The Good Ol’ Grateful Dead - Barton Hall Concert May 8, 1977

It was 47 years today, Sergeant Pepper taught the Grateful Dead played Barton Hall, at Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY.  Barton Hall is basically a sports facility with horrible acoustics for American children of privilege who can't get into Yale.

Barton Hall

If you ask Deadheads to name their all-time favorite Grateful Dead show, a resounding answer would likely be May 8, 1977, at Barton Hall. Of course, choosing a favorite Grateful Dead concert is remarkably subjective, ultimately swayed by personal experience more than any other factor. Yet, for many, May 8, 1977, stands alone.

By the middle of Spring in 1977, the Grateful Dead were in true peak form.  Their lineup was settled, and their catalog was packed with so many glorious songs. Semantically, what separates this show from similarly strong performances on adjacent days was its distribution.  A soundboard recording from Betty Cantor-Jackson made its way onto a tape, and magically wound up in the hands of Grateful Dead fans nationwide, in the form of a cassette tape.  Mine was on two Maxell UDXL-II cassettes with 5/8/77, written on the tag in red ink.  Because of the widespread access to these high-quality recordings, the show became a well-known go-to show among Deadheads in the know.

Fun Fact: I have an uncle (by marriage) whose name is Barton Hall.  He married my aunt Madeline, and they lived happily ever after in Québec City, Canada.

First Set

1. New Minglewood Blues
2. Loser
3. El Paso
4. They Love Each Other
5. Jack Straw,
6. Deal
7. Lazy Lightning
8. Supplication
9. Brown Eyed Women
10. Mama Tried
11. Row Jimmy
12. Dancing In The Streets

Second Set

1. Scarlet Begonias
2. Fire On The Mountain
3. Estimated Prophet
4. St. Stephen
5. Not Fade Away
6. St. Stephen
7. Morning Dew

Encore: One More Saturday Night

For the freeload (trust me, it sounds better than the one you have), tell us about images you came across on "blotter paper".

The Good Ol’ Grateful Dead - 'Pacific Northwest 73-74: The Complete Recordings'

 

Here's a little Grateful Dead, and by little, I mean 19 CDs

This is 6 complete shows.

CDs 1 through 4 are from the P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, B.C., on June 22, 1973.

CDs 5 through 7 are from Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR on June 24, 1973.

CDs 8 through 10 are from Seattle Center Arena, Seattle, WA on June 26, 1973.

CDs 11 through 13 are from P.N.E Coliseum - Vancouver, B.C., Canada on May 17, 1974.

CDs 14 through 16 are from Portland Memorial Coliseum - Portland, OR on May 19, 1974.

CDs 17 through 19 are from Hec Edmundson Pavilion, University of Washington - Seattle, WA on May 21, 1974.

Original Art by First Nations Artist Roy Henry Vickers

Mastered in HDCD from the original master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Masters transferred and restored by Plangent Processes. 

Jerry Garcia – lead guitar, vocals
Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals
Keith Godchaux – keyboards
Bill Kreutzmann – drums
Phil Lesh – bass, vocals
Bob Weir – rhythm guitar, vocals

In the interest of bandwidth, the files are 320 kbps, which due to the HDCD mastering sound just fine.

 

For the freeload, which artist or band have you seen live the most?

The Good Ol’ Grateful Dead

1977 was an epic year for Grateful Dead shows, they were full of energy and psychedelic adventurism.  The spring tour started on Saturday, February 26, 1977, at the Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA., and is the subject of today's freeload.

Over the years, I've lost count of how many Dead shows my husband, Jerry, and I attended.   But in 1977, due to raising children, navigating the politics of being a woman on Wall Street, and Jerry teaching Physics at Columbia University, we only saw one show, which was at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, on the Labor Day weekend.  You can read about it in the screed I wrote for False Memory foam here: https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/search?q=scrolls

 

The San Bernardino show is one of my favorite dead shows, and debuts the songs 'Terrapin Station' and 'Estimated Prophet' from the album 'Terrapin Station', that wouldn't be released until late July. They also play 'Dancin' in the Streets' also from 'Terrapin', but it had been on and off in their set lists for many years prior. The transitions from one song to another of this show are flawless, approach psychic, and a typical highlight of the 1977 shows.

Here's the setlist:
Set One:
 Terrapin Station
 Minglewood Blues
 They Love Each Other
 Estimated Prophet
 Sugaree
 Mama Tried
 Deal
 Playin' In The Band -> The Wheel -> Playin' In The Band

Set Two:
 Samson & Delilah
 Tennessee Jed
 The Music Never Stopped
 Help on the Way -> Slipknot -> Franklin's Tower
 Promised Land
 Eyes Of The World -> Dancin' In The Streets ->  Around &   Around

Encore:
 U.S. Blues

Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals
Bob Weir – guitar, vocals
Keith Godchaux – keyboards
Phil Lesh – bass guitar
Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals
Mickey Hart – drums and percussion
Bill Kreutzmann – drums and percussion

This show was officially released as 'Dave's Picks Volume 29' in 2019, but today's freeload is a "Betty Board" from a 7 1/2 ips reel to reel tape, with tuning/stage chatter preserved, and it has a, "You are There" kind of sound. 

"Betty Boards" are sound board recordings by Betty Cantor-Jackson (left), who worked as a sound engineer for the Dead, her live recordings are coveted by Dead Heads.

Back in my tape trading days, I corresponded with and met Betty on many occasions. Betty and I, bonded quickly, as we were pretty much the same age, and both female audiophiles. 

During the Brent Mydland era, (when Betty and Brent were sweethearts), she got Jerry and I backstage three times. The backstage shenanigans that took place will be the subject of forthcoming 'Good Ol’ Grateful Dead' features here.

To freeload the "San Bernardino '77" show, tell us, in your life, what was your favorite year or years.