Alpine Valley

Music theater had closed this summer for first time in 40 years

East Troy music theater will be back in business in 2018.

Following a no-show season this past summer — its first in 40 years — Alpine Valley Music Theatre will be back in business in 2018.

Jon Reens, vice president of marketing for Midwest music for Live Nation, the concert promotion company that manages the 27,100-capacity East Troy amphitheater, confirmed the reopening Friday.

Reens said Live Nation was not ready to announce any acts for the 2018 season. He wasn’t available for further comment Friday.

Alpine Valley was once one of the country’s premiere live music venues, particularly in the 1980s. The Grateful Dead played the venue 20 times that decade.

The amphitheater’s venue popularity arguably peaked in 1989, when the Dead, the Rolling Stones, the Who and Metallica all played that summer.

But show numbers and attendance figures have dropped dramatically over the years, and this year, Reens said Live Nation was unable to lure any acts.

Meanwhile, there’s been greater competition for big outdoor concerts from nearby urban and suburban venues.

Milwaukee’s American Family Insurance Amphitheater (formerly the Marcus Amphitheater), which opened in 1988, hosts 11 big shows each Summerfest. Live Nation owns and operates the 27-year-old Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park outside Chicago and Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island in Chicago, which was remodeled in 2013 to accommodate up to 30,000 people.

Surging concert business at Wrigley Field this past summer — triggered in part by the Chicago Cubs’ historic 2016 World Series win — appears to have been the knockout blow to Alpine. While Alpine was shut down, Wrigley hosted a record 10 concerts — including Alpine perennials Jimmy Buffett and the Zac Brown Band.

Buffett and Brown are expected to hit the road this year, as is the Dave Matthews Band, Alpine’s most frequent headliner this past decade. All three acts have yet to announce summer tour dates.

During the off year, Live Nation planned to make roof repairs, upgrade concessions equipment and make other modifications at Alpine, Reens told the Journal Sentinel in March.

An affiliate of Zilber Property Group in Milwaukee has been a longtime owner of the facility.

It briefly put Alpine for sale for $8.4 million in 2014.