On May 8, 1977, Grateful Dead performed at Cornell University’s Barton Hall in Ithaca, New York, and the show quickly became a legendary moment in the band’s history.
For various reasons it's considered by many to be amongst the band’s best shows of all time, yet there are almost as many opinions on the performance -- and its proper place in Dead history -- as there are Deadheads.
Let's look at eight ways the world is celebrating the anniversary.
1. Officially, By Proclamation
Tompkins County Legislature Vice Chair Dan Klein has officially made May 8 “Grateful Dead Day” in the county in celebration of the show’s 40th anniversary.
Klein’s proclamation itself is an amazing read, where the Vice Chair notes that ‘it has been said many times by many people that, “there is nothing like a Grateful Dead show,” and that “the cultural identity and perceptions of Tompkins County as a community have been informed and bolstered by the widespread acknolegement of the magic of May 8, 1977.”
2. By reviewing the archivist's original notes
For those that doubt the power of this show, look to no further authority than the late Dead archivist Dick Latvala, who penned these notes just two months after the performance.
3. Good old contrarian backlash
You can't pin a good Deadhead down. Although 5/8/77 may yield as close to consensus as you can get, some Deadheads show their stripes by denying it's greatness (at least with respect to other performances).
Some even deny it's existence -- claiming it's a hoax as a part of some kind of government mind control experiment.
To each their own.
Admittedly, this celebration and now commercialization can be a bit much. The brilliant Thoughts On The Dead excellently summarizes the exhaustion of it all in a satirical piece.
4. Listening to Grateful Dead (and other) songs performed on the Cornell Chimes
If you're close to the original performance location, here's an odd option for you....
Cornell University's oldest musical tradition, The Cornell Chimes, are 21 bells in a tower on campus that are played periodically throughout the year. They will offer a special tribute to the Dead this evening. While "They Love Each Other" will be the only song performed from the 5/8/77 setlist, "Ripple", "Playing In The Band" and "Touch Of Grey" (debuted 5 years after the 1977 concert) will round out the Dead portion of the program. It will also include two Beatles tunes (Blackbird & Hey Jude) and Paul Simon's "Sounds Of Silence".
Because, hey... what better way to celebrate a landmark concert by a legendary improvisational rock band then a recital on church bells? More information is available here.
UPDATE: The chimes concert was Periscoped Live. Here's a recording...
5. Unboxing shiny new toys
Get Shown The Light is the meticulously packaged commercial offering that includes Cornell and three other surrounding shows. This thing looks so good, I'd probably never even want to take it out of the box.
6. Driving around with commemorative vanity plates
When you really love that show and just want the whole world to know about it.
7. Reading about it
There's a book about (*ahem*) The Music, The Myth and Magnificence of the Cornell '77 show. But if you're not willing to commit to 200 pages about 19 songs performed 40 years ago, there are also some pretty good articles that are worth a read...
Stereogum makes the case for why even non-Heads should take a listen.
No less a source than Pitchfork has a very thoughtful take on the Get Shown The Light box set by Jesse Jarnow.
Here are some fine notes on the show from Aquarium Drunkard.
8. Listening to it
Many of your will have your new box sets, some will trot out old CDs or tapes. Yes! It's on Spotfiy and sounds great.
Or try it the free way. A pristine version of the tape that started the mania is still available via archive.org to stream.
