Hot on the heels of Cinco de Mayo, the Kentucky Derby and the close of this years New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival comes Grateful Dead Day. Indeed, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Deads celebrated 5/8/77 performance at Cornells Barton Hall, Ithaca, New York Mayor Carolyn Peterson has proclaimed that May 8th 2007 is Grateful Dead Day in the City of Ithaca. Although Peterson herself did not attend the Barton Hall show, City Attorney Daniel Hoffman was in attendance that night.
In part the reputation of this show has grown through the wide circulation of a crisp 5/8/77 soundboard (this tape remained zealously guarded by some- it was the only one that an acquaintance of your site editor, refused to allow out of his dorm room). Nonetheless, the second set in particular is stellar, featuring an early, celebrated Scarlet>Fire segue, and a gripping run from Not Fade Away into St. Stephen back into Not Fade Away and then on through Morning Dew. To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Barton Hall performance, the Dark Star Orchestra will interpret the show in its entirety this evening at Ithacas State Theater.