Watch Grateful Dead Groove on ‘Playing in the Band’ for Upcoming Movie

The Grateful Dead will march back into theaters across the country on Thursday, July 17th when their annual “Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies” series returns with a special screening of a never-before-seen 1972 performance for Beat Club, Germany’s first major rock and roll TV show.

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For a taste of the crunchy jams to come, take a peak at this special preview clip, which finds the Dead in fine form as they groove through “Playing in the Band,” a track they actually played twice during the original performance. With lyrics written by Robert Hunter  and music by Bob Weir, the track was a longtime standard in the band’s live set.

The Dead filmed this 80-minute set in Bremen, Germany on March 21st, in the midst of their famous 1972 European tour behind their 1971 album Grateful Dead. While an audio version has been available on the Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings box set, the filmed performance hitting theaters has never seen an official release.

With video restored from the original broadcast and audio mixed and mastered from the original analog tapes, the performance features a number of Grateful Dead classics like “Mr. Charlie,” “Sugaree,” “One More Saturday Night,” and even a 30-minute sequence anchored by “Truckin” and “Other One.” In addition to performances of a shorter version of their European tour song selection, the film will include all the in-studio banter that took place the day it was filmed.

The Dead’s Beat Club set will be shown in over 360 theaters across the U.S. this Thursday, starting at 7:30 p.m. local time. Tickets for the screenings are available at participating theaters and at the Fathom Events website.