Grateful Dead’s Europe ‘72 Tour 50th Anniversary: April 17 – 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.

The Grateful Dead played the third of three Europe ‘72 Tour shows in Denmark when they returned on April 17 to Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark. The non-linear tour routing saw the band perform at Tivoli Concert Hall on Friday, April 14, take a day off, play 200 miles away in Aarhus on Sunday, April 16 and then head back to Tivoli Concert Hall to tape a Danish television appearance on Monday, April 17.

The second concert at Tivoli Concert Hall saw the band – guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, drummer Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Phil Lesh and keyboardists Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Keith Gochaux – reunite with vocalist (and Keith’s wife) Donna Jean Godchaux who likely remained in Copenhagen while the rest of the band trekked back and forth between Aarhus.

The April 17 show was recorded for Danish television and part of the concert was broadcast live. According to (Europe ’72 Tour manager) Sam Cutler’s interview for the enlightening Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast, it was the first time a rock band had performed live on Danish television. In addition to the live broadcast, portions of the concert were shown on Danish television two more times in August 1972.

The second Copenhagen show was the tour’s only three-set affair, though the television cameras did not capture the third set. Video footage from the April 17 television taping currently circulating features portions of the first and second sets.

Included in the circulating video are the band’s first set performances of “Me & Bobby McGee,” “Chinatown Shuffle,” “China Cat Sunflower,” I Know You Rider,” “Jack Straw” (with Weir again singing all of the verses) and “Next Time You See Me” from the first set. The Dead also can be seen in the first set debuting Garcia’s “He’s Gone,” which was the only new original song introduced on the tour. Second set video footage that circulates includes “One More Saturday Night,” “Hurts Me Too,” (featuring Garica’s sizzling slide guitar), “Ramble On Rose,” “El Paso,” “Big Railroad Blues” and “Truckin’.”

Though not part of the circulating video, the first set opening “Cold Rain And Snow” was the tour debut of the traditional song dating back to the band’s earliest days. It would make only one additional Europe ‘72 setlist, opening the May 24 show in London. The first set ended with Weir’s “Black-Throated Wind,” marking its only time filling the first set closer slot on the tour. After its performance, Garica informed the crowd they were going to take a break to set up for the live television broadcast portion of the evening.

The tour’s only “Casey Jones” second set opener was followed by the tour’s lone “Truckin’” second set closer. The live broadcast portion of the show apparently started after some sort of an altercation involving the television announcer Edmondt Jensen and crew member Steve Parish, as detailed on the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast.

The live broadcast seemingly started with Pigpen’s “Mr. Charlie” (which is missing from unofficial soundboard copies but included in the officially released recording of the concert), followed by Donna’s first appearance of the night on “Playing In The Band.” Garcia’s “Sugaree” and Weir’s “One More Saturday Night” concluded the live broadcast. Rosie McGee, who was part of the large entourage of crew and family traveling with the band, appeared onstage during “One More Saturday Night,” dancing near Garcia as she often would during that era.

Indicating the broadcast’s end, Weir says “bye, bye” at the end of “One More Saturday Night.” Before “Big Railroad Blues” the band donned the clown masks and Groucho glasses they had been wearing off stage while touring Europe, while several crew members got in on the costume action as well.

.europe-72 {
background-image:url( https://www.jambase.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/europe-72-tile-narrow.png );
background-repeat: repeat;
padding:30px;
margin:30px 0;
display:block;
}

.europe-72-scrim {
background-color:rgba(255,255,255,.85);
padding:10px 10px 15px;
}

.sec-119-logo-col{
width:80%;
margin:0 auto 15px;
}

.europe-72 .featured-media,
.europe-72 .thumbnail {
border:none;
background-color:transparent;
margin:0!important;
}

.europe-72-inner-flex {
display:flex;
gap:15px;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
flex-direction:column;
}

.europe-72-product-col {
flex:1 1 100%;
width:100%;
}

@media (min-width: 555px){

.europe-72-inner-flex {
flex-direction:row;
}
.europe-72-product-col {
flex:0 0 50%;
}
}

.europe-72 .title{
color: #c22f25;
font-family: ‘Open Sans Condensed’, sans-serif;
text-transform:uppercase;
text-align:center;
margin:0;
transition: background 0.5s ease;
display:none;
}

.europe-72:hover .title{
color: #71945f;
}

.europe-72 p{
color: #8c344e;
font-weight:700;
line-height:1.2;
margin-top:10px;
text-align:center;
}

.europe-72 p span{
font-size:125%;
}

.europe-72:hover p{
color: #d9791e;
}

.btn-europe-72 {
margin: 0 auto;
text-align: center;
position: relative;
display: block;
z-index: 2;
overflow: hidden;
padding: 10px 15px;
color:#fff;
text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgb(0 0 0 / 30%);
}
.btn-europe-72:before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 200%;
height: 100%;
background: linear-gradient(115deg, #c24967, #5f7fa0, #71945f, #e2ce41, #d9791e, #c22f25);
background-size: 50% 100%;
}

.btn-europe-72 span {
font-size:130%;
}

.europe-72 .btn-europe-72:hover,
.europe-72:hover .btn-europe-72 {
color:white;
}

.europe-72:hover .btn-europe-72:before {
animation: europe72bg 1.5s linear infinite
}
@keyframes europe72bg{to{transform:translateX(-50%)}};

.btn-europe-72 *{
color:#fff;
}

.btn-europe-72 div{
position:relative;
font-size:14px;
text-transform:uppercase;
font-weight:700;
}

There were other instances when the band acknowledged the television production, Weir and Lesh both can be seen breaking the fourth wall and mugging for the cameras. After “Sugaree,” Weir told the audience “Well this is all in one a big hello and big goodbye to all of you folks out there in TV-viewing land. We’ll be right back with you in just a minute.”

After “Ramble On Rose,” Lesh says “Take a look at these folks down here cameraman,” followed by Weir chiming in with, “Hey folks the TV show ain’t over” and the band launching into a brief “Beer Barrel Polka” tease.

What the cameras missed in the third set consisted of a thoroughly exploratory, 31-minute “Dark Star” that once again smoothly segued into “Sugar Magnolia.” The “Dark Star” into “Sugar Magnolia” pairing was the third occurrence of the tour that would see seven such segues. A 10-minute intro preceded the first verse of “Dark Star” and the ensuing 20 minutes of improvisation saw the band reaching deep into their psychedelic roots.

The seamless four-song set then steered its way into a blistering 23-minute “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks).” The only performance of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” of the Europe ‘72 Tour brought an end to the tour’s lone third set, ending the encore-less concert with the rousing rocker.

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

Setlist (via JerryBase)

Set One: Cold Rain And Snow, Me And Bobby McGee, Chinatown Shuffle, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Jack Straw, He’s Gone [1], Next Time You See Me, Black Throated Wind

Set Two: Casey Jones, Mr. Charlie, Playing In The Band, Sugaree, One More Saturday Night [2], Hurts Me Too, Ramble On Rose, El Paso, Big Railroad Blues [3], Truckin’

Set Three: Dark Star > Sugar Magnolia > Caution > Johnny B. Goode

Notes:

[1] First known performance (by GD)
• [2] Intended final song for the TV broadcast, which explains why Bob said “Bye bye” at the end of the song.
• [3] released on Europe ’72 Volume 2

Below, stream the official recording of the Grateful Dead’s April 17, 1972 concert at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark or check out other recordings via Archive.org:

.article-summary-wrap {
margin-top:25px;
}

.panel-article .list-posts > li {
border-style: dotted;
}
.panel-article .list-posts > li:last-of-type {
border-bottom-width:0;
}
.panel-article .list-posts .excerpt {
margin: 3px 0 0;
}
.panel-article .list-posts .btn-sm {
margin-top: 10px;
padding: 3px 10px;
}

Source: JamBase.com