Europe '72

The tour began with two nights at the Empire Pool, Wembley, on 7 and 8 April 1972 and ended with four nights at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 23 to 26 May. It was expensive and logistically complicated, so Warner Bros. paid for a professional 16-track recorder to travel with the band in the hope that a live album would recoup the costs. Many of the songs were new and had not been released in studio form, so the record worked as a new-material release as much as a live retrospective. It includes Jack Straw, Brown-Eyed Women and Pigpen's Mr. Charlie, written with Hunter.

Despite the live billing, some songs were given studio overdubs, particularly vocals. Weir later said the band and the record company decided on that together. The touring entourage had grown to 43 people, known as the Grateful Dead Family. Europe '72 reached 24 on the Billboard chart and was certified double Platinum. In a contemporary Rolling Stone review, Tom Dupree praised Garcia's playing. All 22 shows of the tour were issued as a 73-CD box set in September 2011.