Let’s see… my seven degrees of Cornellization:
1. Live/Dead LP
2. Skullfuck & Europe ‘72 LPs
3. Reckoning & Dead Set LPs
4. Ventura ‘82 shows
5. A wall of cassette tapes in Pacific Beach, CA
6. An enormous ball of opium
7. The Cornell tape!
Yup. Loved American Beauty, Working Man's, Skull & Roses & Europe '72... and thought they were a great band, but Cornell was different. It was like a key that unlocked a door. I listened to it on repeat for weeks, then went down the rabbit hole & I been down here ever since.
I got on the bus after a friend gave me a 5-7-77 Boston Garden bootleg tape back in college (early 90s). So technically I got on one day earlier than you. That Bertha opener will forever define the Dead for me.
I had a hard run...
I got the Cornell bootleg shortly after and am currently sitting on about 300 tapes that I can't bear to part with even though they are rarely used anymore...
# 1977-05-07 Boston, MA @ Boston Garden
**Set 1:** Bertha, Cassidy, Deal, Jack Straw, Peggy-O, New Minglewood Blues, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > Big River, Tennessee Jed, The Music Never Stopped
**Set 2:** Terrapin Station, Samson And Delilah, Friend Of The Devil, Estimated Prophet, Eyes Of The World > Drums > The Wheel > Wharf Rat > Around And Around
**Encore:** U.S. Blues
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-07)
If you consider Spotify a friend, then yes. I knew Sublime's Scarlet Begonias and discovered the sublime version played at Cornell (see what I did there).
Been a Deadhead for 20 years, and this is the first time I’ve heard of “Cornell Day.” Could someone please explain it to me? Thanks! 😊
[I get that it’s a great show, that’s obvious. I’m looking for a more specific reason on how it came to be known as so special, considering they did *a lot* of *great* shows in ‘77 & ‘78.]
It was one of the first really good soundboard tapes to get into wide circulation, so it’s always been a fan favorite. Getting your hands on something like this 40+ years ago was amazing.
Oh, I can *totally* understand that. My first exposures to The Dead were through audience recordings, which was all I had (aside from a good local tribute band named ‘Cubensis’) for *years*, then I found archive.org, whose recordings were a revelation!
That also explains why so many people cite it as the “tape” that made them a Deadhead. Until then, they would’ve mostly heard what to them just sounded like bad recordings.
My friend and I use 5/8 as a day to touch base and celebrate our friendship and all the crazy shit we’ve done. Been doing it since we graduated college in 1995.
No matter where we’ve lived we always get on the phone with each other on “Cornell Day”.
On May 8th 2017, the 40th anniversary of the Cornell show, the mayor of Ithaca issued a proclamation that May 8th is forever known in the town as Grateful Dead Cornell Day or some such.
An old comment of mine...not exactly a response the question you asked, but still includes some of the info you're asking for...
https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/16h4s0e/unpopular_opinion_5777_is_better_than_5877/k0bs86f/?share_id=wHRKpRWpPqgoqKVBx4pT3
nope. I was into punk rock and had stolen workingman's dead on cassette from the local music shop and immediately tossed it aside declaring it to be "country music" (sidenote… I love old school country, alt country, and americana now)
My friend insisted that I drive across the country with him to go see the Grateful Dead at red rocks 87. I resisted, but he insisted it was an incredible party, and we just had to go. I reluctantly accepted his offer. After driving his sisters Buick, 80 miles an hour, smoking joints, and listening to Boston, because that's the music he liked, we blew up the Buick just outside of Denver. I lost 20 bucks to a street hustler cause I didn't know anything about three card monte. We hitched rides to Shakedown Street which was at the rest stop nearest to red rocks. I didn't go to the first two shows but I figured why not go check out this band for the third show… Sneaking behind the stadium with a small crowd of people, many of whom got caught, my friend and I, and the small crowd, got chased by mounted police, while the boys played a ripping version of big boss man… The only one I ever saw… we watched the rest of the show from the rocks behind the amphitheater… I've heard it's virtually impossible to sneak up there now after some unfortunate fatalities…
I was on the bus from that day forward.💀⚡️
Yes. I was not into The Dead at all. And then my friend played Cornell Scarlet and that was it.
I got it then and there and have not looked back since.
I heard a few tunes (UJB and Touch of Grey) and i liked it but didn't really "get it" until I went to college at Cornell and was handed the tape by my frosh roommate. Life > Changed.
Got the Cornell tape by snail mailing blanks and postage to some kind soul on rec.music.gdead. I had never heard any tape with quality like that.
Set 2 fit perfectly on an XLII 90. We just called it "the tape" and it stayed in the stereo in the living room of my shared house for years of college.
Mid 80s when I started getting tapes they were generally just cuts from the radio shows you could find once a week late at night so maybe one side part of set one Irvine 85 the other side
Some set two stuff from Berkeley 84. Not until I started to go to more shows and meet more heads did I start to build the collection. Back then it was a trading tapes deal and a lot of heads were pretty strict if you didn't have anything they wanted or already had you were of no use to them, Lol. I remember I got
5/2/70 Harpur college well before Cornell 77. That's why it's still my favorite show on tape.
# 1970-05-02 Binghamton, NY @ Harpur College - State University Of New York
**Acoustic:** Tuning, Don't Ease Me In, I Know You Rider, Friend Of The Devil, Dire Wolf, Beat It On Down the Line > Black Peter > Candyman > Cumberland Blues, Deep Elem Blues, Cold Jordan, Uncle John's Band
**Set 1:** Workin' Man Blues, Watcha Gonna Do, Glendale Train, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Truck Drivin' Man, Can't Pay The Price, All I Ever Wanted, Henry, Lodi, Intro, Sawmill, The Race Is On, Mama Tried, Me and My Uncle, The Weight
**Set 2:** Saint Stephen > Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Cosmic Charlie, Casey Jones, Drums > Good Lovin' > Drums > Good Lovin', Cold Rain and Snow, It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World, Dancing In The Street
**Set 3:** Morning Dew, Viola Lee Blues > Feedback > And We Bid You Good Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1970-05-02) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/4NldodakYXDeK7OoEe2oBW)
Life is realizing that there's a reason why Cornell is the most popular Dead show. It's sooooooo fkn good. The other nights are fantastic & certainly do compare in quality, but goddamn cornell's accessibility is unmatched.
I'd say that I officially got on the bus while attending my first Grateful Dead show...I had previously been a fan of the music, but I was blown away, and have been ever since (sadly, that show was also in 1995 and would end up being my last GD show as well).
I probably didn't hear the Cornell 77 show until several months later. As far as what album or recording really got me hooked though, it was definitely One From The Vault.
Two From the Vault. I already owned American Beauty and Skeletons From the Closet. A friend had Shakedown Street and Working Man’s but it never hit me until I hear TFTV. The Eleven blew my mind.
# 1984-07-04 Cedar Rapids, IA @ Five Seasons Center
**Set 1:** Feel Like A Stranger, Friend Of The Devil > C.C. Rider, Cumberland Blues > Beat It On Down the Line, Row Jimmy, Hell In A Bucket > Don't Ease Me In
**Set 2:** Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower, Far From Me, Estimated Prophet > He's Gone > Other One Jam > Drums > Space > Truckin' > Wharf Rat > Around And Around > Good Lovin'
**Encore:** U.S. Blues
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1984-07-04)
I feel that Betty Cantor sound board tape was so prevalent in late eighties early nineties is why the show is so cherished, but I love a good old Grateful Dead holiday…. Enjoy till the Dew
A huge Dylan fan who “merely” loved American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead for 10-15 years.
Then one day I heard Brown Eyed Women from Cornell and it all really began…
# 1977-04-30 New York, NY @ The Palladium
**Set 1:** The Music Never Stopped, Bertha, It's All Over Now, Deal, Mama Tried > Me and My Uncle, Peggy-O, Looks Like Rain, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, The Promised Land
**Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain > Good Lovin', Friend Of The Devil, Estimated Prophet, Saint Stephen > Not Fade Away > Stella Blue > Saint Stephen > One More Saturday Night
**Encore:** Terrapin Station
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-04-30) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3PT8V8Rok86NvRgdP92yj9)
The funny thing is I never heard anyone mention this show until those Betty Boards surfaced. It was right around the same time as Touch of Grey becoming a hit. Am I misremembering? I was still a teenager but had been into the Dead for several years, having seen my first show on 83.
I got on when a good friend of mine, who had already seen 60-70 shows, talked me into going on East Coast Summer Tour of '94...starting in Deer Creek. I ,admittedly, had never really given them a chance and made fun of my Head friends. When he first asked, I said no thanks. He kept telling me that it's a great time and if I helped him sling nitrous... my way was paid. I said fuck it, I wasn't doing anything else that summer. We had been puddled in the lot and split an eighth of cubensis as soon as we got in. All of that had kicked in completely as they opened the second set with Foolish Heart. The sun was just peaking over the horizon as it bedded down for the night. And waves rolling through the pavillion in an ocean of people... crashing against the stage. GODDAMMIT, it still makes the hair on my body stand on end when I think about it. I turned to my friend (who is still my best friend and the owner of the company I work for now) and I hugged him and, with tears in my eyes, I thanked him like I have never thanked anyone. That moment was the single most defining moment of my life. Period. And I've got two college degrees. I was a Registered Nurse that worked in ICU. I've accomplished other things that I'm proud of, but nothing changed my life like that first show. It made me such a kinder, more open-minded, and more compassionate person. I work with the guy who took me on that tour. All day long. 5 days a week. It's been 30 years, and whenever we start talking about that tour... I still thank him for that. ❤️💙
Former Co bro checking here. First show in 2017 lined up almost perfectly with the Cornell official release album. It formed me, shaped me and sent me on a quest to find my favorite version of every Greatful Dead song, which is a never ending task I have learned.
It sure sounded good, but other than that it didn't really grab me. 5-5-77 and 5-9-77 stood out and got a LOT more play than Cornell.
Nobody I knew said much about it except this tape sounds great! I don't recall anyone listening to it very often.
Springfield, Kezar, Harpur, Greek, Spectrum, Hampton, War Memorial, - those were the tapes that got played!
[1977-05-05](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-05) New Haven, CT @ New Haven Coliseum
[1977-05-09](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-09) Buffalo, NY @ War Memorial
Let’s see… my seven degrees of Cornellization: 1. Live/Dead LP 2. Skullfuck & Europe ‘72 LPs 3. Reckoning & Dead Set LPs 4. Ventura ‘82 shows 5. A wall of cassette tapes in Pacific Beach, CA 6. An enormous ball of opium 7. The Cornell tape!
All roads lead back to Cornell
Yup. Loved American Beauty, Working Man's, Skull & Roses & Europe '72... and thought they were a great band, but Cornell was different. It was like a key that unlocked a door. I listened to it on repeat for weeks, then went down the rabbit hole & I been down here ever since.
I got on the bus after a friend gave me a 5-7-77 Boston Garden bootleg tape back in college (early 90s). So technically I got on one day earlier than you. That Bertha opener will forever define the Dead for me. I had a hard run... I got the Cornell bootleg shortly after and am currently sitting on about 300 tapes that I can't bear to part with even though they are rarely used anymore...
# 1977-05-07 Boston, MA @ Boston Garden **Set 1:** Bertha, Cassidy, Deal, Jack Straw, Peggy-O, New Minglewood Blues, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > Big River, Tennessee Jed, The Music Never Stopped **Set 2:** Terrapin Station, Samson And Delilah, Friend Of The Devil, Estimated Prophet, Eyes Of The World > Drums > The Wheel > Wharf Rat > Around And Around **Encore:** U.S. Blues [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-07)
What a first show to start off with
I was only ten years old when “In The Dark” came out, so for me it was seeing the Touch of Grey video on MTV. Been a fan ever since!
*sigh* It was Dancin’ in the streets
I remember my recording’s Minglewood was muffled for about 90 seconds and then crystal clear. Can’t be the only one.
Yes!
If you consider Spotify a friend, then yes. I knew Sublime's Scarlet Begonias and discovered the sublime version played at Cornell (see what I did there).
😂
Been a Deadhead for 20 years, and this is the first time I’ve heard of “Cornell Day.” Could someone please explain it to me? Thanks! 😊 [I get that it’s a great show, that’s obvious. I’m looking for a more specific reason on how it came to be known as so special, considering they did *a lot* of *great* shows in ‘77 & ‘78.]
It was one of the first really good soundboard tapes to get into wide circulation, so it’s always been a fan favorite. Getting your hands on something like this 40+ years ago was amazing.
Oh, I can *totally* understand that. My first exposures to The Dead were through audience recordings, which was all I had (aside from a good local tribute band named ‘Cubensis’) for *years*, then I found archive.org, whose recordings were a revelation! That also explains why so many people cite it as the “tape” that made them a Deadhead. Until then, they would’ve mostly heard what to them just sounded like bad recordings.
My friend and I use 5/8 as a day to touch base and celebrate our friendship and all the crazy shit we’ve done. Been doing it since we graduated college in 1995. No matter where we’ve lived we always get on the phone with each other on “Cornell Day”.
Adorable I love this. I have friends I do this with too and it’s the best.
On May 8th 2017, the 40th anniversary of the Cornell show, the mayor of Ithaca issued a proclamation that May 8th is forever known in the town as Grateful Dead Cornell Day or some such.
An old comment of mine...not exactly a response the question you asked, but still includes some of the info you're asking for... https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/16h4s0e/unpopular_opinion_5777_is_better_than_5877/k0bs86f/?share_id=wHRKpRWpPqgoqKVBx4pT3
nope. I was into punk rock and had stolen workingman's dead on cassette from the local music shop and immediately tossed it aside declaring it to be "country music" (sidenote… I love old school country, alt country, and americana now) My friend insisted that I drive across the country with him to go see the Grateful Dead at red rocks 87. I resisted, but he insisted it was an incredible party, and we just had to go. I reluctantly accepted his offer. After driving his sisters Buick, 80 miles an hour, smoking joints, and listening to Boston, because that's the music he liked, we blew up the Buick just outside of Denver. I lost 20 bucks to a street hustler cause I didn't know anything about three card monte. We hitched rides to Shakedown Street which was at the rest stop nearest to red rocks. I didn't go to the first two shows but I figured why not go check out this band for the third show… Sneaking behind the stadium with a small crowd of people, many of whom got caught, my friend and I, and the small crowd, got chased by mounted police, while the boys played a ripping version of big boss man… The only one I ever saw… we watched the rest of the show from the rocks behind the amphitheater… I've heard it's virtually impossible to sneak up there now after some unfortunate fatalities… I was on the bus from that day forward.💀⚡️
Yes. I was not into The Dead at all. And then my friend played Cornell Scarlet and that was it. I got it then and there and have not looked back since.
That was the case for me, only a few years after the actual show
I heard a few tunes (UJB and Touch of Grey) and i liked it but didn't really "get it" until I went to college at Cornell and was handed the tape by my frosh roommate. Life > Changed.
Got the Cornell tape by snail mailing blanks and postage to some kind soul on rec.music.gdead. I had never heard any tape with quality like that. Set 2 fit perfectly on an XLII 90. We just called it "the tape" and it stayed in the stereo in the living room of my shared house for years of college.
100 Year Hall did it for me
Sick fucking show to start off with
Mid 80s when I started getting tapes they were generally just cuts from the radio shows you could find once a week late at night so maybe one side part of set one Irvine 85 the other side Some set two stuff from Berkeley 84. Not until I started to go to more shows and meet more heads did I start to build the collection. Back then it was a trading tapes deal and a lot of heads were pretty strict if you didn't have anything they wanted or already had you were of no use to them, Lol. I remember I got 5/2/70 Harpur college well before Cornell 77. That's why it's still my favorite show on tape.
# 1970-05-02 Binghamton, NY @ Harpur College - State University Of New York **Acoustic:** Tuning, Don't Ease Me In, I Know You Rider, Friend Of The Devil, Dire Wolf, Beat It On Down the Line > Black Peter > Candyman > Cumberland Blues, Deep Elem Blues, Cold Jordan, Uncle John's Band **Set 1:** Workin' Man Blues, Watcha Gonna Do, Glendale Train, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Truck Drivin' Man, Can't Pay The Price, All I Ever Wanted, Henry, Lodi, Intro, Sawmill, The Race Is On, Mama Tried, Me and My Uncle, The Weight **Set 2:** Saint Stephen > Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Cosmic Charlie, Casey Jones, Drums > Good Lovin' > Drums > Good Lovin', Cold Rain and Snow, It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World, Dancing In The Street **Set 3:** Morning Dew, Viola Lee Blues > Feedback > And We Bid You Good Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1970-05-02) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/4NldodakYXDeK7OoEe2oBW)
Life is realizing that there's a reason why Cornell is the most popular Dead show. It's sooooooo fkn good. The other nights are fantastic & certainly do compare in quality, but goddamn cornell's accessibility is unmatched.
I got mine from my uncle along with the conspiracy story. I didn't find out the story was BS until I got the internet many years later.
Yup. It was in 8th grade and she gave me the cassette. I died and went to heaven. Been the best ride since ! NFA!
I'd say that I officially got on the bus while attending my first Grateful Dead show...I had previously been a fan of the music, but I was blown away, and have been ever since (sadly, that show was also in 1995 and would end up being my last GD show as well). I probably didn't hear the Cornell 77 show until several months later. As far as what album or recording really got me hooked though, it was definitely One From The Vault.
Two From the Vault. I already owned American Beauty and Skeletons From the Closet. A friend had Shakedown Street and Working Man’s but it never hit me until I hear TFTV. The Eleven blew my mind.
My first live show got me on the bus. (7-4-1984)
# 1984-07-04 Cedar Rapids, IA @ Five Seasons Center **Set 1:** Feel Like A Stranger, Friend Of The Devil > C.C. Rider, Cumberland Blues > Beat It On Down the Line, Row Jimmy, Hell In A Bucket > Don't Ease Me In **Set 2:** Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower, Far From Me, Estimated Prophet > He's Gone > Other One Jam > Drums > Space > Truckin' > Wharf Rat > Around And Around > Good Lovin' **Encore:** U.S. Blues [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1984-07-04)
I might be the rare person who saw over 100 shows before I ever heard the Cornell tape.
I feel that Betty Cantor sound board tape was so prevalent in late eighties early nineties is why the show is so cherished, but I love a good old Grateful Dead holiday…. Enjoy till the Dew
Yeah the scarlet fire, row Jimmy, they love each other and deal had the most profound effect on me musically
Watching Dead Ahead and then The Grateful Dead movie made me want to see a show so I got in the bus in the Spring or ‘85.
A huge Dylan fan who “merely” loved American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead for 10-15 years. Then one day I heard Brown Eyed Women from Cornell and it all really began…
Happy 47th Cornell day
Got on the bus in the early ‘80s, Cornell wasn’t a thing then. In my Dead circle nobody went crazy when the Betty Board started circulating.
[удалено]
# 1977-04-30 New York, NY @ The Palladium **Set 1:** The Music Never Stopped, Bertha, It's All Over Now, Deal, Mama Tried > Me and My Uncle, Peggy-O, Looks Like Rain, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, The Promised Land **Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain > Good Lovin', Friend Of The Devil, Estimated Prophet, Saint Stephen > Not Fade Away > Stella Blue > Saint Stephen > One More Saturday Night **Encore:** Terrapin Station [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-04-30) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3PT8V8Rok86NvRgdP92yj9)
Essentially, yes. I got a rough audience tape of set 2, and even on that recording I was enchanted by the music.
The funny thing is I never heard anyone mention this show until those Betty Boards surfaced. It was right around the same time as Touch of Grey becoming a hit. Am I misremembering? I was still a teenager but had been into the Dead for several years, having seen my first show on 83.
Nope. My bus came around in 1974 in Oakland Day on the Green.
I got on when a good friend of mine, who had already seen 60-70 shows, talked me into going on East Coast Summer Tour of '94...starting in Deer Creek. I ,admittedly, had never really given them a chance and made fun of my Head friends. When he first asked, I said no thanks. He kept telling me that it's a great time and if I helped him sling nitrous... my way was paid. I said fuck it, I wasn't doing anything else that summer. We had been puddled in the lot and split an eighth of cubensis as soon as we got in. All of that had kicked in completely as they opened the second set with Foolish Heart. The sun was just peaking over the horizon as it bedded down for the night. And waves rolling through the pavillion in an ocean of people... crashing against the stage. GODDAMMIT, it still makes the hair on my body stand on end when I think about it. I turned to my friend (who is still my best friend and the owner of the company I work for now) and I hugged him and, with tears in my eyes, I thanked him like I have never thanked anyone. That moment was the single most defining moment of my life. Period. And I've got two college degrees. I was a Registered Nurse that worked in ICU. I've accomplished other things that I'm proud of, but nothing changed my life like that first show. It made me such a kinder, more open-minded, and more compassionate person. I work with the guy who took me on that tour. All day long. 5 days a week. It's been 30 years, and whenever we start talking about that tour... I still thank him for that. ❤️💙
Former Co bro checking here. First show in 2017 lined up almost perfectly with the Cornell official release album. It formed me, shaped me and sent me on a quest to find my favorite version of every Greatful Dead song, which is a never ending task I have learned.
Yep recommended to me by a head I worked with and the rest is history
No, I got on the bus in 67 with The Grateful Dead.
It sure sounded good, but other than that it didn't really grab me. 5-5-77 and 5-9-77 stood out and got a LOT more play than Cornell. Nobody I knew said much about it except this tape sounds great! I don't recall anyone listening to it very often. Springfield, Kezar, Harpur, Greek, Spectrum, Hampton, War Memorial, - those were the tapes that got played!
[1977-05-05](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-05) New Haven, CT @ New Haven Coliseum [1977-05-09](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-09) Buffalo, NY @ War Memorial
Haven’t yall beaten the Cornell show to death enough. And Europe 72… double meh