1977-May-8 Grateful Dead Barton Hall - Cornell University Ithaca, NY Disc 1 - 63.48 1 Minglewood Blues * > 6.13 Set 1 2 Loser 8.53 3 El Paso 5.17 4 They Love Each Other 9.12 5 Jack Straw 8.11 6 Deal 7.26 7 Lazy Lightning ** > 3.51 8 Supplication 4.04 9 Brown Eyed Women 6.49 10 Mama Tried 3.47 Disc 2 - 72.00 1 Row Jimmy 13.07 Set 1 (cont) 2 Dancin' In The Streets 16.15 3 Take A Step Back/Tuning 1.55 Set 2 4 Scarlet Begonias > 11.35 5 Fire On The Mountain 15.12 6 Estimated Prophet 8.53 7 Tuning / Dead Air 5.00 Disc 3 - 68.50 1 Saint Stephen > 4.48 Set 2 (cont) 2 Not Fade Away > 17.21 3 Saint Stephen > .58 4 Morning Dew 14.30 5 Saturday Night 5.02 Encore 1977-May-7 Boston Garden - Boston, MA 6 Terrapin 10.38 7 Samson & Delilah 7.18 8 Friend Of The Devil 8.12 Audience Sections sourced by Teddy Goodbear Bettyboard (WBOTB) Sections sourced by Darrin Sacks EAC Extraction and Shorten Conversion by Darrin (dnsacks@usa.net) Lineage:Betty Board Soundboard sections (all but 47 seconds of the show, see below): * 21 sec AUD splice in beg of track ** 26 sec AUD splice at end of track WBOTB Source -- 7" two track BBD reel encoded w/ DBX-1 noise reduction @ 7 1/2 ips > Sony PCM501ES @ 44.055 kHz > Sony PCM501ES analog out > DBX-1 decoder > analog in PCM501ES > PCM501ES analog out > Fostex D5 @ 48 kHz>DATs>ZA2>CDRs>EAC>SHN Audience Splices -- Teddy Goodbear's Panasonic AM/FM Stereo 'boom box' (w/condenser mics) > CM (Cassette Master) > various equalizers & editors > CD 77-May-7 Filler Source: Master Reel->PCM->DATs->CDRs->SHN (etree source) ***************************************************************** Comments from The Setlist Program web site (not from me): Neal, you are out of your mind. That tape kicks ass, the best Dew ever (and listen to Keith kick it up a notch at the end), great Scarlet/Fire and the NFA explodes (although Jerry's long solo does get a little self indulgent) Also, the 1st set Loser and Jack Straw are great. -Dave, jdmcdonough@erols.com *** 5/8/77 is an exellent show, the singing was good, the music was tight, but I find it rather uninspired in spots, Not Fade Away seems to drag on and on, I've never been a fan of Disco, so Dancin' doesn't impress me, Saint Stephen, although an awesome song, was much better in the late 60s... Saturday Night, is a rocker, at it's best, but Scarlett Fire lacks imagination, in Keith's department, at least, all and all, I give it 3 stars out of five -Neal, neal@nbtsc.org The whole month of May 77 is the best line-up of live Dead you'll ever hear, the Scarlet Fires were sick!!! I've never heard a show like this. They are truly one of the most talented American bands ever!!!! Jerry is God, The Dead is Heaven!!! Peace -me&JGshareaBday, FreShawny@aol.com What the f man??? Jerry is ripping the shit out of his gibson on the St. Stephen > NFA > St. Stephen > Dew. I wouldn't say it's the best complete show but I would say, without a doubt, that it is the best 2nd set ever. So anyway, you start listening to stephen and you're like "yeah, i dig it" and then out of nowhere, the m'f'er is jamming some sweet notes for about 15 min...UNBELIEVABLE. Also, when the DEW comes up, its such a shift in mood that you can't help but feel a chill. Beautiful. -Babak Nicknejad, BabakBabak@aol.com This music can take you places, no matter what state of mind you're in...Donna Jean is an angel; Jerry is your best friend - 5-8-77 can get you through anything! -A fan..., DeadJellyPhish@hotmail.com Great show...Phil goes nuts on Scarlet....I recommend a good set of headphones and your favorite relaxation aid! -Dave Gaughan, _antiseen@excite.com Hey, I thought this is one of best Dead shows I have ever heard. With me being only 15 I never saw live show but I have all the videos an have around 160 bootlegs. And Cornell is my second favorite besides the Alpine Valley show in '89 that is on the video Downhill From Here. Cornell was such an awesome show. -Jake Banyai, jakebanyai@yahoo.com I have loved this show for a long time, musically. I can understand how this might not have been a great show to actually be at, because you can hear them, at the beginning of the second set, asking everyone to move back. Perhaps it was too crowded, and even a little freaky. Musically, though, this recording can't be beat. -Ben Grad, p0key@mindspring.com Phil is goin' nutz in the show, this my personal favorite bootleg.... -David Bourland, dmb23@iname.com A killer disco Dancin' to close the first set . . . a second set opening Scarlet-->Fire that will make you forget about 30 minutes of your life, and a Morning Dew closer that will send chills down your spine!! One of the best shows I have in my collection!! -Jeff Simons, jsimons@crownbooks.com In my opinion 77 was it for The Dead music wise. The jam on Not Fade Away is insane on this show and can be heard throughout that tour, damn what a killer show..... -JEFF FOGLESONG, jfoglesong@avec.org Worst show I ever saw, man! -Dan, dahills@javanet.com Dave and Neal, what is wrong with you guys? Its a jam band. If you were muscians, you would understand that when you get into something, you just pour your heart out into it (as Jerry proves in the NFA jam). I agree that when I first heard 5-8-77 i thought the st. stephen was terrible, cause my ears only heard the 60's one. But one day, I was baked and I had a long drive and I threw in Cornell. Still can't believe what a great St>NFA>St>Dew. To each its own... -LesPaul, Keep it Free@forever.dead smooth,perfect,jewel,flawless-absolutley flawless,the gods were on their side that night.best show of all time, w/7-13-84 greek theatre. -rosstan snow, rosstanp@hotmail.com Was a freshman at Cornell - never finished - go figure. What a mind opening experience for a nerdy engineering student! -Dave C., bigdavech@juno.com Scarlet-->Fire is absolutely amazing...transition to Fire just blows your mind...This show is a perfect example of what the human mind is capable of... -Rob Stoll, rdstoll@chicagonet.net Without a doubt one of the finest shows ever performed. The loser and jack straw are HOT! and Jerry wailed on every song like he was so good at doing. His guitar really sang for this one. Scarlet-Fire and Dancin Jam are incredible. If I were to write out every hot song, I would just have to copy and paste the entire setlist. A++ -Anonymous Overrated show but for good reason. What a packed show. 70s shows just drip musically. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Lazy Lightning - Supplication, and Phil's pounding during Dancing. Only seen 90s shows I wish I was there for this one. Some day when my time machine is built. -unbroken_chain, rsrobertson@firstunion2.com If anyone you know doubts the Dead, just give them a couple of beers or a J and INSIST that they listen for the first set through Scarlet>Fire. The finest bootleg out there, no question. -mb6879, tchofgray@aol.com Honestly, this is one of the finest shows ever performed. The setlist, the performance....Jerry's musical decomposing in NFA--> St. Stephen...all too unbeliveable. What a year 77 was. -Greg, gtrapani@nyc.rr.com i've heard a pitifully little amount of the Dead's Vault, and only the 2nd set of this show, but i can't believe how it can't be the best one ever. it sounds like if it was released comercially it could sell as many copies as Saturday Night Fever, or Thriller -rich, brienorichard@hotmail.com Quite an amazing Jack Straw and TLEO -Jeff Neal, were you smoking crack when you wrote that comment?? -Anonymous YO this show is great but not the best... the 76 run at the beacon surpassed it. Sick st stpehen and dancin in the streets, with a twisted fire on the mtn. -Anonymous It seems to be kind of fashionable these days to call this show, along with 8-27-72, over rated, but I find it fascinating that it seems to warrant the most discussion anyway. Here's the deal: This show is it. I listened to a lot of Dead before I even heard of this show. When I heard this show for the first time, I heard the Dead again for the first time. Listen to it. It sounds different than any other bootleg I've heard. The music is alive on that reel, it has to be. I read pretty much every post before I wrote this one, and some of the criticism of the show is valid, but frankly this Scarlett> Fire is the apex, IMHO. Phil's base line with the guitars playing at the beginning of Scarlett absolutely grabs you and from there, the band will not will not let you go. The trasition to Fire is the smoothest EVER. Don't even try. The Fire solo is zen in its simplicity, I have NEVER heard a Jerry solo so concise and dynamic. Estimated: Do me a favor and tell me what show Donna and Jerry sounded so beautiful together as in Estimated, just two short lines "fire wheel turning in the air" .... "way up the middle of the air" ...shivers The band is on another level this night. Several songs are the best I ever heard. Loser and the guitar fills. Dancin, disco schmisco,...this song rocks. The last thing I'm thinking of listening to this is disco. There ain't another better. Pembroke Pines 77? No. Springfield 78? No. I read some stuff that Dick said he'd take the shows the night before and the night after over this one. Well, as far as Dicks taste in the band he archived, can't say me and him always jived. Not that I don't love those shows, hey Boston Garden - Music Never Stopped? That one is a discussion ender. Favorite year, still a toss up bewteen 73 and 77. But this Scarlett> Fire and the Shakedown>Uncle Johns encore from 12-26-79 get me more jazzed then any other single song or song combo the Dead ever did that I've heard so far. -JoeHead UP there on best second sets.. Clearly, I think, 6/9/77 is the best second set ever, with the unreal help-->slip-->franklin's. The row jimmy is sweet on cornell with a nasty wah wahed dancin. Scralet->Fire is nuts and the morning dew is phat. St Stephen was alright but too little guitar work. -nick I really like the second set - especially the jam following Estimated Prophet. -Chad i recently downloaded the 3rd set of this concert. i would like not only to download and/or aquire set(s) 1and 2. only thing is that i can't find the setlist for the 3rd set. can anyone help a fellow dead'er out? please email me @ jibbser@hotmail.com. thanks a bunch -josh, jibbser@hotmail.com I can feel like I need to weigh in here. This is my favorite show as well. Other shows had beter jams. Other shows had more "rockin" moments. Other shows had more interesting set lists. What this show has is "energy". Anyone who "got" the dead knows that what made them special was the mystical energy that their playing produced. I have never heard a show that had more of this energy. This show just drips with electric fluid energy. I love it! -Me, qweniden@yahoo.com Good show, but c'mon. Jerry is obviously struggling during the Scarlet Begonias solo. Tight, good energy, but hardly the show of shows. My nominees for other Great Shows: 5-26-77 and 4-12-78 Check em out. -Anonymous