Episode 114: Alpine Valley, WI (The Ice Bowl) – 10/8/2000

Bundle up and put on your Bernie mittens because this episode will leave you freezing your ass off! This one covers the infamous Ice Bowl show from Alpine Valley on the 2000 tour. On an October night where temperatures dipped down to 28 degrees, the band took the stage and ripped through a 26 song setlist as if they were inside an arena. Joining us to share his stories is our Patron, Kirk Walton, who was there that night to witness all of it!

After you see the band take the stage wearing jackets and blowing on their hands to keep warm, they burst through Of The Girl and Hail Hail before Ed greeted the crowd by welcoming them to the Ice Bowl. The nickname given to an infamous Packers/Cowboys game at Lambeau Field in 1967 where they played in -15 degree temperature conditions. From there on out, the band zipped through the set playing familiar songs in order to keep the crowd warm.

From all this information shared, you’d assume the band would’ve struggled throughout this set, but quite the opposite! If you listen to the boot, there are small instances where you can tell what the conditions are (Ed singing “it’s too fucking cold to sing” during Corduroy) but aside from that, if you replaced this with an arena show bootleg you would barely be able to tell the difference. The band jammed through great versions of Insignificance, Dissident, Black, Porch and Smile to help make this memorable night unforgettable.