Close to five decades after the Grateful Dead’s legendary Barton Hall show, Dead & Company will return to Ithaca’s Cornell University.
The band confirmed the upcoming May show on Thursday night via social media, days after hinting at a return to Ithaca with a post that included “5.8.23” and a graphic that resembled Cornell branding and a design similar to the illustration on the Dead’s live release of the May 7, 1977 concert.
Tickets will for the show will be limited, the band announced, with all proceeds benefiting MusiCares and The Cornell 2030 Project.
The show is part of Dead & Company’s The Final Tour 2023. The tour kicks off May 6 in New Orleans and includes stops in Saratoga Springs and New York City. Dead & Company includes Grateful Dead drummers Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir.
John Mayer helps front the band as guitarist and vocalist, along with bassist Oteil Burbridge and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. Jay Lane has helped fill in as a percussionist during Kreutzmann’s recent health issues.
The Dead also played Barton Hall in 1980 and 1981, but the 1977 show is considered by Deadheads as one of the band’s best. The show, attended by about 8,500 fans, was so culturally significant that it was archived in the Library of Congress.
In 2017, in honor of the show’s 40th anniversary, the Tompkins County legislature issued a proclamation recognizing the event’s importance and declaring May 8 as Grateful Dead Day in the county. Commemorations of the show include a book published by Cornell University Press and an annual Cornell Chimemasters concert of Dead songs.
Another Grateful Dead offshoot, Furthur, which featured Weir and original bassist Phil Lesh, played at Barton Hall in 2010.
More info on how to get tickets for the upcoming Dead & Company show at Cornell will be available soon, with the band posting “Stay tuned for more information on how you can participate and help us raise money for these vitally important causes.”
Ithaca:
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