Grateful Dead

September 4, 2025

May 16, 1972

The Grateful Dead performed a 3 hour concert in the Villa Louvigny’s concert hall, broadcasting live on Radio Luxembourg. The performance was part of the band’s extensive Europe ’72 tour.

Due to a poorly worded announcement on Radio Luxembourg, the conceral most resulted in a riot. Earlier in the day the station’s French service had announced that the show would be free. Several hundred fans (“Deadheads”) from France traveled to Luxembourg expecting a free concert with open admission. However, the concert hall had a limited capacity of only about 350-500 people. A large, unruly crowd had gathered in the parking lot of the Villa Louvigny, demanding to be let into the show.

Just before midnight, 208’s DJ Kid Jensen got up on the stage to introduce the band, when one of the Hell’s Angels security guards mistook him for a fan and threatened him with a knife. A member of the band intervened and a flustered Jensen gave one of the shortest announcements of his career: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Grateful Dead”

You can hear the complete recordings at the Internet Archive