Fiftieth anniversary celebrated with new releases
The Grateful Dead’s first tour outside of North America was immortalized on Europe ’72, a triple live album that distilled peak moments from the 22 shows the band played in six countries for thousands of Europeans. A triumph critically and commercially when it was released in November 1972, today the double-platinum album is an integral part of the Dead’s live legacy and is beloved by generations of fans. Appreciation for the extraordinary tour grew in 2011 when every show was released in the unprecedented, 73 CD boxed set, Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings.
April 7th marked the 50th anniversary of the first show from the Dead’s European adventure. It took place on April 7, 1972, at Wembley Empire Pool in London. To mark the milestone, Rhino and Dead.net have announced a series of upcoming releases and events connected to the celebrated tour.
Lyceum 1972: The Complete Recordings marks the Dead’s largest vinyl boxed set of all time, a 24 LP collection presenting the final four shows from the tour at London’s Lyceum Theatre in their entirety on 180-gram vinyl for the first time. Limited to 4,000 copies, the set will be released on July 29th and is available exclusively from Dead.net.
Lyceum 1972: The Complete Recordings comes in a colorful slipcase with new artwork by Brian Blomerth. The four shows are organized in individual clamshell boxes, each one features the cover art that Scott McDougall created for each concert in Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings. The accompanying book includes a new in-depth look at the Lyceum shows by noted Dead scholar Nicholas Meriwether.
A newly remastered version of the original Europe ’72 album will also be available on July 29th. Europe ’72 (50th Anniversary Edition) arrives in 2 CD, 180-gram 3 LP, streaming, and digital download versions including Apple Lossless and FLAC 96/24. A special “Bozo Or Bolo” 3 LP version will see a special early release on June 3rd, exclusively on Dead.net. Limited to 5,000 copies, this special edition of the historic album is pressed on psychedelic rainbow vinyl, a visual callback to the original album’s iconic cover design by Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse. Each LP features a 50/50 color split with alternating transparent and neon colors of a rainbow: LP 1 is transparent red and neon orange; LP 2 is transparent yellow and neon green; LP 3 is transparent indigo and neon violet. All of the new 50th anniversary editions were mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Glasser with newly restored audio by Plangent Processes.
Rounding out the list of anniversary releases is Lyceum Theatre: May 26, 1972. This 4 CD set from Rhino spotlights the epic last show of the Dead’s European tour. Notably, it was also the group’s penultimate performance with founding member, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, who died in March the following year. Despite his failing health, Pigpen electrified European audiences with his charismatic performances of “Chinatown Shuffle,” “Good Lovin’” and (his latest song) “The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion).” The tour, and the show, represent a bittersweet capstone to his too-short career.
To jumpstart the 50th anniversary of the Dead’s 1972 European tour, “The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast” has returned for a fifth season that promises to delve deeply into the historic ’72 tour. The first two episodes are available now with new episodes continuing to drop every Thursday for the next eight weeks, allowing for listeners to take a real time retrospective of the tour as it happened 50 years ago. This season also features stories from fans who saw the band on the tour, and there’s still time for people to submit their Europe ’72 stories for later episodes at stories.dead.net
Co-produced by singer-songwriter Rich Mahan and writer/DJ Jesse Jarnow, the Deadcast mixes new interviews with musical dives, surprise turns, and deep archival research, including rare letters home from Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, who sadly passed away less than a year later. Guests include travelers from the band and family including tour architect Sam Cutler, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Steve Parish, and a range of tour attendees, such as Elvis Costello, who says seeing the Dead in 1972 at the Bickershaw Festival was “a revelation.”
Earlier this month, the group premiered “Dead Studies: The Wonders Of Dark Star” on the Grateful Dead’s Official YouTube channel. Host Dr. Graeme M. Boone, professor of musicology at The Ohio State University, presents his detailed analysis of the first “Dark Star” of the Europe ‘72 tour, from Wembley Empire Pool, 50 years to the day of the original performance. Boone’s commentary will be accompanied by a 30+ minute planetarium show synced to the song.
