Grateful Dead Europe '72

The Dead had played a couple of one off performances in Europe in 1970 and 1971 but the Europe '72 tour would be their first massive tour overseas. The band had decided that they wanted to make it a working vacation by taking friends and family along. They also decided that it would be cool to record all the shows on the tour for a live album. To help pay for some of the costs, the band had a week long run at the Academy of Music in New York where Donna joined as an official full time member following her husband Keith who had joined the previous Fall. The band was riding high on the success of albums like Workingman's Dead, American Beauty and Skull & Roses as well as Jerry's first solo album. They had just finished work on Bob's Ace as well as having a bunch of new unrecorded songs in their set lists. The ALL MUSIC VERSION is STILL available for $450.00 at the Dead's site for those who missed out on the deluxe version. Only 7,200 of the deluxe versions were made and the first 3,000 were personalized.

The band's sojourn began on April 1st with the first shows taking place on April 7 and 8 at the Wembley Empire Pool, London, England. While the first night gets off to a good start and includes a few standout performances, it is eclipsed by some of the shows that followed. The second show finds the band on from the get go and comes to a massive conclusion with an epic Dark Star->Sugar Magnolia->Caution sandwich. The Truckin' jam from the first night and the Dark Star jam from the second have already been released on Steppin' Out.

April 11th found the band performing at the Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne, England and while Bob referred to the crowd as being one of their coldest audiences, the performance is pretty stellar. Cooking versions of Greatest Story Ever Told, Black-Throated Wind, China->Rider and Looks Like Rain fill the first set while an absolutely and unbelievably great Truckin'->Drums->The Other One (which blows away the one on the 7th), Sugar Magnolia and Brokedown Palace end the show on a high note. Looks Like Rain from this show was released on the Expanded Europe '72 and Brokedown appears on Steppin' Out.

The band's fourth show takes place on April 14th at the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark. The band comes racing out of the gate with a rousing Bertha and the first set includes classic versions of many of the Europe '72 standards such as Me And My Uncle, Mr. Charlie (played at every show on this tour), Black-Throated Wind, Chinatown Shuffle and Playing In The Band. The second set includes Truckin' and a cool Dark Star-Sugar Magnolia. For me, The show actually peaks in the first half as I've never thought that the following Caution jam was all that but I'm usually in the minority on that. The Caution jam was released on the Expanded Europe '72 set.

On April 16th, the band hit the Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark and includes great versions of China->Rider, Playing In The Band and one of the best Good Lovin's of the tour as well as seeing a couple of fairly rare at the time songs like Dire Wolf. The second set rocks with a kicking Truckin' jam->The Other One->Me and My Uncle->The Other One->Not Fade Away->Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad->Not Fade Away.

April 17 finds the band back at the Tivoli on their way back out of Denmark and was also broadcast on tv. The show opens with the first Cold, Rain and Snow of the tour and is very well done as well as including the first performance of He's Gone. Once again, songs like China->Rider, Big Railroad Blues and Truckin' are standouts before giving way to a massive jam of Dark Star->Sugar Magnolia-Caution->Johnny B. Goode and ending with a rip roaring One More Saturday Night.

The band then film an appearance for the Beat Club in Bremen, West Germany on April 21st and, while short, did include hot versions of Bertha, Playing In The Band and Truckin'->The Other One.

The entire performance of the April 24th show at the Rheinhalle in Düsseldorf, West Germany has already been released in it's entirety as Rockin' The Rhein but restored to it's correct running order here. It includes a hot Dark Star->Me And My Uncle->Dark Star->Wharf Rat->Sugar Magnolia.

Most of the April 26th show at the Jahrhundert Halle, Frankfurt, West Germany was released as Hundred Year Hall back in 1995. Here we get a new mix as well as the entire show for the first time. The show includes great versions of Bertha, Me And My Uncle, Next Time You See Me, Jack Straw, Playing In The Band, Good Lovin', Dire Wolf as well as the massively hot jam of Truckin'->Drums->The Other One->Comes A Time->Sugar Magnolia and Turn On Your Lovelight->Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad->One More Saturday Night. The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion) was released on the Expanded Europe '72 release.

April 29th finds the band performing at the Musikhalle in Hamburg, West Germany. The show opens with hot versions of Playing In The Band, Sugaree, Mr. Charlie, Black-Throated Wind, China-Rider and Loser. The second set features cool versions of Greatest Story Ever Told and a fun He's Gone before giving way to a MASSIVE jam of Dark Star->Sugar Magnolia->Caution and ends with a rockin One More Saturday Night and a sweet Uncle John's Band.

The band's shows at The Olympia in Paris, France on May 3rd and 4th will feature versions that are familiar to most Heads as quite a few tunes from this run appeared on the original Europe '72 with some adding in the studio after the fact. This would be a good time to point out that, where possible, the overdubs were removed but in some cases, some still remain. The 16 track tapes were originally cut from the master reel to make the master for Europe '72 which is when the overdubs were added. Two track tapes that were made from the tour do circulate without the overdubs. This run features great versions of Jack Straw, Brown-Eyed Women, Hurts Me Too, Greatest Story Ever Told, another great Truckin' jam and Dark Star->Sugar Magnolia.

May 7th, which was also Billy's 26th birthday, finds the band playing the Bickershaw Festival in Wigan, England. The show features good playing all around with standouts being Truckin', Playing In The Band as well as the Dark Star->The Other One->Sing Me Back Home despite Bob having to tune his guitar during The Other One. If I remember right, this is the show that Elvis Costello attended. Playing In The Band and Lovelight->Goin' Down The Road were released on Steppin' Out.

 On May 10th, the band played at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands and includes smokin' versions of Bertha, Black-Throated Wind, Loser, Next Time You See Me, El Paso, The Europe '72 version of He's Gone which unfortunately have the overdubbed vocals. The booklet says they don't but the notes had to be submitted well in advance of the final mastering and when they went to use the original tracks, Jerry's voice was completely erased from the 16 track master tape which caused a notice on a torrent site or two. So here we get the coda and bridge that didn't even get played live until July. As I said before, the two track unedited version does exist. The second set includes a great Truckin' jam.

 May 11th features the band's second and last show in the Netherlands on this tour at the Rotterdam Civic Hall in Rotterdam. Opening with a great version of Playing In The Band and giving way to crispy versions of Sugaree, Mr. Charlie, Black-Throated Wind, Chinatown Shuffle, Good Lovin', and Morning Dew. Tonight's major jam is given to an inspired Dark Star jam that includes Sugar Magnolia, Caution, Who Do You Love before falling into Truckin' and ending with an inspired Uncle John's Band.

May 13th finds the band playing a rescheduled concert due to an equipment truck not arriving and the band having to escape the upset audience by climbing out the fire escape on a moonless night. The first set is good with a nice Bertha, Black-Throated Wind, Chinatown Shuffle, China->Rider and Playing In The Band to end the first set. The second set features a great Truckin'->Drums->The Other One->Big River and Not Fade Away->Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad->Not Fade Away.

On May 16th, the band did a radio broadcast, Radio Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg and the show is rather short for the period. The show does have cool versions of Mr. Charlie, Sugaree, Black-Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Playing In the Band as well as a nice Truckin'->Drums->The Other One->Sing Me Back Home.

May 18th, finds the band at Kongresshalle, Deutsches Museum in Munich, West Germany. Standout versions of Truckin', Sugaree, Jack Straw, Tennessee Jed, El Paso, Hurts Me Too, You Win Again, Good Lovin' and Casey Jones. Set two features features a hot Sitting On Top Of The World->Me And My Uncle with Phil dropping the bomb on Bob when he starts Uncle wwhich doesn't stop Bob at all. Dark Star->Morning Dew->Drums->Sugar Magnolia is outstanding, as is the closing Sing Me Back Home and One More Saturday Night.

May 23, 24, 25, and 26 finds the band wrapping up the tour at The Strand Lyceum in London, England, These shows are probably the most known of the tour as a large chuck of Europe '72 as well as Steppin' Out comes from these shows. These shows include standout versions of Promised Land, Sugaree, Mr. Charlie, Tennessee Jed, Ramble On Rose, Jack Straw, Cold, Rain and Snow, Playing In the Band, Dire Wolf, Rockin Pneumonia as well as wonderful versions of Dark Star, Truckin', The Other One and Sing Me Back Home.