“It is said that, if you lined up all those who have ever been to a Grateful Dead concert head-to-toe, the line would stretch around the moon, and about halfway back. And nobody would complain!”
WSLR is slowly coming back with a very sparse number of live studio programmers, albeit with very specific
instructions as to how to protect both ourselves and our fellow WSLR volunteers.
Grateful Dead
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin
June 29, 1986
SBD > Cassette Master (Tascam Deck/TDK SA-X90)
All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller
Aud: 2 Nakamichi CM100s/ CP4>Sony WMD6 w/Teac MDX90 cassette masters.
Sec 2 Row KK Seat 44 Stand head height
Recorded and transferred by David Cohen
I start with the soundboard for this evening, but, opening up the 8-o’clock hour with Set 2, Shakedown through
Eyes, Jerry is way background, so I opted for this admirable audience recording. The last half hour we will go
back to the soundboard:
Disc 1 – Set 1:
- crowd
- Mississippi Half Step >
- Franklins Tower >
- Dancin’ in the Streets
- Brown Eyed Women >
- New Minglewood Blues
- Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
- //Stagger Lee
- Samson & Delilah
Disc 2 – Set 2:
- crowd
- Shakedown Street >
- Estimated Prophet >
- Eyes of the World >
- Drums >
- Space >
- The Other One >
- Wharf Rat >
- Throwing Stones >
- Not Fade Away
Encore:
- U.S. Blues
This is the only review of Charlie Miller’s soundboard:
REVIEW: Jerry’s guitar on 3 tunes?
I don’t know why this is, but Jerry’s guitar is barely audible on Shakedown Street, Estimated Prophet and Eyes
Of The World on the soundboard…I thought this could not have occurred live at the concert and I was right…I
listened to the audiences and you can clearly hear him plain as day on those…puzzled by this
These reviews are from David Cohen’s aud recording:
REVIEW: Sweet!
Great sounding audience!! Incredible day at Alpine this was. Hot show, from start to finish. The parking lot was
crazy, a lot of weird stuff went down for these two shows. Thanks to the taper for getting these Gems out there!
REVIEW: Alpine is melting….
Due to that summer heat..? I like this source out all of them. The opening three numbers are really solid and
feature great playing. This is a great show to put on while driving to a summer festival. It will pleasantly
surprise you as to how decent it is.
These reviews are from another aud:
REVIEW: A much better show…
…than the previous days. Half Step>Franklin’s>Dancin’ to open, and Samson and Delilah to close the first
set…hell yeah. The second set didn’t break any new ground, but it had me up and movin’ for the whole show.
Although I still didn’t get what all of the fuss was about musically, I absolutely fell head over heals in love with
the scene in and around the shows…
REVIEW: Sunday At Alpine
readers will see my soft spot for Alpine, but year after year it delivered. While 86 and particularily this point
were not a high one with Jerry heading towards illness, this was still a strong show. Great songs in the first set
with fun versions capped off with the Samson closer for a Sunday afternoon. 2nd set had a great Shakedown and
one of my favorite 80’s Estimateds for the psychedlic Bobby Screaming and Healy effects.
REVIEW: Competent, But Not Outstanding
This show is light years ahead of the previous night at the Valley. Still, song tempos are fast, song lengths are
shorter than average, and the musicianship, while solid, is not inspired. Not bad, but not great, either. Ho-hum. 3
stars.
REVIEW: My First Dead Show!
Wow- what a trip- the first of 70 some-odd dead shows I saw in my life- and this was a great one!
REVIEW: First & Last Shakedown
This was my first of around 60 shows, so it has a special place in my heart. In all of those shows I only saw two
Shakedowns. My first was the second set opener at my first dead show, and the second and last was the second
set opener at my last show at Portland Meadows in 95. An amazing Shakedown sandwich, although I cannot
figure out for the life of me how I was able not to see another Shakedown between 1986 and 1995.
REVIEW: Round the Wheel, Round the Wheel, Round the Wheel
Lots of highlights at this show for me, but the Space>Other One>Wharf Rat took my face off at this show!!!!!!
One of the more intense moments of my 100 shows attended. You can’t really hear it on this version (I had a
better audience tape), but the way bobby’s voice and Jerry’s guitar spun around Alpine that night was
outstanding. Healy shut down the effect on Bobby’s voice right after it just went insane “round the wheel, round
the wheel”. Oh man, what an outrageous Alpine run this way. (one of the last Shakedown’s I saw too (85-95).
