Berkeley, Alpine Valley in East Troy and the Fieldhouse in Iowa City. I was a lucky fellow then.
It is hard to remember everything but damn! The Alpine valley Music Theater was in my backyard. It was such a cool place to see the Dead. And it wasn't overcrowded yet. I think I had lawn seats but I am NOT a twirler, I am a railer, so a friend and I snuck up to the front.
No security force ever stopped me in my triple digit number of shows. Only too many mushrooms at one Rosemont Horizon show left me sitting in the back. But, a lot of hugs from strangers was my saving grace that night, thank you.
Let me try to remember this show. I liked the Alabama/Promised rocker opener. The TLEO was sweet. My notes have Rooster written very small. I think I copped an attitude about Rooster back then. We had this thing that we called "M" songs, and while there are no "M"s in Rooster, we thought it was an "M" song. And a set ender Sampson was kind of unexpected. But, I thought the set was F'in excellent. Maybe not as hot as the night before, but it was solid. Man, that Music/sugary/music and Let it Grow the first night was the bomb.
Something about Far From Brent seemed to mark the start of the band putting it into high gear. Every show they did that song all of a sudden the show took off. And this night it rocketed off!
The Scarlet Fire was smokin' and they did this one little thing right before Fire that they never did before or after that real was a mind blower for me. It was like a quick jump thingy. Anyways, Bobby did a nice job with the vocals on Estimated doing his shreek/howl Hah!'s and all, but no Eyes to follow.
This other dude came out during drums and turned the whole thing up a notch. Then some other dude came out on a guitar and leaned against brents stuff or a monitor, I can't remember, and was playing. I could barely hear him. I think they never turned on his guitar? That was the word anyways. I had no idea who the other musicians were on stage and the announcement went right thru my ears.
The bottom line was that post drums was pretty killer. The first set I was able to hang around row D, but by the second set I got pushed back to around row P. It got really packed. Boy oh boy did I like it getting squished in a frenzy of mayhem at a Dead show. And, They came out and did a double encore with some Wang Dang lyrics thrown into the Satisfaction. They did a double encore at the Greek earlier that spring, but despite the "Greek" aura stuff, the Alpine version was better.
The parking lot was just starting to take on the crazy thing that night. People were doing the fireworks and running around naked and there was no way a lot of us were going anywhere in our condition.
After that year, the grocery store in town remembered the Dead Heads. They hired the high school football team to watch the aisles. One guy at each end making sure there were not any thefts going on. The managers ordered like four times more food and way more beer and ice after '82. They had semis filled with beer and ice for us every year after that. Still they would run out.
By the time Touch Of Gray came out, the crowds grew into 100K size. Us Alpine Veterans would park the car and walk down to the Alpine lodge to sit in the A/C and shelter and get all prepped for the show. Enter in the side gate closest to the lodge, and not be standing in THAT LINE. If you were there you know THAT LINE! They barely searched us at the side door. You'd walk up to the gate, show them your ticket and enter. Yah, the rain years and the drought years were no problem. We'd go into the show fresh as all get go. Oh, we learned to get a nice bottle of Champagne (Moet) before shows. Put it in a small cooler stashed in a ski locker, and pop that baby before entering. Didn't matter we were out of our minds high, it was the whole ever expanding experience!
The whole- I can take a day to try and cross the parking lot at Alpine and not find the other side. The finding a guy that is selling his Iowa house (he only had pictures of it in an album). He succeeded in selling it the next day! Finding people have emptied their house of furniture, hauled it all to Alpine for the week of the Dead. So, they could sleep in their own bed. Cook their own food in their kitchen. Jam their stereo at full volume. And yes, they put walls around their house at Alpine. Watching a wedding in a parking lot going on.
1982 was not quite there yet, but the seeds were planted then. Those were some shows!

What's that in the middle of Satisfaction? The first Wang Dang Doodle? Yup. Almost a year before it burst forth on its own, but there it is. Very cool improvisation from Bobby.

Been absent from archive for a long while. Love the early Brent years. So many great shows during this time period....Mike Lee's review cracked me up. Many of us have found ourselves in equally odd situations prior to showtime,during intermission, etc. The stories could fill a semi trailer. Someone should compile a book....ha!! Love many types of music but the days/nights with my buddies at Dead shows have sustain. Great times.

I'm a little amazed to see even slightly negative reviews of this concert. Over the years I saw a lot of shows and not one of them lived up to the sheer electricity of the post drums second set. Jerry's guitar was crackling with energy, the band was hanging very loose and they were taking a few chances...most of which fell right into the groove. That's not to say it was my alltime favorite but, let's face it, most of us weren't there for the vocals, and the playing is topnotch. Anyway, thanks for getting this up there, see you at Soldiers Field. Don't bother to bring the mustard.

The jam between Scarlet>Fire features some Garcinian fish tail lines along to some pretty nifty snare drum work. Very unusual.
Space/jam is somewhat similar to August 3rd.

Not a bad show, but disappointing after the rave reviews and the dropped name of John Cipollina, who barely plays. Overall, the show is disjointed and sloppy, with lots of bad cuts. This is a better recording than the more recent one. There are moments of genius among the slop.

These two Alpine Valley shows were when many Upper Arlington, Ohio kids turned pro!

The music was perfect, with some vocal flubs that did not take away from the experience. The Dead were in the "Gonzo Years", and seemed to be partying as hard as the crowd. They took huge chances and we were all rewarded big time. We were all 17-18 years old at the time, and these shows opened up our minds! The place was about 1/3 full, with only like 8,000-10,000 people. The scene was still pretty underground - Pre Touch.

Standout songs for me were Alabama Getaway, Brown Eyed Woman, Peggy-O, Samson, Far From Me, Fire on the Mountain and Estimated. The double encore was sick with the best Satisfaction ever! I remember being in the Pavillion for the Brokedown Palace and it was VERY bittersweet. I thought it would be the last time I ever saw Jerry since he was getting old - he was 39, but seemed like a 60 year old. I am happy to say that I went to about 70 more shows over the next 13 years from New York to San Francisco.
This show was super long, Jerry was in fine form and I remember it like it was yesterday!

one of the best version's for sure! Oh jerry, you make me feel such a deep, blissful pain. I love you Jer Bear.

This and the night before is what got me hooked for life. I had seen the Dead twice before but this is where everything clicked. Alpine Valley is such an amazing place. The scene was so much fun. Excellent show! I love the jam between Scarlet and Fire. I remember Mickey almost looking pissed during drumz almost in a rant. Then he through a stick off the side of the stage and then Zakir Hussain joined Billy and Mickey for an icredible Drumz leading into The Other One.
One of my absolute favorites. Killer Satisfaction too!

I decided to give this one a try for its 25th anniversary. I'm generally a '71-'77 guy but '82 continues to surprise me and this one's no exception. Jerry sounds remarkably strong (vocally and instrumentally) by eighties standards. I wouldn't say there's non-stop brilliance, but I keep hearing exciting segments that sound fresh to my 70's-soaked ears. Brent in particular gets in a lot of tasteful piano lines that sound distinctly different than what Keith would have played (LLRain and Peggy-O for example). Bobby sounds great once he gets his songs started properly ;) and the drummers are pretty fluid. If I had to say, Phil's probably the only under-achiever here. He's solid and not playing anything "wrong", but he's pretty subdued by Phil standards. In his book, Phil's quite critical of himself during the '75-'84 period, but I still have never heard a show where he sounds bad. Perhaps the Heineken sapped a little of his strength here, though in fairness, Phil's also a bit low in the mix, and that might be influencing my opinion.

As for the sound, it's excellent...very crisp recording and I don't really hear the cassette generation. Like I said, I'd prefer a little more bass, but the mix is excellent otherwise.

Good stuff...fight off any 70's biases and give this one try.

And if you need a good laugh...just listen to the first verse of Estimated....oooooopps

Hands down, this show features the best Satisfaction cover the Grateful Dead ever performed and the Looks Like Rain on this evening is lush well timed. It was performed during a light drizzle and you can virtuallly hear the raindrops dancing off the top of Alpine's pavilion, especially during Wier's breakdown.
Special nod to the Peggy o' and one of the sweetest and most unique Scarlett>Fire sizzlers of the 80's, due in great part to Mickey and Billy truly weaving magic this night. The mix on the snares and drums overall is perfect. They seemed to truly dance as one all night(or whole summer run that year).
Its a dream to hear this pivotal show in such clarity again! Enjoy!

I can't agree with the other raves here. There are enough musical, verbal, and audio flubs throughout for this to feel like an off night.

A mere lad of 18, Alpine 82 were my second and third show. I had dosed before, but never at a Dead show, so I was truly looking forward to the evening. Six friends from Chicago's NW suburbs, five of us dropped 2 hits a piece of some extremely fresh and potent clear pyramids which came on like a ton of bricks well before showtime. Less than an hour since dropping, we sat dutifully in our assigned seats and facing forward, watching the speaker columns waving in sync with the stage and the pavillion roof, none of us able to speak. We sat there in silent unison for what felt like hours as the pre-show tension mounted and the vitamin A came on thicker and heavier and weirder with each passing moment. I remember the speaker columns began inhaling and exhaling quite deeply and wondering what the fuck we had gotten ourselves into. But before a forboding mood could take root, one of my cohorts leaned forward from the end of the row, grinning like a cheshire cat, and exclaimed, "well, i've seen enough -- how bout you guys?" we all laughed very hard and very long and, with that, the dark clouds of tension dispersed and we had the ride of our lives for the next several hours.
damn near 25 years later, i'm still amazed at the level of energy, proficiency and awesome power of this show from start to finish. So lucky to have been able to witness the Dead's Alpine Valley experience another 12 or 13 times or so before leaving the midwest for several years. I've since returned, went to the further fests in the 90's after Jerry's death, but nothing comes close to the Dead -- not even Radiohead who put on a stellar show there a couple years back. Thanks to the submitter for the impeccable quality recording of this show and to the band for it's years of unequaled live-show bliss. Hearing this show again has reaffirmed my belief that music is the greatest mind-altering substance there is and the Dead were the foremost alchemists of rock and roll.
mike lee - chicago

these are good mellow shows around this time

like the Alpine venue

GD are at their best when they don't reach for too much, when it is about the soul and not ego (sacrilege: they are not the greatest technical musicians or singers, thankfully, as most 'technicians' have never made music this good); less hubris the better that's why these shows are good.

Zakir Hussein on drums from Drums to the end, John Cipollina on guitar NFA to the end.
Yet another hot one from the Jerry's 40 tour

im really diggin this nfa , bobbys playin a guitar sound ive never heard u can heard him sliddin up in down the neck sort of a grunge type sounds, really cool, sound is good light on the phil side is my only complaint

Jerry is on fire here! Listen to They Love Each Other. Amazing. This whole run, starting with 7/31 is spectacular.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
The Satisfaction closer with Weir masterfully incorporating the words of Wang Dang Doodle into his improvised rap at the end is awesome and indicative of how much fun the band had playing that night.

The space->other one is trippy and totally cool

The Good Lovin is just a pure pleasure to listen to.

The satisfaction is arguably the best version they ever played - the band was on that night - On the whole maybe or maybe not a top ten show but definitely worth adding to your collection.

BACKGROUND
This was my fiirst dead show. 22 years ago and I remember this show like it was yesterday (which should tell you something about my short term memory). The experience is indelibly inked into my psyche like the the sacred tattoos which adorn the bodies of south pacific islanders when they come of my age.

If you have ever been to Alpine than you know how glorious the place can be a on beautiful summer day. August 8, 1980 was no excpetion. Heads in know have ranked this venue as one of the top spots in the country to catch a show. It is no small coincidence that the Other Ones made their triumph return to the stage at this venerated sanctuary.

!st Set Overview
The show started out with an energetic Alabama->Promised Land leading into an always sweet They Love Each Other. Next the boys pulled from summer anthem songbook with Mama Tried->Mexicali. Loser was anything but and the Lil Red Rooster that followed crowed wonderfully through the Pavilion and out onto the crowded hills above. The Brown Eyed Women in the crowd were given a nod next and the set ended with a trio of flawless and inspired versions of LLRain, Peggy-O and the always rockin' Samson.

Second Set
Rocked begining to end
One caveat - as with most Brent songs, I can take or the leave the Far From Me second set opener.