Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 Box Set Sold Out

When last week’s announcement that Rhino would be putting out a $450 limited edition release featuring all of the Grateful Dead’s legendary Europe ’72 tour came down, there was a question as to whether all 7,200 box sets would sell out. Well, not only was every single Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings box set snatched up by deep pocketed Deadheads, but they were all purchased within four days of the announcement.

While the band will keep to its word and won’t manufacture any additional box sets, a note on Dead.net from legacy manager David Lemieux informs fans that a “music-only edition” of the release has been made available for the same price as the box set.

Here’s the full text of Lemieux’s note…

Hey now! Due to overwhelming demand, surprising even those of us with huge faith in the Europe ’72 project, the entire limited edition run of 7,200 boxed sets has sold out in less than 4 days. We thank you beyond words for your support and belief in this unprecedented and wonderful release.

After lengthy discussions, we’ve decided we don’t want to deprive anyone of this music, some of the finest the Grateful Dead ever performed. Of course, we’re keeping to our promise that the boxed set and all of its accouterments will not be made available beyond these 7,200 boxed sets (and wait until you see the case in which the music is housed, the hard-bound coffee-table book, plus all of the other cool surprises we’ve been unearthing!). But, we’re going to offer just the music, all 22 shows, more than 60 CDs, more than 70 hours of music, each show housed in its own packaging, for the same price as the boxed set, $450 including domestic shipping. Although perhaps not as cool as the boxed set, the bottom line is that the most important aspect of Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings is going to be made available to all, the music.

– David Lemieux

[Dead.net]

You can reserve your copy of the music-only edition of Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings through Dead.net. Hopefully the overwhelming response to this release will lead to more full tour box sets as alluded to in the recent Rolling Stone article about the project. Fall ’73 please, gents.