If you're a Dead Head, chances are you've spent many an hour expounding upon the distinction of May 8, 1977, Cornell University, Barton Hall. Well, at the risk of preaching to the choir, we'd like to reintroduce you to a series of shows that matches said greatness from that same gloriously fertile season. While Barton Hall is well known, the astounding tour that surrounded it has occasionally flown under the radar due to the uneven quality of tapes in circulation. May 1977 is set to change all of that with a boxed set that zeroes in on this high-water mark in the Grateful Dead's long strange trip.For a band resurrecting itself after a 20-month hiatus, there was a great frenzy of expectancy that surrounded the Spring of 1977. We anticipate a grand reoccurrence of this fervor with the release of May 1977, a 14-disc boxed set featuring five complete shows from consecutive stops on that magical tour. Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering, the "psychoacoustic phenomena" as Jerry once put it, of St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN (5/11) Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (5/12, 5/13), St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO (5/15) and Coliseum at the University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (5/17) can now finally be appreciated. Each of these shows finds the Dead delivering punchier, more focused sets, tightening up the framework; each night turning out first-ever renditions ("Passenger,""Iko Iko,""Jack-A-Roe"), unloading potent new pairings ("Scarlet Begonias">"Fire On The Mountain", "Estimated Prophet">"Eyes Of The World"), classic covers ("Dancing In The Street") and soon-to-be staples ("Estimated Prophet," "Samson and Delilah"), and ultimately rising up to paradise.And now for the nitty-gritty...Due June 11, May 1977 is limited to 15,000 individually numbered copies. Presented in a psychedelic box that boasts an intricate die-cut design created by Grammy®-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike, the set also includes a book filled with stories about each show, as well as an in-depth essay by Dead historian Steve Silberman, who delves deep into the history behind the tour and the band’s return from its extended hiatus.Once these 15,000 boxes are gone, May 1977 and its shows will never be available again on CD. However, the 111 tracks will be made available on release date as FLAC and Apple lossless full-set-only downloads.Like its predecessors Europe '72: The Complete Recordings and Spring 1990, we expect May 1977 to sell out. Your best bet is to pre-order it now, then sit back, relax, and enjoy all the exclusive content we'll be rolling out over the next few weeks right here and on Facebook.com/GratefulDead and Youtube.com/gratefuldead.Show #1St. Paul Civic Center Arena, St. Paul, MN (5/11/77)Disc 11. Promised Land [4:54]2. They Love Each Other [7:38]3. Big River [6:25]4. Loser [7:39]5. Looks Like Rain [9:18]6. Ramble On Rose [7:48]7. Jack Straw [5:54]8. Peggy-O [8:43]9. El Paso [4:44]10. Deal [5:49]Disc 21. Lazy Lightning> [3:32]2. Supplication [5:20]3. Sugaree [13:49]4. Samson and Delilah [7:08]5. Brown-Eyed Women [5:28]6. Estimated Prophet [8:38]Disc 31. Scarlet Begonias> [9:47]2. Fire On The Mountain> [11:02]3. Good Lovin' [6:29]4. Uncle John's Band> [9:11]5. Space> [5:48]6. Wharf Rat> [9:51]7. Around and Around [8:48]8. Brokedown Palace [5:34]Show #2Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (5/12/77)Disc 11. Bertha [7:16]2. Me and My Uncle [3:04]3. Tennessee Jed [9:32]4. Cassidy [5:05]5. Peggy-O [7:52]6. Jack Straw [5:45]7. They Love Each Other [7:47]8. New Minglewood Blues [5:20]Disc 21. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo> [9:54]2. Dancing In The Street [14:19]3. Samson and Delilah [7:07]4. Brown-Eyed Women [5:28]5. Estimated Prophet [9:25]6. Sunrise [3:46]Disc 31. Terrapin Station> [10:13]2. Playing In The Band> [8:36]3. Drums> [4:06]4. Not Fade Away> [14:15]5. Comes A Time> [10:20]6. Playing In The Band [7:00]7. Johnny B. Goode [4:18]Show #3Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (5/13/77)Disc 11. The Music Never Stopped [8:37]2. Ramble On Rose [7:33]3. Cassidy [4:46]4. Brown-Eyed Women [5:35]5. New Minglewood Blues [5:06]6. Friend Of The Devil [8:38]7. El Paso [4:55]8. Jack-A-Roe [5:56]9. Looks Like Rain [8:17]10. Scarlet Begonias> [7:05]11. Fire On The Mountain [13:19]Disc 21. Samson and Delilah> [7:24]2. Bertha [6:52]3. Estimated Prophet> [9:51]4. Drums> [5:47]5. The Other One> [16:28]6. Stella Blue> [11:51]7. Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad> [8:05]8. One More Saturday Night [5:21]9. U.S. Blues [5:57]Show #4St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO (5/15/77)Disc 11. Bertha> [6:34]2. Good Lovin' [6:07]3. Row Jimmy [10:51]4. New Minglewood Blues [5:33]5. Tennessee Jed [9:35]6. Lazy Lightning> [3:34]7. Supplication [4:42]8. Jack-A-Roe [6:24]< 9. Passenger [4:31]10. Brown-Eyed Women [5:16]Disc 21. Dancing In The Street [18:49]2. Estimated Prophet> [11:32]3. Eyes Of The World> [12:48]4. Drums> [3:13]5. Samson and Delilah [7:28]6. Ship Of Fools [7:41]Disc 31. St. Stephen> [5:28]2. Iko Iko> [3:54]3. Not Fade Away> [9:38]4. Sugar Magnolia [9:58]5. Uncle John's Band [9:06]Show #5Coliseum, University Of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (5/17/77)Disc 11. New Minglewood Blues [5:46]2. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo> [10:28]3. El Paso [4:48]4. They Love Each Other [7:42]5. Jack Straw [5:37]6. Jack-A-Roe [5:59]7. Looks Like Rain [8:10]8. Tennessee Jed [8:46]9. Passenger [3:36]10. High Time [8:32]11. Big River [6:39]Disc 21. Sunrise [4:35]2. Scarlet Begonias> [13:02]3. Fire On The Mountain [13:14]4. Samson and Delilah> [6:43]5. Bertha> [6:16]6. Good Lovin' [6:02]7. Brown-Eyed Women [5:34]Disc 31. Estimated Prophet [8:55]2. Terrapin Station> [11:23]3. Playing In The Band> [12:20]4. Drums> [4:49]5. Wharf Rat> [12:53]6. Playing In The Band [6:06]7. Sugar Magnolia [9:15]
