Alpine is similar to Disney World (or Disneyland for you west coasters
) for DMB fans. The place is truly magical and quite frankly, where your DMB dreams come true. N1 was a bit of a letdown but I was on such a high for even being in that crowd that the lackluster set didn't effect me too much. Smooth Rider and Bayou weren't the letdowns either, granted they were shockers but you can't let 2 songs ruin an entire night. I can honestly say I've never seen them so out of it and just out of sync, they looked dead up there and every song, even Nancies just seemed all too routine. Ants was really crazy though and I think that woke them up, they went up to 7 hits on the end jam there, Carter was having some fun with it too.
Night 2 was absolutely unreal, I still to this day can't fully put it into words. What happened there can only be explained by the tapes, and the crowd. From the opening chords of Proudest Monkey to the last wail on Halloween, the place was alive. I felt like that was the true Alpine experience and it only made me wonder what it must've been like in 08 when they put on the top 2 best shows of the entire tour, and not just one great night. Night 2, best show I've ever seen bar none, best crowd I've ever seen, and I'll be back next year. Who's with me?
Here is a more in-depth review I posted in the other forum, just in case you want an entire recap of the whole weekend.
http://antsmarching.org/forum/showthread.php?t=259620