Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 Tour 50th Anniversary: April 7 – Wembley, England

In April 1972, the Grateful Dead embarked on their now-legendary Europe ’72 Tour. The band performed 22 times between April 7 and May 26, resulting in the landmark triple live LP, Europe ’72 that was released in October of that year. To celebrate the legacy of the band’s historic tour abroad, JamBase presents a retrospective look back at each of the Europe 1972 Grateful Dead performances.

The Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 tour began on Friday, April 7 with the first of two concerts at Empire Pool in Wembley, England (currently called OVO Arena Wembley). The band was coming off a late-March run in New York City that solidified vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux as a full-time member of the group. The rest of the band consisted of Donna’s husband, keyboardist Keith Godchaux, guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, drummer Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Phil Lesh and keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan.

The shows in Wembley were originally scheduled to be held at the Rainbow Theatre but the venue, where Pink Floyd performed Dark Side Of The Moon in January, went bankrupt shortly before the Dead and their approximately 50-person entourage of crew, family and friends crossed the Atlantic. The concerts were first moved to the Commodore Theatre in Hammersmith (tickets were even printed) before tour manager Sam Cutler secured the larger Wembley Pool.

According to the Europe ’72 album liner notes, among those accompanying the band were:

• Equipment – [Sonny] Heard, [Rex] Jackson, Kid [Bill Candelario], [Steve] Parrish, Ramrod [Lawrence Shurtliff], [Mark “Sparky”] Razine, [Joe] Winslow, Barry [Gutman], Rudzo [Rudson Shurtliff]
• Technical assistance – Dan Healy
• Stage lighting – Candace Brightman, Ben Haller
• Recording – Betty Cantor, Jim Furman, Bob Matthews, Rosie [McGee], Wizard [Dennis Leonard]
• Management – Annette [Flowers], Bonnie [Parker], Sam Cutler, Dale [Franklin], Francis [Shurtliff], Jon McIntire, David Parker, Rock Scully, Sue [Swanson], Alan Trist
• Family – Cathy, Christie, Francis, Frankie [Hart], Kitty, Mary, Mary Ann [Meyer], Mountain Girl [Carolyn Adams], Susula [Kreutzmann]

“Chinatown Shuffle,” one of the few songs written entirely by Pigpen, was performed in the first set, at the time marking its eighth appearance in a setlist. Pigpen would also sing lead and play harmonica later in the opening set on a version of the Jimmy Reed-popularized “Big Boss Man.” Pigpen got a third turn singing lead in the first set, steering the band through his Robert Hunter-cowrite “Mr. Charlie” as he would do each and every performance of the Europe 1972 tour.

The penultimate song of the first set was “Playing In The Band,” the other song played at all 22 European gigs. The officially released complete concert recording is missing the first set closing “Casey Jones” and the opening set’s aforementioned “Big Boss Man” fades out before its completion.

Prior to the start of the second set, Weir introduced “Truckin’” by saying, “We’re gonna start this set off with a song that went straight to the top of the charts, numero uno, in Turlock, California.” Billy K’s drums bridged the opener with a nearly 20-minute “The Other One” that enveloped a cover of “El Paso” before returning for another eight minutes of “The Other One.”

After the subsequent “Wharf Rat,” Cutler can be heard asking the audience to clear the aisles, joking that the cops needed a space to dance. Before the start of the Friday night encore offering of “One More Saturday Night,” Phil informed an audience member that the band no longer plays all night, while Bobby once again presented the song as a popular single.

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A portion of a review written by Robin Denselow and published in The Guardian the following day read:

At the Empire Pool, last night, they slid casually into a set that was to last over three hours. They played an all-American fusion: blues, country, rock and ballads, sometimes separately, sometimes merged together with improvised, meandering guitar solos from Jerry Garcia.

Their approach to it all was so unspectacular and some of their first material so unoriginal (“Big boss man” yet again) that it took the first hour before the quality of their playing could be appreciated. It is often argued that they are the best live band in America, and last night it was easy to understand why.

They respect their roots and dip in and out of them. A long drawn out, delicate Garcia solo crashed suddenly into the sentimental cowboy ballad “El Paso” and then back into a long blues. The Dead have to be heard live, their immediacy, skill and variety have never been fully captured on record.

Here are additional statistics and information regarding the first show of the Grateful Dead’s Europe 72 tour:

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Setlist (via JerryBase)

Soundcheck: Hey Bo Diddley, Mr. Charlie [1], Tennessee Jed [1], Looks Like Rain [1]

Set One: Greatest Story Ever Told, Sugaree, Chinatown Shuffle, Me And My Uncle [2], China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Big Boss Man, Black Throated Wind, Loser, Mr. Charlie, Beat It On Down The Line, Tennessee Jed, Playing In The Band, Casey Jones

Set Two: Truckin’ [3] > Drums [3] > The Other One [3] > El Paso [3] > The Other One [3] > Wharf Rat [3], Ramble On Rose, Sugar Magnolia, Not Fade Away [2] > Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad [2] > Not Fade Away

Encore: One More Saturday Night

Notes:

• [1] Submitted by Jesse Jarnow (thank you!): according to user MaddieDigital on Dead.net they played this song.
• [2] released on Europe ’72 Volume 2
• [3] released on Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead: England ’72

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Below, stream the official recording of the Grateful Dead’s April 7, 1972 concert at Empire Pool in Wembley, England or check out (low quality) audience recordings via Archive.org: