On Thursday, July 17th, it was time once again for fans of the Grateful Dead to descend upon theaters across the country for the annual Grateful Dead’s meetup at the movies.  This year’s 4th annual installment did not disappoint.  Depending on where fans went, theaters were either sold out or had plenty of extra seats to get those dancing shoes on.  This year’s film featured a performance that took place at the Beat-Club studio in Bremen, Germany on April 21st, 1972.  

The Beat-Club was a popular German show that ran from the mid 1960’s to the early ’70’s and featured such notable acts as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix, to name a few. Most acts would get on set, do a few quick numbers and be on their way, knowing which songs they would want to be featured on the show a few weeks later.  The Beat-Club would generally show various acts on each episode.  However, when the Grateful Dead showed up at the studio, the band did a full 80-minute set, which followed a two song sound check, instead of the usual two or three songs that most artists provided.

The backdrop of the set featured groovy, psychedelic moving images while the band’s equipment were splashed with bright, colorful tie-dye. After a few moments of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir talking into the mic, sound check was on it’s way featuring “Loser” and “Black Throated Wind”.  They charged into their 80-minute set starting with “Bertha”, and wound their way around other staples such as “Sugaree”, and not one but two versions of “Playing in the Band. “Truckin'” flailed into a crash and bang collision of instruments after Weir, once again, missed his cue into the first verse.  The band eventually came into sync and took the audience on a mind blowing adventure into “Truckin’>Drums>The Other One”.  At the end of “The Other One”, it appears that the band isn’t sure where to go from here.  The last great build up winds around long chords and various grooves, which hinted at possibly “Wharf Rat” or “Sugar Magnolia” appearing just around the bend.  The jam slowly drifted down and ended in a massive, topsy turvy ending.  With that, the show was over.    

It wasn’t just the music that the film captured, but other gems, such as Weir or Garcia stopping midsong due to being in the wrong key or just generally needing to start over because “it didn’t sound right”, which made the film give us a glimpse of another side of the Grateful Dead.  It was at these times that the crowd would be vocal and want to the show to continue.  Funny interactions with the band were also brought to life between songs, such as when the bandmates were all throwing a towel at each other and joking around. The theater audience felt as if they were pulled onto the set with the band and watching the performance as if it were happening right there in their living room. 

The cameramen would switch from extreme close-ups to pulling back and capturing the entire crew on set who were filming.  These displays gave a sense of how small the set was, yet the music dominated and clearly captivated everyone in the studio involved in the filming.  Garcia only performed two songs, while Weir sang six, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan one. This rare footage featured the last known video of Pigpen, who died a year later, at age 27, in 1973.  This film captured the Grateful Dead in their prime.  To see the band work together as they made the magic happen on the big screen was a moment of pure joy.  We can only hope that this will be released for the public to enjoy for generations to come.Â