GOOD OL’ GRATEFUL DEADCAST

Episode: Europe ‘72: Empire Pool & Newcastle City Hall

Date: April 7, 2022

Hosts: Rich Mahan & Jesse Jarnow

Overview

This episode delves into the opening concerts of the Grateful Dead’s iconic Europe ‘72 tour, focusing on the first two shows at London’s Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena) on April 7–8, and their subsequent performance at Newcastle City Hall on April 11, 1972. Through firsthand accounts, rare letters, fan stories, and deep musical analysis, Rich and Jesse illuminate the band's experiences abroad, the mythic misadventures of touring with a large family, and the epoch-defining performances that shaped both the tour and the legendary Europe '72 live album.

1. The Transatlantic Descent: Arrival in London

• The Dead Land in London ([03:37])

  • On April Fool’s Day 1972, the Dead—band, crew, and family—fly to London to kick off their Europe 72 tour.
  • Mountain Girl paints a scene of psychedelic chaos and good-natured mayhem on the plane:

    "Every five minutes somebody would be smoking a joint somewhere on the plane and have to be chastised and talked to sternly behave ourselves... But we did get there." ([04:05])

  • Donna Jean Godchaux reflects on the band's unique character:

    “It was a comedy routine, and it was made up of the most different, unpredictable, lovable, unique convergence of people that you could imagine...There was a little bit of sink or swim with a whole lot of we take care of each other..." ([04:49])

• Culture Shock – London, 1972 ([07:08])

  • Jerry Garcia and Mountain Girl quickly encounter the perils of English fast food—ordering “hamburgers” that turn out to be boiled ham patties in buns, leading to comedic letdown.
  • The band settles at the Kensington Palace Hotel, a central hub for the oncoming mayhem.

2. Early Days: Settling In & Press Obligations

• Pigpen’s Letters Home ([10:33])

  • The episode features poignant excerpts from Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, revealing loneliness and deep familial connections while on tour:

    “Safe and somewhat sound in London. The time change is somewhat more drastic than SF to NYC, but we have a few days to get used to it... the steam heat doesn’t work so hot...” ([10:33])

  • Pigpen also writes about customs, the dreariness of British TV and radio, and describes the hotel in vivid detail.

• Press Rounds ([13:45])

  • The Dead promote their just-recorded single, "One More Saturday Night."

    Jerry Garcia: “We have new material that'll be new here, he said. It's not new to us. We've been playing it for a while. But our material starts to get life after we've been playing it for a while. But if we play it too long, it loses life. There's a sort of peak optimum and right now we're at one of those peaks.” ([16:16])

  • Pigpen’s humility shines through:

    "We ain't superstars over in the States. We're just another medium to well-known band. We're no Three Dog Night or Creedence. We just consider ourselves general folks. Coming to Britain is just an opportunity for us to see Europe..." ([15:05])

3. Behind the Scenes: Smuggling, Production, and Logistics

• Importing the Dead’s Scene ([19:13])

  • Steve Parish and the crew talk about creative ways to bring “the best cannabis connections in the world” through customs—like hiding pot in an amplifier transformer.

• Finding Venues ([23:02])

  • The Dead’s planned Rainbow Theatre dates collapse, forcing a last-minute move to the Empire Pool (Wembley):

    John Morris: “I immediately wanted to find a place to put the Dead...it turned out to be bigger than we expected. More and more people came.” ([23:02])

  • Alan Trist reminisces about the venue’s unique design—a repurposed skating rink and Olympic site.

• Taming a Sonic Monster ([28:30])

  • The notorious acoustics of Empire Pool demand a heroic late-stage intervention:
    • Engineers and crew fill the hall with theater curtains and surplus parachutes, baffling the echo:

    “When they put up the parachutes and we stood on the stage and looked out, it was phenomenal looking because the curtains were dark in the back and the parachutes were light…It looked like a sheik’s tent or something.” ([30:22])

4. Recording the Myth: Capturing Europe ‘72

• Rolling Tape: The Alembic Crew ([32:42])
  • Alembic's makeshift recording truck, technical wizardry, and challenges with foreign power supply are detailed by Janet Fuhrman.
  • David Lemieux, Grateful Dead archivist, relates the tape setup:

    “The sound quality of them start to finish. Incredibly few sonic anomalies. The first night, which you'd expect...I think Big Boss Man was only half and Casey Jones simply wasn't recorded.” ([35:11])

  • The importance of preserving and restoring these early multitracks is highlighted.

5. Empire Pool: London, April 7–8, 1972

• Setting the Scene, Fans Arrive ([36:44])

  • Fans recount the anticipation and quirks of British Dead fandom; Chris Jones recalls that the Dead weren’t major stars, making tickets easy to get.

• Sonic Impact and Audience Shock ([42:56])

  • Sam Cutler:

    “Nobody really in the hall knew very much about the Grateful Dead. And ...within five minutes had blown everybody’s mind. The Brits were all sitting there like, with their jaws like, what is this?...People just didn’t have the words to sum up what they thought about it.”

• A Historic Music Marathon ([54:15, 73:09])

  • The Dead deliver marathon sets, unfurling new material but also classic jams:
    • Cumberland Blues from April 8 becomes Side 1, Track 1 of Europe '72.
    • Stellar versions of "Playing in the Band," "Casey Jones," and especially the show-stopping, nearly 40-minute "Dark Star," lauded by musicologist Graham Boone:

      “One of the greatest pieces of collective improvisation in the late 20th century.” ([81:57])

• Memorable Moments & Fan Stories

  • Bob White’s journal captures the undiluted joy:

    “I remember well Bobby introducing Donna Jean at the start of second set, ‘This is Donna,’ says Bobby, to which she replied, ‘Howdy, y’all’...” ([45:36])

  • The famous "Yellow Dog Joke" gets a rare musical treatment ([67:48]).
  • Light shows—including the debut of a dazzling disco ball during "Dark Star"—and the full Fillmore East-style Joe’s Light Show induce psychedelic awe ([78:10]).
  • Liquid light projections with occasional playful controversy (roadies object to the “cocaine” lyric being projected during “Casey Jones”; [47:44]).

6. Newcastle City Hall, April 11, 1972

• Travel Oddities: Bozo & Bolo Buses ([103:13])

  • The tale of two tour buses—one “bozo,” wild, and “tripping out;” the other “bolo,” quieter and for book readers—becomes a running, deeply Dead-style inside joke.

    Alan Trist: “The Bozo bus had a lot of band members and Hunter and I was on there and the bolo bus had a lot of the crew. Billy was there, but then people would go back and forth...” ([106:51])

• Newcastle Show Reflections ([121:12])

  • The band enters a classic northern English municipal hall dominated by a massive pipe organ.
  • Alan Trist and fans describe the scene as distinctly “working class,” and fans recall how the Dead’s wild San Francisco energy crashed into reserved British formality.
  • The set features Pigpen in strong form, despite a visibly weakened state, and a powerful group vocal for "Truckin’.”

• After the Show ([126:49])

  • Rosie McGee recounts sitting with Eric Burdon’s mother in the balcony—she approvingly observes, “They’re very good, you know.”
  • The challenge of catching a late train and the unforgettable rush out of the venue are recounted by local fans, capturing the blend of local color and young excitement.

7. The Mystical Tourist: Stone Circles, Megaliths, and Lay Lines

• English Sightseeing & Earth Mysteries ([96:08])
  • Between shows, Garcia, Lesh, Mountain Girl, and Alan Trist embark on pilgrimages to Stonehenge, Avebury, Glastonbury Tor, and Wells Cathedral, under the influence of books like John Michell’s View Over Atlantis.
  • Trist: “A place of power is going to influence the musical power that they bring to that site. And they were always curious about how the interaction would occur in the invisible domain, the domain of Earth energies.” ([102:37])
  • These excursions prefigure the Dead’s later obsession with Egypt and other power sites.

8. Behind the Myth: Letters and Legacy

• Pigpen's Last Hurrah ([91:47])

  • Another heartfelt letter to his parents:

    "Boy, did we knock them dead in London. They leapt up and down...lots of good press too... Sam keeps saying nothing like us ever happened here before." ([91:47])

  • Don’t-miss local flavor: There are mentions of homeopathic cures, Hells Angels, smuggling, and fleeting celebrity encounters (such as Christine Keeler, notorious for the Profumo affair).

• Preservation & Reflection ([91:19])

  • David Lemieux on Weir’s reaction to hearing the Wembley tapes decades later:

    “He said, ‘Man, we played like demons at those shows.’” ([91:19])

9. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Mountain Girl: “Every five minutes somebody would be smoking a joint somewhere on the plane…” ([04:05])
• Donna Jean: “To be in it, you had to be of it—and to be of it, you had to be open...” ([04:49])
• Alan Trist: “The family flat was no more…” ([12:40])
• Steve Parish: “What the are you Yanks doing over here?... I said, we're gonna play some rock and roll music.” ([22:14])
• Sam Cutler: “Wembley was an ice rink…a shithole really...But it turned into a fabulous gig.” ([23:43])
• Chris Jones (fan): “It was an awful venue…but it was good. It was really, really amazing. It just blew my mind.” ([41:40])
• Sam Cutler: “Once they heard the Grateful Dead live, were like, yeah, it's beyond description…” ([42:56])
• Bob White (fan): “I remember well Bobby introducing Donna Jean…‘This here is Donna.’ ‘Howdy, y’all’.” ([45:36])
• Graham Boone (musicologist): “One of the greatest pieces of collective improvisation in the late 20th century.” ([81:57])
• Janet Fuhrman: “We didn’t drive this truck. There were a bunch of truck drivers that drove the three buses and the recording truck…” ([95:00])
• Pigpen: “Boy, did we knock them dead in London. They leapt up and down, hollered for more and more…” ([91:47])
• Rosie McGee: “My son is Eric Burdon of the Animals. Do you know him?” ([125:00])

10. Fan Experience & Cultural Contrast

• British Audience Perspective ([42:56])

  • Many British fans, unaccustomed to the Dead’s long improvisational sets, are at first stunned, then converted, with the Empire Pool shows becoming a legendary touchstone for UK Deadheads.

• Acid Tests in the UK ([63:31])

  • Ken Hunt: “I went on the combination of psilocybin, mescaline and a rather fine Pakistani hashish eaten on orange slices. So it would be helpful to have someone to make sure I got back home.” ([63:31])

11. Legacy & Influence

• Birth of New Myths:

  • The Bozo/Bolo bus dichotomy becomes central to Dead folklore.
  • The Dead export their uniquely American “tribal” improvisational experience across the Atlantic, planting new roots.

• Next Episode:

  • After Newcastle, the Dead head to Denmark, where the adventure continues.

Key Musical Segments (Timestamps)

• “One More Saturday Night” single & press push ([14:10])
• “Cumberland Blues” live (Europe ’72 version) ([55:03–63:07])
• “Dark Star” epic jam & analysis ([73:09–87:32])
• The “Yellow Dog Joke” ([67:48])
• “Casey Jones” sing-along and light show ([47:18])

Further Listening & Reading

• Daily Dose on Dead social media features Marianne Mayer’s photography, Jerry’s Nudie suit, and more.
• Graham Boone’s full analysis of the “Dark Star” from April 8 (link at dead.net/deadcast).
• Rosie McGee’s memoir, Dancing with the Dead.
• Letters from Pigpen archived at dead.net.

For fans and Dead-curious alike, this Europe ‘72 Deadcast episode offers a home-movie tour of Dead myth, music, and mayhem—and a vivid snapshot of when the Grateful Dead first blew British minds and began their legendary continental escapade.