Thirty-six years ago the Grateful Dead played their most renowned concert in Barton Hall at Cornell University. Last May it was formally recognized by the Library of Congress:
On May 23, the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry announced this year’s list of 25 songs, instrumental pieces and historic recordings to be added to the prestigious institution’s permanent collection. There’s lots of great stuff on the list: Prince’s “Purple Rain”; Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors”; Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas”; Donna Summer’s euro-disco “I Feel Love”; the first-ever commercial recording—a version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” created for the first talking doll by one of Thomas Edison’s employees; the only surviving record of early 20th century Broadway sensation Lillian Russell; the 1943 NY Philharmonic debut by conductor Leonard Bernstein; the Grateful Dead’s May 8, 1977, concert at Cornell University’s Barton Hall… Whaaaaat? Where did that one come from?
The show had two sets and an encore, which was standard for Dead shows at the time and for the remainder of their career. The first set was good, but certainly not the best of the spring tour of 1977, or of all-time. It was the second set that was transcendent. Part of it was just the acoustics of the hall, which created one of the best recordings ever made. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a better Scarlet Begonias/Fire on the Mountain in the history of the band, and a search for a better Morning Dew would be fruitless. The Dead were a notoriously sloppy band known for their unprofessionalism, and when I saw them in the 1984-1990 period, shows tended to be spotty with a lot of crap being produced in return for (hopefully) one or two transcendent moments throughout the night. The best show I ever saw by about a million times was my first in Augusta, Maine on October 12, 1984. I honestly can’t say that any of the other 87 shows I saw are even worth listening to, although individual songs or portions of those concerts certainly are.
I’d argue, and I think most Deadheads would agree, that the Dead’s best year was 1977 and their best tour that year was the spring tour, and that the best show of the spring tour was at Cornell.
I also like the 1972-74 era, including the period in which Mickey Hart was not with the band and they had only one drummer. But I can’t point to any single show in that era in which the band came so close to perfection as they did at Cornell.
Stream the whole show.
