Grateful Dead’s Europe ‘72 Tour 50th Anniversary: April 14 – Copenhagen, Denmark

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.

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Following three shows in England, the Grateful Dead headed to Denmark for the tour’s fourth performance. The band took off Wednesday, April 11 and Thursday, April 12 to travel by ferry from Harwich, England to Esbjerg, Denmark. On Friday, April 14, 1972, the Dead played the first of two, non-consecutive gigs at the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen.

Located at Tivoli Gardens, the venue was built between 1954 and 1956. Tivoli Concert Hall is still currently in operation and set to host a ballet gala next month.

“Bertha” was selected as the first set opener for the second of what would be a total of eight times on the tour. Set one ended with one of the tour’s 15 “Casey Jones” closers. One of eight “Truckin’” second set openers came ahead of one of the tour’s 11 “Not Fade Away” second set closers.

The same selection of first and second set openers and closers – “Bertha,” “Casey Jones,” “Truckin’” and “Not Fade Away” – was twice repeated on the Europe ‘72 Tour. The night ended with one of 14 “One More Saturday Night” encores offered to European audiences that spring.

The first set saw guitarist Jerry Garcia lead the band through the tour’s first cover of Hank Williams’ “You Win Again.” A few songs after, guitarist Bob Weir helmed the tour’s first cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me And Bobby McGee.”

During a pause to fix equipment after “Cumberland Blues,” Garcia employs a silly voice to ask the audience “Hey well, if we want to get high between songs, isn’t that all right?” Weir then provided his typical introduction of vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux ahead of the tour’s fourth of 22 renditions of “Playing In The Band,” this one again supplying several minutes of exploratory jamming.

The second set rendition of Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter’s “Brown Eyed Women” was selected for the original Europe ‘72 live album. The second set once again saw Garica playing pedal steel guitar on Weir’s “Looks Like Rain,” as he had twice before on the tour. The Copenhagen performance of “Looks Like Rain,” the third and final of the Europe ‘72 run, was also the last overseas appearance of Garcia’s pedal steel guitar. Garcia would not play pedal steel onstage with the Dead again until 1987.

Bassist Phil Lesh followed the gorgeously played “Looks Like Rain” by initiating the unmistakable introduction to the second of 11 Europe ‘72 performances of “Dark Star.” The long and winding “Dark Star” clocked 17 minutes before Garcia sang the first verse. This “Dark Star” once again incorporated a “Mind Left Body” jam, as it did at the second show of the tour in Wembley, England. Lesh also steered a portion of the jam that drifted into “Feelin’ Groovy” territory, underlined by Keith Godchaux’s complimentary piano playing.

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The band’s first show at the Tivoli Concert Hall saw keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan leading the band on six of the 10 songs he sang lead on during the tour, including “Mr. Charlie,” which was played at every performance, as well as “Chinatown Shuffle,” “Big Boss Man,” “Hurts Me Too,” “Good Lovin’” and “Caution (Do Not Step On Tracks),” the last of which quoted “Who Do You Love,” last played by the Dead in November 1970.

Pigpen, who also played harmonica, helped deliver an inspired version of “Good Lovin’” that incorporated one of his signature, fiery raps laid out in multiple parts. The first portion of Pig’s rap went like this (transcript partially sourced from Whitegum.com):

Early in the morning / Everybody needs a little bit of love / Late in the evening / You know it too / Late in the evening / You know it too / You gotta have it / I don’t care who you are / You gotta have it / I don’t care who you are / You gotta have some love in the morning / A taste in the afternoon / Just a little more on the midnight hour / Don’t it soon / You know that love, drive a man to drink / Make a professor, forget how to think / Do many strange things, to your mind /

Tied a rope a crooked path / And you find yourself on a straight line / What’s the matter with you / I got you all turned round and messed up over / Yes I do / Ain’t nothing gonna stop it / No, no / Nothing gonna stop it / No, no, no / My, my / So easy and slow / So easy and slow / My, my, my, my, my, my / Oh you know, when I ask my rider / Sometime in the morning / Say now please, darlin’ / Turn on over / Said all I need / Before I go to work / Said all I need / Before I go to work is just a little bit of your your sweet thing / Just a little bit of your sweet thing / I know you got it, darlin’ / I’ve been there before / I just want to come back home, one more time again / Yes, I want to come on back home, one more time again / Raise up and ease on over / Raise on up now baby and ease on over / Yes all I need / Yes, all I need / What make you think gotta hold you all night long? / What make you think that a tomcat prowl alone? / What make you think, make a rabbit hug a hound? / Same old thing now darlin’ / Please turn you down, my darling / Getting to me baby / It’s getting to me now / It’s getting to me / Yes it is

After a brief interlude, Pigpen continued his sermon:

I want to tell all you fellas something / I want to tell all you fellas something now / I don’t know if you think that you’re cool / I don’t know if you’ve ever been anyone’s fool / I’ll tell you one thing / That I want you to understand / Just one thing now / For you to understand / I don’t care how strong a man you are / Don’t care how strong it can get / I tell you one thing you can’t miss / I know you need it / I know you want it / I know you gotta have it / I know you’re gonna get it / Let me tell you something / Women have got them tits / You know they got them, even the chicks / Wind around, around your little finger if you let ’em / Wind you around / Turn you every way but loose / Turn you every way but loose / Turn you every way but loose / You know I come home one morning / Come home one morning / I been out on a four day creep / Drinking and gambling, carrying on all next week / Walking the dog / Lay up in the bed / You know I want to lay down, rest my weary head / Drinking and gambling, all days and nights on in / Sure make a man turn a child / Yes, I know it, friends /

Yes, I’ll tell you something / The second I lay down / In come my old lady, say “turn on around” / You know she can get you do it / That old time / No matter how tired of you resisting / She can get you to do it every time / Yes I can / Cause them women / Them women got them evil loving ways / Women got them evil loving ways / Make a man go crazy / Can’t control yourself / You don’t know what you’re doing / No, no, can’t control yourself / A man will do anything / You want him to / Any damn old thing / A poor man can do, but keep on loving / But keep on loving / Ah, uh, yes darling / One thing / That I ask my baby / Please mama / A favor to me / Ease on over / Ease on over / Raise them up / Turn on over baby / Raise yourself up / Come on now you got to turn on over

From there he drifted into familiar territory, drawing on a commonly used refrain “Let me jump in your saddle and ride.” Pigpen then continued his story, sharing this exchange as the final chapter:

Last time I was in St Louis / Went out on a four day ride / By the time that I got back / I was looking at hell in my eyes / Little old girl, 17-years-old / Daddy had a big old shotgun, can double unload / Caught me inside Daddy’s house, was having my fun / Had to turn up, pack up, started to run / Cause you know I had to keep on truckin’ / My, my, I could fly like that / I could fly that night / I could fly that night / I could fly that night / I could fly that night / Shotgun after me / Sheriff behind / Shotgun after me, and the sheriff behind / Had to keep moving / Had to keep on going / Keep on moving / Keep on going / Keep on running, with my boots in my hand / Keep on running / I got to save my soul now …

Feel all right, yes it did / Yes it did / And now, I ain’t no tail-dragger / No wives on my tracks / Go down to little girl’s house / Ain’t nobody can track me back / I know when there’s some cookies baking / I could smell it a mile away / I know when them sweet breads sing / I can smell it a mile away / I asked my baby “turn around” / Asked my baby “turn around”/ If you can’t turn around, turn your damper down / Can’t turn around, turn your damper down / It smell too good / Yes it do / Feel like eating some of that pie now, some cherry pie / How your bakery stopped? / Can’t turn your damper down, mama turn your oven around / If you can’t turn your damper down, mama turn your oven around / Can’t keep it under control, oh no / All the boys in the neighborhood / Tell me that your bakery shop is good / Let me try, some cherry pie / I think I’ll drop by / Yes I will / Yes I will now mama / Yes I will

After the conclusion of Pig’s rap, Drummer Bill Kreutzmann snapped into the pulsating rhythm of “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks).” Pigpen again commanded the microphone and the audience’s attention during the intense “Caution,” this time telling the Danish audience:

I went down one day / I went down to see a gypsy woman one day / Yes I did / Yes I did / I want to find out / Want to find out, what’s wrong with being in my bed / Things wasn’t getting on like they used to do / Things wasn’t getting on like they used to do / She told me one thing, one thing that I gotta do / One thing that I gotta do / She told me, she told me, yes she did

Pigpen then pulled from Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?,” concluding his rap with these modified lines from the blues staple:

Walk 47 miles of barbed wire / Get a cobra snake for a necktie / Get a brand new house by the roadside, made out of rattleskin hide / Brand new chimney set on top, made out of human skulls / Ask that woman, “Come on child, tell me who do you love?”

Though left to that quote in Copenhagen, a slightly more fully formed rendering of “Who Do You Love?” would be played one more time on the Europe ‘72 tour, also emerging out of “Caution” jams. The wild “Good Lovin’” and “Caution” sequence was followed by Garcia introducing “Ramble On Rose.” The frequent set-ending “Not Fade Away” into “Going Down The Road Feeling Bad” back into “NFA” brought the outstanding set to an end. The aforementioned encore of the single “One More Saturday Night” punctuated the Friday night concert.

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

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Setlist (via JerryBase)

Set One: Bertha [1], Me And My Uncle, Mr. Charlie, You Win Again, Black-Throated Wind [1], Chinatown Shuffle [1], Loser [1], Me And Bobby McGee, Cumberland Blues, Playing In The Band, Tennessee Jed, El Paso, Big Boss Man, Beat It On Down The Line, Casey Jones

Set Two: Truckin’, Hurts Me Too, Brown Eyed Women [2][3], Looks Like Rain [4], Dark Star [5] > Sugar Magnolia > Good Lovin’ [3] > Caution [3] > Who Do You Love [3][6] > Caution [3] > Good Lovin’ [3], Ramble On Rose, Not Fade Away [7] > Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad > Not Fade Away

Encore: One More Saturday Night

Notes:

• [1] released on Europe ’72 Volume 2
• [2] released on Europe ’72
• [3] released on The Golden Road (1965 – 1973)
• [4] Garcia on pedal steel
• [5] Includes Feelin’ Groovy Jam.
• [6] Last performance (by GD) 1970-11-11 (111 events ago)
• [7] Includes China Cat Sunflower Jam.

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Below, stream the official recording of the Grateful Dead’s April 14, 1972 concert at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark or check out audience recordings and the FM radio broadcast from May 20, 1972, via Archive.org: