Your 5 favorite Grateful Dead Europe '72 shows

I've read that Garcia heard a slow cover of the song by Kenny Loggins that made him decide to do it that way himself. Not sure when that would have happened.

 

Re: Friend of the Devil

The JGB w/ Nicky Hopkins on piano starting playing the slow arrangement during the hiatus (late '74 through early '76). The GD simply adapted the newer version when they brought the song back.

 

5/26 for me.

 

5/26 is pretty amazing.

 

Looks like I can't go back and edit my votes. At the time, shortly after my first pass through the set, I voted for 4/26 Frankfurt, 5/10 Amsterdam, 5/11 Rotterdam, and 5/26 Lyceum and apparently froze up and was unable to pick a 5th. At this point, I would definitely add Aarhus to my top 5, and probably bump Amsterdam in favor of 4/8 Wembley or 5/3 Paris. The Tivoli shows are also excellent. But of course, so is the whole friggin box. I need to go back and relisten to the first three shows in the Lyceum run sometime, by that point I was reaching the oversaturation point when listening straight through the box that first time, and they did not particularly stand out too much, but I have not gone back and re-listened to those three much. I reach for Aarhus and 5/26 the most often (but had already heard the meat of 4/26 a lot, since I'd had the Hundred Year Hall release since it came out).

 

I always seem to overlook the gigs without a Dark Star. I think I only heard about 3/4 of the tour.

Just listened to Aarhus and the Phil heavy jam coming out of Truckin was tremendous

 

Believe Joe Strumner was at the festival I attended.

 

Being a Dark Star hunter & connoisseur is a fine thing. I go through phases where I love the shows that feature The Other One just as much and sometimes more, namely for Phil's rumbling contributions. And as you've reminded me, it's not just those two heavyweight songs that can be the feature attraction.

 

5/24 is another under-rated show.
The Truckin' > Drums > Other One is very, very good.

 

It is too hard to pick. It's like picking the best 5 Coltrane quartet shows from 1961.

 

I don't know how to delete my Vote from this poll, to update it with my May 2016 favorites, but here they are:
Five Favorite Grateful Dead Europe '72 shows

1. April 8 – Wembley Empire Pool, London, England
2. April 17 – Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark
3. April 26 – Jahrhundert Halle, Frankfurt, West Germany
4. May 11 – Grote Zaal De Doelen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
5. May 26 – Lyceum Theatre, London, England

(in consecutive order)

 

I have been slowly picking up different shows and now have 4/8, 4/14, 4/16, 5/10, 5/11' 5/25, and 5/26. Each one of these Dark Stars and O1s is like a standalone work of art - all of them are unique and worth savoring. One thing that amazes me about these shows is the stamina and drive that they exhibit. After the big jams are over, they often play for another hour and don't even slow down to play anything with a slower tempo (with notable exception of Sing Me Back Home).

Next on my list are the two Paris shows and 4/24. I have searched on the 4/24 show but don't have a definitive answer on the SQ difference between Rockin the Rhein and the E72 complete set discs. Is SQ identical or is one significantly better than the other? It would be great to save a few bucks and buy the Rhein discs. Thanks.

 

I recall thinking the E72 discs were better sounding then the Rhein release to be honest. I love 4/24 and 5/3 so I'd agree that those would be a good choice to pick next. You really need them all though. The nice thing is you can buy them separate when time and funds permit.

5/13 and 5/24 are also two that fly under the radar a bit compared to the well known shows but are fabulous as well. Both shows have tremendous versions of "The Other One"

 

Elvis Costello saw the Dead at Bickershaw.

 

Thanks for the info. I know that 4/26 is better sounding than HYH. I haven't looked at 5/13 so will check that out. Dead.net has been great in having occasional 20% off sales. This has been a great way to pick up a couple shows at a time and enjoy them. Gettingthe big box all at once must have been overwhelming. I can't imagine 21 E72 shows to plow through - a fun problem to have...

 

Actually it's 22 shows. Early this month I completed the set. Took me 4 years of buying them. Until recently I never thought I would need them all, but then they had that recent 25% off all E72 sale. Bought a few at a clip and every show has something amazing so I just kept going. I still have about 9 shows to hear for the first time,and yes that is a great problem to have. Last night listened to 4/29 Hamburg for the first time. Another fabulous Dark Star that gets way out there. Bobby feels the need to reel it in and basically pastes the intro to Sugar Magnolia over Dark Star so Jerry has no choice but to sort of abruptly stop the deep space and join in. Then right after the sunshine daydream coda Phil abruptly switches to Caution and off they go. Wow even the shows that don't get much love have so many great moments. So whether you know it now or not, you basically need all of them eventually.

 

We could say it's 21 shows and one (lengthy and extremely interesting) tv performance.

 

I just ordered 4/24 from Dead.net. Just as an FYI, the supply is getting low and many shows are not available. I am glad to have picked up the ones I already have. I am not sure if more will eventually show up but I would recommend go ahead and grabbing any of the available ones that you may want

 

How many records would it take for the complete Europe`72 tour,800!?
I bet they would sell as individual shows but hi res downloads will be much more practical.

 

Not a steam trunk, but a container!

 

Top 5 today would be:

4/8
4/14
4/26
5/13
5/26

But I could just as easily say just pick the last 5 shows 5/18 and 5/23-5/26

Best answer is get them all.

 

4/26 Germany, 5/4 Paris, 5/10, 5/11 (both Holland nights) and the closer 5/26.

 

I haven't heard every show but my top ones would be:

5/26
4/16
5/10
4/26

 

Figured it out. There only three truly top notch Euro shows, don't remember the dates off the top of my head, but there was a show where they played Dark Star. There's another, which I really like, super high energy, where they play the Other One. Finally, there's a show where they play both Dark Star and the Other One. Which is pretty cool but maybe the versions aren't as completely realized as they were at the other two shows.

Thats all the E72 one really needs.

 

Bickershaw is one of them, but the other two could be just any one of the other 20 or so