Five decades on from the Grateful Dead's groundbreaking 1972 tour of Europe, a bevy of new releases will celebrate their adventure overseas and the live album that chronicled it all.
To celebrate the original triple album that found the Dead's one-of-a-kind psychedelic magic on display in England, France, Denmark and The Netherlands, Europe '72 will be newly remastered and reissued on two CDs or three LPs on July 29. For collectors, a special early "Bozo or Bolo" vinyl variant - featuring the record pressed on a trio of neon rainbow colored vinyl discs, a reference to the original cover art - will be released on June 3. It's limited to 5000 copies and can be ordered through the band's official web site.
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The Dead are also unleashing their biggest vinyl box set ever with Lyceum '72: The Complete Recordings, bringing together the final four shows of the European tour in London (including the final performances with founding member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who passed away a year later) on 24 LPs. The box features new outer artwork as well as Scott MacDougal's original cover art for each show created for the Europe '72: The Complete Recordings CD box set in 2011. Limited to 4000 copies, this vinyl box will also be available July 29 and can be ordered at Dead.net. (A 4CD set featuring the band's May 26, 1972 set at the Lyceum will also be available.)
These releases will join a previously-announced 5LP vinyl box set of the Dead's April 8, 1972 set at Wembley Empire Pool in London, which will be available April 23 at all participating shops for Record Store Day. And the Europe '72 celebration won't just be confined to disc: the fifth season of the Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast, launching today (April 7), will cover the tour in real time, and a livestream on the band's YouTube on April 8 will feature Dr. Graeme M. Boone, professor of musicology at Ohio State University, offering an in-depth analysis of the first performance of "Dark Star" on this tour, along with more than a half hour of special visual effects synced to a broadcast of the song.
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