Grateful Dead

This was my first show and what a show it was! It certainly set the hook that continues to be there some thirty years later!!!

What an introduction to the Dead. The spirit still lives and it always amazes people who've heard the amazing second set tape that someone actually saw this show as their first. Go Cornell!!!

But I worked on stage for this one! I was a member of the Cornell Concert Committee and lucky enough to get on the stage crew. Hard work it was but also great fun. And, we got to meet the band! This show surely goes down as my all-time favorite. The fact that it snowed later on that night made it even more memorable... BTW, if anyone else out there also worked the crew, I'd love to hear from you. Happy to say that I still have the t-shirt from the show and my CCC jersey.

No doubt this was a great show from what I believe was the last truly great year for the band. I doubt there are many that would agree with me, but I preferred the next show in Buffalo, primarily because of song selection. The two high points in this show for me were Brown Eyed Women - the best I've ever heard - and Morning Dew.

Either it snowed going to the show or else it snowed the day before. Packed house, driving from Cortland NY to the big city, Ha ha , 30 miles away. It was one of the last concerts I enjoyed.

Before they were hip to the whippets....I was 20years old, We had driven up from Rockland County with a stop the day before at our local restaurant supply house We were loaded down with the whippets, as well as other party favorites. The show was general admission and between my friends and I we brought in a shitload of whippets We were right in front on the right side and the Dead were watching us do the Nitrous. The boys were on fire, and everytime Jerry would take a lead we would pass the cannister around,Jerry kept going deeper and deeper into each song . By the last song of the first set(Dancin') we were all pretty ripped. To this day we still refer to that Dancin' As the Nitrous Jam from cornell. We had 3rd row in Buffalo the next night. When ever I want to turn somebody on to the Dead. I play those 2 shows for them. They were truly amazing those nights. The Palladium Shows for that tour we Excellent Also... All -Ways Grateful Paul

I maintain that this was the best show I ever attended. Eventually I did get a complete master copy and wore it out. When Dick's Pick 14 came out it was promoted in Brooklyn and I asked Dick why he didn't publish Barton Hall, his answer in his graveled voice was, hell everybody and his brother has that!!That version of Morning Dew still moves me more than the many I have seen live.

...but I was only a ten-year-old kid at the time. ;) Did cross paths years later and did some touring with a dude who was a student at Cornell at the time and who saw the whole northeast run in the spring of '77, the lucky dog. I reckon "Row Jimmy" the best thing before the break, and I personally rate the first set from the following nite in Buffalo a shade better than the one played at Barton Hall...but then, I suppose that such is to argue favorite ice cream flavors, isn't it (who cares --it's *all* ice cream!). As for the second set at Barton, I lack in my vocabulary the superlatives required to do it justice, and it's all been done before anyway.

This is one of my most memorable shows I attended for a bunch of reasons. First, getting into the show was insane. They opened one half of a double door for a dance show. We were crushed getting in. I remember my friends and me running to the front only to be crushed again. I decided to go to the back of the auditorium so I could dance and have room. Second, it was mother’s day. That made Mama Tried extra special. That is also way Bob says, “ Thanks Mom” after the song. Lastly, it did snow that night. In fact it was a blizzard. I remember someone saying to me at intermission, it is snowing. I thought they were the one tripping not me :). Everyone in the band was on that night…what a great show. I listen to it anytime I start feeling like life is creeping in on me. I close my eyes and I am back in 1977.

Rained on the way in, snowed on the way out. Mother's Day & my mother's birthday as well. I still visit Ithaca once or twice a year and I'd swear that there are some Heads there that went up for the show & never left. Either that or somebody spiked the water supply because it's still the hippest place on this side of the US of A.The show deserves all the accolades it gets and, taken as a triptych with the preceding & suceeding nights, represents the pinnacle, no? "The Enemy Is Listening" indeed... http://www.thebughunters.com

the Bettyboard - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Spanish Jam

Betty Boards rule!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend several hours driving in my car with another guy from work. He is too young to have ever attended a Dead show but he is a big WSP fan and said he thought the Dead were "cool too." I happened to have the CD of this show with me so I popped in the second set. He was grooving to the tunes and saying things like "they were pretty good" etc. When they got yo St Stephen>NFA his jaw dropped open and he sat there with his eyes bugging out.It was really fun watching the light go on in his head. Richard

This too was my first show. I was 16. My brother attended CU. I came up from Jersey for the weekend with my sister. I happened to catch Robert Klein's show on the Cornell campus the night before. It was a true epiphony for me seeing the Dead for the first time. That was it for me. I saw 2 more shows that year. By the time the 80s rolled around I was going to almost every show there was. I still consider myself a late bloomer having missed the early years with Pig and all those Roosevelt shows. I did my best to make up for it by seeing 726 Dead shows in the time that remained. The 80s were my 60s. Still great memories of this night.

It was not too long ago i found out that the concert my friend Joe klose invited me to, was an historic Dead event. I had recently been introduced to the Dead by Joe and his girlfriend Colleen (seems like the Dead were the only records he owned!) We were living together in the village of Delhi, in the catskills, ny. when he surprised me with an invitation to ride with them to the barton hall concert!I will forever be Grateful to Joe for this incredible experience, my one and only Grateful Dead concert. The whole nite was like one long beautiful dream, including the drive(float) back home. It is a dream i enjoy revisiting! Thanks Joe!!! brent

Mayor of Ithaca declared the 30 th anniversity as a Dead Day with an event downtown on the outdoor mall area. I sent a Cd of the show to my son, Cornell 2007, and he played it for his baseball team mates and friends that night. There for graduation and walked into Barton Hall. heard the music in my head and imagined Bobby telling everyone to "move back" to ease the crush on the stage. We played the whole show at a party that night at his house a block from Collegetown Bagels. Other team parents, girlfriends, and players all bought into the vibe.

Dancin in the streets... 5/8/77..... Ahhhhh You just can't fuçk with this song, this show. This has to be the greatest example of The Hose fully on. You don't need drugs to be high with shows like this to listen to. WTF!?!?! It is impossible for humans to play like this! Guitars can't sound like this. Bands can't hook up this tightly. Its a miracle. Jerry and the boys are Aliens. 'Nuff said. I have pinpointed the moment when the shite hits the fan to the 8:32 mark. Fuçk!!! Why was I only 7 years old? I should have made it to that show. WTF. Thanks, mom. This song OWNS so much, I can listen to it 15 times in a row and never get sick of it, even if the office members look at me funny. . . Dig the Phil Bombs at the 10:30 mark. Complete band hook-up on all levels and brain melting synchronicity... Fuçking a! Proof they are aliens. Now what the fuçk is going on at 11:10? Bobby hinting at "Lets get back to the song...? **Please** Jerry, I can't take your shite anymore. . . we're all tripping way too hard. . . " Yes now its definite at 11:40. Jerry agrees. ok, return to song structure... His guitar still shooting off jizz like an orgasm half over. well, alright back to the song. Crowd roars in approval. Why not? they are all on 'Orange Sunshine'. Fuçkers. Oh well. It was recorded and we can re-live it over and over and over. re-wind, re-load and blast off again...

They didn't search anyone on the way in and people brought in bottles and whatever. There was no garbage cans in the arena, but when I walked out (and I was one of the last people to leave having been way up front) by the exit, in the back, on the floor were two huge piles of garbage. Most people instead of leaving their bottles wherever had left them in one of two piles on either side of the door. A great example of the hippie attitude at the time; people spontaneously working together to keep things neat and make things easier for the clean up crew.

Love that Morning Dew! Just wish I was able to attend this show, only about a 3 1/2 hour ride Northwest of me. But at the time did anyone really know that Spring Tour 1977, and especially May, was going to be one of the Grateful Dead's highlights of their career? Hey, it's 20/20 hindsight.

This was my second show and the only time I ever got near the stage. I guess the stars aligned for me that night. When everybody "took a step back" I slipped around the crowd and made it to the front of the house before the end of "Scarlet Begonias". That tactic never worked for me again. But what a night to get up front! The entire set was a long crescendo, culminating in the all-time finest rendition of "Morning Dew". Probably the finest moment for the Travis Beam guitar, too. To be ten feet away and see J.G. shred that thing--words fail me. Keith was at his best that night, too, and Bill & Mickey's seemingly effortless playing, not a motion wasted, made me a life-long fan of percussion music. Also, I was never at a show of any kind where I knew so many people in the audience. Any of you aging Syracuse University deadheads out there?

PMPMNothing ridiculous about snow n sleet in upstate ny in May, unfortunately! Incomparable show. We were right up front, just feet from the boys (and Donna). Slipped and slid all the way back to Albany with two tripping dudes in the back that hitched a ride. Every now and then one yells out "Watch out!" as something comes at him through the windshield out of the falling snow. Arrived Albany 6 am, kicked out the tripping dudes at the bus station, and went straight to 8 am class at SUNY

Mother's Day - raining all afternoon - then snow falling as we left - great show - great dancing - great town - Bobby & Phil return to Barton Hall on Valentine's Day 2010 - 33 years later ! ! ! young deadheads are always impressed and amazed when they find out I was there ! ! ! because everybody has the tape - wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world

May 8, 1977 Barton Hall, Cornell University was my 2nd Grateful Dead show. My first Grateful Dead concert was at Colt Park, Hartford, Ct 8/2/1976.My first Jerry Garcia Band show was at the Palace Theatre, Waterbury, Ct. We spent the weekend at my girlfriends dorm at Ithaca College, and the day of the show the weather was sunny and around 60 degrees. By the time we got in line early to avoid the 1/2 door crush, it was raining and the temperature was dropping rapidly. When we left the show it was snowing, and by the next day we had 14" of snow in Northwestern Ct., where I lived at the time. I will never forget the sight of Deadheads shivering in the doorways of downtown Cornell after the show. Many people had arrived with nothing more than shorts, t-shirts and sandals. We found a comfortable spot in the middle of the gymnasium floor, but later moved up to the front of stage left by Keith. The show was simply amazing, it felt like I was tripping just smoking good weed. At the time I thought it was just another good night for the Dead. It wasn't until the 90's I began to realize what a seminal moment in the Dead's history I was lucky enough to witness. Dancing, Scarlet, Fire, and Morning Dew, were epic as noted by so many people. It was the only time I ever heard them play St. Stephen with the proper intro, the way it should be. My only disapointment was watching Keith play, wasted on heroin, smoking a cigarette with his left hand while playing piano. This was the beginning of the end for Keith and Donna as they began the slow, but inevitable downward spiral, completely wasting their talent on heroin, especially Donna's voice which sounded horrible in a very short time. The Dead were never great vocalists, but Jerry, Bob and Phil still sounded good together at this time. By the time the 80's rolled around Donna and Phil had lost their beautiful high harmonies, and Keith was just useless. I do remember the garbage piles in the back of the auditorium, and Bob's take a step back routine. The show was general admission if you can believe it. This show for me was the perfect convergence of positive forces, and I will always have such wonderful memories, especially since my first Jerry show, and my first Dead show at Colt Park were marred by violence and weirdness, all the result of Hell's Angel type security people. The Barton Hall show was all peace and love, what a feeling!

hey now- anyone kind enough to hook me with a CD of this show? peace, mike

I too would really really really love to get my hands on a CD of this show!! I've heard only parts of it, just enough to agree with all of the comments, that this show was something special. PLEASE contact me if you have access to CDs of this, I'd be Grateful!Stevie nutzin@tds.net

We traveled up and down east coast in '77...Bubba ...Fatkid ...Weasel ...shows were unreal and the people we met and times we had were the days of our lives ....Weasel worked for the band setting up drums and to provide product for the roadies...to be included and treated like family was very special...Garcia loved the brooklyn boys and ny hells angels....a different breed ....never will forget

hey now i am so out of loop i thought this was gonna be on the gorgeous trips around sun collection but wasnt' DID A MASTER OF THIS SHOW EVER MAKE IT OUT? If not who can send me one prety please? tks jd

Me and a couple of friends had been following the band on this tour since the Spectrum shows in Philadelphia. The night before this War Memorial show was in Barton Hall at Cornell, which was basically a glorified gymnasium. About the size of an indoor basketball court. No seating. After the show we went back to the rear entrance and waited for them to come out. A light snowfall was swirling around, big billowing flakes blazed like white fireflies as they caught the parking lot lights. Two black stretch limos were idling by the door. There weren't any other fans around, just some crew and university officials. The rear doors swung open and they all tumbled out. Each one of them was carrying a black attaché case. The band had been running their own label for awhile by now and we'd bought most of our tickets for this tour mail-order through the Grateful Dead office in San Francisco. These were not the custom made tickets that would be the norm about five years later. Scalping had already become a very real problem and Dead tickets were some of the earliest concerts targeted by those creeps. The band's initial response was to contract for blocks of tickets for each show they could get them for on a tour. My friends and I had all been on the Dead's mailing list for years at this point. Bulk ticket distributors seldom sold seats for the smaller, more obscure venues. The Dead office didn't mark up the prices​ either. None of us were speaking up as they exited so I did: “We've got first row for Buffalo tomorrow night!" I blurted out to none of them in particular as I held them up. “Oh yeah? Lemme see them" Phil said. I handed all four to him. Bill, Keith and Donna had gotten into one of the stretches and left. Looking them over, he asked: “Did you get these from our office?" “Yeah, we did. Mail order" I responded. Phil had handed a couple of them around to Jerry and Bob. Commenting to the others, Jerry remarked: “Well at least something's working" They all chuckled. I told them what a great show this night was and, for some reason repeated that the tickets that they were holding are for the first row in Buffalo tomorrow night. Bobby said: “Let me see all those" and he gathered them up. Jerry and Phil said goodbye and piled into the limo. Bobby slid in behind them, closed the door and they started to speed off, with our tickets! We ran after them yelling for them to stop. After a few yards, the limo stopped and the rear window dropped down as we caught up. We could hear them laughing riotously as Bobby's arm emerged holding the tickets, splayed out like a hand of cards. “See you tomorrow" he said though his laughter. When they took the stage on the next night at the War Memorial, Bobby and Jerry walked over to the lip of the stage, spotted us in our seats and waived.

Maybe a little late here, but Barton hall was my second show. It was destiny, good friend of mine had extra tickets, and he gave 1 to me. I had no idea what I was walking into!! First set songs I did not know very well. Second set I'll never for get. I new scarlet Begonions, and they consumed my sole with the rest of that set. I did however know Saint Stephen, not fade way, and Morning Dew. Every I listen to this set they take to a different place eveytine!!!!!!!