While most people might assimilate Cornell University to a certain academic pedigree, the Grateful Dead’s 5/8/77 show lives in the heart and recollection of many a music-centric-minded listener. Cornell ’77 is arguably the band’s most revered performance that featured the late 70’s lineup of the band at their most exploratory and most accessible. Versions of “Dancing In The Street,” and “Morning Dew,” live on in the ears of many an early Dead collectors tape collection as “standout” versions. So the band (minus Phil, Billy, Jerry and the Godchauxs) returned to the upstate New York field house called Barton Hall to give it another go’ in 2023 to benefit MusiCares & Cornell 2030 Project. And while we’ll be clear this isn’t The Grateful Dead, this Bob Weir/John Mayer-led configuration surely has had its supporters in its reinterpretations of the Dead catalog.
Dead and Co, wasted no time replicating the ‘77 show kicking off with “New Minglewood Blues,” then took a turn into post-’70s material with a hot take on “Althea.” Followed by slow and intense “Estimated Prophet,” they landed into a jazzy and transcendental “Eyes of the World,” that took off with John Mayer leading the way through its vast improvisational channels, while Oteil Burbridge cascaded his bass into a fusiony solo featuring some vocals: clearly a top gun “Eyes” for this Dead & Co. era. “Deal” and “Jack Straw” were two other songs from ‘77 represented in the first set as the band paid nods to the past while writing their own new script for 2023 Cornell.
Overall the six-piece did seven songs that were on the original Cornell, however, its the “epic” songs that truly make a show memorable, and this second set was stacked with em: more so than most any show the band had played to date. Kicking off with “China Cat>Rider” into “Help>Slip>Franklins,” then out of “Drums>Space” into “Scarlet/Fire” and then dipping to a poetically climactic “Morning Dew” before concluding with a triumphant “Terrapin Station.” The second set had it all and then some, making Dead and Company’s final tour this summer a tough act to follow. Check out the visual, audio, and setlist below from 5/8/23.
