GOOD OL' GRATEFUL DEADCAST

Europe ‘72: Bickershaw Festival

Date: May 5, 2022
Hosts: Rich Mahan & Jesse Jarnow
Special Guests: Elvis Costello, Michael Moorcock, plus fans, crew, and others

Episode Overview

This episode explores the legendary Bickershaw Festival, the Grateful Dead’s largest-ever overseas show, held in May 1972 in northwest England as part of the band’s famed Europe '72 tour. Through interviews with musicians (notably Elvis Costello and Michael Moorcock), long-time Deadheads, festival organizers, crew members, and fans, the episode reconstructs the muddy, magical weekend where thousands of UK fans—seasoned and new—were initiated into the Grateful Dead experience. Key discussions include the festival's logistics, the surrounding British music and festival scene, the Grateful Dead’s performance, their impact on fans and fellow artists, and the special atmosphere of the Bickershaw Festival itself.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Mythic Bickershaw Festival

• The Bickershaw Festival was held in Wigan, England, May 1972, with an estimated 40,000–60,000 attendees (00:58).
• Notable for intense rain, “biblical” mud, and a lineup featuring the Dead, Country Joe McDonald, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Captain Beefheart, Dr. John, the Kinks, and more (06:05).
• Bickershaw paid the Dead eight times their usual Europe ’72 show rate—making it a crucial payday (18:25).

Quote:

“It was far and away the Dead's biggest show of the Europe 72 tour, and for that matter, the biggest show they ever played overseas.” – Host narration (01:41)

2. Elvis Costello’s Unlikely Deadhead Origins (03:20–24:40)

• Elvis recounts a musical upbringing led by his jazz-singer father and record-shop clerk mother.
• Early music influences: British blues (especially Peter Green), Motown, Stax, and American folk.
• His first exposure (age 14–15) to the Grateful Dead via the debut LP:
  • At first, he thought it was “bad out of tune blues” but grew to appreciate the fusion of American musical traditions.
• Costello emphasizes how albums like Workingman's Dead and American Beauty shaped his songwriting vision, praising the deepness of Hunter/Garcia’s lyrics.
• Describes the Bickershaw experience as “magical,” influencing his musical and lyrical path.

Quote:

“If I’m really truthful…I thought it just sounded like bad out of tune blues.” – Elvis Costello (09:24)

“The deepest time for me of really identifying with the story, songwriting of particularly Hunter-Garcia…Those songs were very, very amazing. Phil’s song, you know, Box of Rain…They had this credible sadness.” – Elvis Costello (12:14)

“You couldn't get from one side of the field to the other because parts of it were completely submerged…It looked like behind the lines during the First World War, you know, without the blood. Well, with some blood but not a lot of mud. And it was completely a disaster.” – Elvis Costello on festival conditions (58:30)

3. Roadie Tales & Trip Logistics (24:43–37:25)

• Recap of breakdowns: Dead’s equipment truck dies en route from Paris, risking missing the festival.
• Legendary roadie Wiz Leonard accidentally doses himself with ultra-concentrated LSD while frantically cross-loading equipment (26:25).
• High-stakes drive across France to the ferry: “We were the last two vehicles in the queue for the last ferry that we could make the gig with.”
• Customs stories: “The one object he picks is this fake amplifier that has a stash in it…”
• Final successful scramble to Bickershaw, reflection on the Acid Test ethos: resilience under chaos.

Quote:

“That was the acid test…Can you change the tire on the bus with [acid onboard]? Can you get us out of trouble with this cop? …That was the Keezy paradigm…Let’s push it to the edge.” – Wiz Leonard (36:45)

4. The British Festival Scene & Bickershaw's Particulars (37:25–01:04:30)

• Organized by the ambitious Jeremy Beadle, who fronts for “anonymous northern businessmen.”
• Bickershaw drew from Woodstock’s model: 3 days, huge crowds, big US and British acts, but with “deep English roots”—notably, a robust free festival tradition and regional quirks (mud, working-class mining setting, strong local flavor).
• Technical crew tackled “disaster conditions” (sound, rain, power) and did battle with “coal miner” stagehands (01:45:30).

Quote:

“Festival fever had hit Europe with full force after Woodstock and a festival scene was sprouting...But each country’s scene had its own singular twists. Free festivals had taken root in the United Kingdom in a deep way…” – Host narration (39:30)

5. On the Ground: Attendees’ War Stories

• Travel & Arrival: Epic drives; coach trips with included mescaline; extended hitchhiking and bus journeys from all over England (01:07:00).
• Setting: “An industrial wasteland”; mud and deprivation, but a vibrant sense of adventure.
• Camping: Loss of tents in oceans of identical canvas, sleeping in cattle sheds, VW buses, or makeshift plastic shelters (01:20:00).
• Atmosphere: “A wartime spirit”—joyful communalism despite cold, wet hardship.

Quote:

“It was wet, it was muddy, but the atmosphere was great. It was safe and fun…and, you know, there was no trouble. It was a lovely atmosphere.” – Barbara Nellist (01:21:35)

6. The British Taping Scene Is Born

• Bickershaw was formative for UK Deadhead taper culture.
• Early amateur efforts with mono tape recorders, smuggled microphones—recordings of the Dead (and other acts: Wishbone Ash, Captain Beefheart, etc.), setlists, and snippets traded on the nascent scene (01:23:00).
• Many tapers were motivated by the uniqueness of the moment, later to become pillars of the global Dead trading community.

7. Music, Sci-Fi & Counterculture: Michael Moorcock & Hawkwind

• Novelist Michael Moorcock describes Hawkwind as “the nearest band…to the Dead in England,” with similar countercultural followings (01:35:00).
• His encounter with the Dead; admiration for Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty as his “perfect working music.”

Quote:

“I used the Dead…records to get me started. Just the two. Workingman's Dead and…the other one…because they’re very good for getting you into a nice working mood.” – Michael Moorcock (01:38:40)

8. The Festival Unfolds: Music, Mayhem, and Mud (01:44:00–2:37:00)

Other Acts:

• Eclectic bill: Dr. John, Hawkwind (missing tapes!), Kinks (notoriously ‘drunk’), Country Joe, Captain Beefheart (whose set is described as life-changing, even for Joe Strummer).

Quote:

"Captain Beefheart's set...was the best concert I ever went to in my life." – Joe Strummer (01:57:00, as quoted by host)

Bickershaw Vibes:

• Carnivalesque extras: clowns, high-diving acts (including a flaming pool jump), bonfires, and various “Theater Arts” events (02:07:00).
• Locals let in free on Sunday, turning the festival into “a visit to the zoo” for some.

9. The Dead’s Arrival and Marquee Performance (2:18:00–3:15:00)

Pre-show Anticipation

• The Dead are contractually obligated to provide a “complete overview” of their work; this meant marathon sets (approx. 4 hours of music, plus a set break) (02:28:40).
• As the Dead took the stage, the rain stopped and the sun emerged—“It really did happen.” (02:34:30)

Quote:

“As soon as the Dead came on, the sun came out for the first time in three days.” – Adam Gottlieb (02:34:33)

“And then, just as the sun was starting to go down, the Dead came on stage and immediately got into their best run… this was the best ever gig they did.” – Alex Allen (02:36:00)

The Performance

• Opened with a rousing “Truckin’”
• Setlist stretched deep: Tennessee Jed, Ramblin’ Rose, Jack Straw, early renditions of “Americana” Dead classics, plus both a full “Dark Star” and “The Other One”—a rarity, possibly at the promoter’s request.
• A Wild “Ramble On Rose”—called a personal favorite by crew and fans.
• Notable technical struggles onstage: jet engine–like heaters (“dragon breath”) to stave off the cold filled the air with fumes and pushed guitars out of tune (02:40:00).

Notable Quote:

“The most shocking thing…was the debut of that richer seam of Hunter-Garcia songs…what was actually happening in the first set…was like, one after another, really great, tightly composed song. And it had this kind of what we now would call Americana, but in a really open way.” – Elvis Costello (02:51:23)

Musical Universality

“The Deadheads were just like they were in America. That blew my mind…these people in Europe don't even have to understand what the words are…the music is speaking…I just got the whole concept of music as a universal language.” – Donna Jean Godchaux (02:53:50)

Onstage Moments

• Onstage birthday serenade for drummer Bill Kreutzmann—“Happy birthday to you” led by Bob Weir (2:57:00).

10. Fireworks, ‘Dark Star’, and the Legend (2:55:00–3:05:00)

• As “Dark Star” peaked, a dazzling fireworks display—designed by artist Peter Luttner—lit up the festival, creating a psychedelic, immersive multisensory experience.
• Attendees recall that moment as “absolute heaven”—mud, cold, and everything else transcended by the music and spectacle.

Quote:

“The thing about Picashaw was this huge Dark Star and the huge firework display…and that was superb. It really was…I mean, the atmosphere…absolute bliss.” – Chris Jones (02:59:31)

11. Aftermath: Legacy, Mud, and Music

• The Dead played nearly four hours; the performance converted countless UK fans, cementing Bickershaw as a keystone Grateful Dead moment in Britain.
• Tape trading blossomed in the festival’s wake.
• For fans, the experience was both transformative and filthy—many burned their festival clothes upon returning home (03:11:00).
• Elvis Costello reflects on how that strain of songwriting, and encountering the Dead at Bickershaw, inspired him.
• Years later, Costello’s path would cross with Garcia’s again—in music, on stage, and through covers and tributes.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with timestamps)

• Elvis Costello:

  “For the main reasons of two words, Peter and Green…Peter Green was the whole reason I picked up the guitar. Not sadly, Jerry, but…” (10:55)

• Jerry Garcia, pre-show interview:

  “It’s pouring with rain up here? …Well, Muddy, of course.” (2:21:45)

• Steve Parish (Dead crew):

  “If there’s any throats to be cut, we’ll be cutting them here.” (1:45:20)

• Festival Organizer Jeremy Beadle (archive):

  “We’ve laid on facilities for 100,000. At what point do you start breaking even financially? I’ll tell you that after the festival.” (38:50)

• Adam Gottlieb:

  “As soon as the Dead came on, the sun came out for the first time in three days. That really did happen, and I think we all thought there was a certain inevitability to that.” (2:34:33)

• Donna Jean Godchaux:

  “Music is a universal language. And it just blew my mind… I just got the whole concept of music as a universal language.” (2:53:50)

• Elvis Costello, on returning home:

  “I don’t think I even ever attempted to clean those boots. I think I just took them out in the back garden and burnt them, you know.” (3:17:00)

• Michael Moorcock:

  “Hawkwind…were the nearest band to the Dead in England. I mean, we were a people’s band. We did more free gigs than we did paid gigs.” (1:35:45)

Notable Segments & Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------|--------------| | Elvis Costello’s early Dead fandom | 03:20–24:40 | | Acid-fueled journey to Bickershaw | 24:43–37:25 | | Bickershaw festival context/setup | 37:25–01:04:30| | Arrivals, mud, and festival stories | 01:07:00–01:25:00| | Michael Moorcock & Hawkwind | 01:32:00–01:38:00| | Festival extras (clowns, diving acts) | 02:07:00–02:12:00| | The Dead's arrival and show | 02:18:00–03:15:00| | "Dark Star" and fireworks | 02:55:00–03:05:00| | Taping scene & legacy | 03:10:20–03:12:50| | Elvis Costello’s final reflections | 03:15:20–03:16:50|

Conclusion: The Bickershaw Afterglow

The hosts and guests agree: Bickershaw Festival 1972 became a foundational moment in Grateful Dead history, especially for UK Deadheads. The combination of elemental hardship, marathon performance, and cosmic wildness cemented its status as “the best ever gig” the Dead played in Britain. For many—like Elvis Costello—the event proved that the “universal language” of the Dead reached even across muddy English fields to nudge a generation towards new musical frontiers.

For more historic setlists, archival notes, and photographs, visit dead.net/deadcast.

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