Greetings, and welcome back to the Tapers’ Section. This week we have two of my favourite jams from the Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 tour, as well as a terrific 1982 second set sequence.

First up this week is the second set jam from 4/7/72 at Wembley Empire Pool in London, England. This was the first show of the tour, with the two nights in London being late additions to the itinerary. They had been scheduled to open the tour at the Rainbow Theatre in London, but when those shows were cancelled due to the venue closing down (soon after to re-open, hosting loads of great shows by many bands in the 1970s and the Grateful Dead’s two runs there in 1981), Wembley Empire Pool (now known as Wembley Arena) was selected to host the concerts. When we were producing the four-CD set “Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead” we knew nothing of this concert, and when we discovered this second set jam, featuring Truckin’>Drums>The Other One>El Paso>The Other One>Wharf Rat, One More Saturday Night, we knew immediately it had to be on that album.

From the next night at the same venue, 4/8/72, we have the equally, perhaps more impressive jam of Dark Star>Sugar Magnolia>Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks), Brokedown Palace. The Brokedown is actually from a few nights later, on 4/11/72 in Newcastle, England, but we figured you might want to hear the entire album closing sequence from “Steppin’ Out.” This version of Dark Star is considered by many (me included) to be one of the finest renditions of the song ever performed by the Grateful Dead.

Finally this week, we have the second set opener quartet of songs from the excellent 4/6/82 show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, featuring Shakedown Street>Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance>Terrapin Station . The Shakedown features some very impressive interplay between Jerry and Brent, similar to what went down on 7/4/89 in Buffalo during Not Fade Away.

Be sure to stop in next week for music from 1971 and 1978. There are some terrific jams coming up. Feel free to email me at the address below if you have any questions or comments, and please be sure to include the words “Grateful Dead” in the email subject to make sure it gets through.

David Lemieux
vault@dead.net