GRATEFUL Dead 'Live at Ted Askey's Pig Farm 1970' 2LP Black Vinyl

Label: Ozit
Release Date: 09/04/2026
Variant: Black Vinyl 2LP

The Grateful Dead's first ever gig in the UK and Europe 1970. Here's John Peel in 1995: “How many examples have there been in the longish history of English music festivals that define the festival in your head for ever? There have been a few, I DJ’d and compered at The Grateful Dead at Ted Askey’s pig farm, Staffordshire, this was a great example”.

Fifty-six years ago the Dead crossed the pond for the first time to play the Hollywood Festival. That two-day outdoor bill mixed local and national acts, among them Traffic, Ginger Baker’s Airforce, Mungo Jerry, The Flaming Groovies, Tony Joe White, a very young Black Sabbath and Jose Feliciano. A fine electric set came out of it, even with the tiny stage, the crowded press arena and a PA and monitoring system the band couldn't hear. Didn't matter. The boys played full tilt for three hours straight, to the delight of the Newcastle-under-Lyme freaks and adventurous locals.

One reviewer said “It represents a band playing at the edge of new possibilities and ideas,”

British writers agreed almost to a man on the Dead's showing at the festival. Mac Garry (in Zigzag 13) called them "…totally magnificent.” Jerry's playing drew this from him:

“…the solid red Gibson looked so flimsy in Garcia’s hands that it looked like it would break like balsa if he squeezed it—but it seemed like every time he touched it, beautiful, clear ringing notes poured out—and on Me and My Uncle he was just fucking fabulous.” Dick Lawson (‘What would be the answer to the answer then?’ Friends 12) gushed about the set too, calling it "The most ecstatic exploratory music ever witnessed in England."