Grateful Dead – Europe '72 Live (50th Anniversary Edition 3-LP Vinyl)

Learn more about this release in our Grateful Dead – Europe '72 Live Volume 2 (50th Anniversary Edition 3-LP Vinyl) announcement from October 2011 on jambands.com.

Released originally as a triple LP in November 1972, Europe '72 captured the Grateful Dead's legendary spring tour across Europe—22 shows in 24 days—and became one of their best-selling albums. This 50th Anniversary Edition, pressed on three LPs, replicates the original album's scope: a greatest-hits collection drawn from live performances across London, Paris, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, and other European venues, featuring expanded lineups that included Donna Jean Godchaux on vocals and Keith Godchaux on piano alongside Pigpen (in what would be his final tour with the band).

The album showcases the Dead at a creative peak, introducing songs that would become standards: "Jack Straw," "Tennessee Jed," "Ramble On Rose," and "Brown-Eyed Women" all receive their first official release here. The European audiences brought out something special in the band—these performances have an energy and tightness that even the best American shows from 1972 sometimes lacked. Garcia's voice is strong and clear, Weir's rhythm guitar work provides the perfect foundation, and the dual drummers create a propulsive groove that keeps even the extended jams moving forward.

What made Europe '72 revolutionary wasn't just the music—it was the idea that a live triple album could be as essential as a studio release, that improvisation captured in the moment could be as carefully crafted as overdubbed studio tracks. The Dead proved that their strength wasn't in the studio trying to capture lightning in a bottle; it was onstage where the lightning actually struck. This 50th Anniversary pressing, remastered from the original tapes, brings out details buried in earlier pressings while preserving the warmth and dynamics of the original analog recordings.

50th Anniversary Edition: Remastered from original tapes. Triple LP. Recorded across Europe, April-May 1972.