i went to alot shows in 1977 ,living in Brooklyn and tickets were $7.00 . A bunch were at the palladium NYC .Hot tuna, Santana ,Climax blues,jeff beck ,ZAPPA , and more , plus week of grateful dead in May.A week of shows $40.00 . i was leaving in a few days to go on the western road show with Bobs Space Racers , i worked in the ORIGINAL Wac A Mole . The last night was Sunday .You know what they say "never miss a Sunday show" , . i was on the bus feeling ok ... at set break the hells angel left his post at the fire exit that was stage left row d . This door led from the orchestra to the stage. so i scampered to the stage.poof boom i was on the fuckin stage. i was 16 it was my 10th dead show .a tour friend "red" had a squirt gun of "Osleys newest ",,he gave me a big squrt and said ," what ever you do is cool, but dont hug jerry ." i went and joined a group of 4 people talking to JERRY .After a few minutes he smiled and looked at me and said," lets do this thing." i followed to him to his position [stage right ]. i was behind the stack about 5 feet from him . it was soo beautiful to hear the music go out instead of at me. to this moment i can hear the " comes a time when the blind ....." i can see the music fill the hall .i can see the music go up .it was beautiful thing.at some point i thought man Jerry could use a hug ,,lucky Red said." dont HUG JERRY",, in my head . so i DID NOT... After they finished playing show i was still tripping on stage and Ramrod finally chased me out to the street .my friends Danny and Norman found me wondering around the 14st train station .lost looking for the Diamante D train to Brooklyn .Which did not stop there AT UNION station .you have to get to w4th st .in my condition it would be hours before i could figure that out my self, they took me with them. my friends talked gibberish to mess with me and at some point they took my shoes or i gave them to them so i would not run away .we made it back to sheepshead bay.we got bagels and yoohoos , took a shower WALKED THE DOG FOR A FEW HOURS , Had breakfast went to school....over the years i wondered around but never madeit back to that spot next to Garcia , over the years Ramrod ,Parish and The Kid asked me to go ...https://archive.org/details/gd77-05-04.sbd.mccarthy.1321.sbefixed.shnf

I remember going to this show with an older friend who last had seen the Dead @ Fillmore East in the 60's, We were both impressed at how well they played and how great the sound was. Loved Scarlet/Fire. I was a newbie just trying to drink it all in, my first step on the path of becoming a DH. Little did we know that May 77 would be one of those magical eras of the Dead....sigh.

The second set is solid, Jerry is in very good form. His songs have a mildness to them, but nothing is lacking. Scarlet>Fire is one of the best and is undervalued. Small venues brings out suppleness, think Fox's, Kiel, Capitol, Stanley, BMH.
Donna is toned down...
Estimated and (a mind melting) Playing are excellent!
Get your Terrapin's from early on, 5/17 and 5/26 included .
Comes A Time has a beautiful ending jam to be sure.
I like 1968-1973 + May '77.
A board from the Palladium is a major score, incidentally. All praises!

I consider myself mainly a collector/obsessed with 2 Dead songs - Missippi Half-Step & Row Jimmy. I try to seek out as many standout versions of these songs as I can and believe me when I tell u - if u are a 1/2 Step fan u need to hear this opener. Doesn't quite reach the heights of Englishtown but I'd rank it up there. Absolutely stellar work from Jerry and Keith - excellent beyond words. Whole show is excellent. Does anyone have 5/1/77 in SBD? Would be willing to trade or whatevs. Hit me up - Rawkus1167@comcast.net

Yes the first set sounds bad, but there's another copy of the set on here that sounds great. So combine the two and you have one sick show. The Playing in the Band here is probably my favorite post-74 version, along with 2/3/78's. Altogether it's 25 minutes of just insane jamming. Also, the Comes a Time is up there with 5/21/77 for the best version of all-time, imo. The last few minutes of it is actually the Playin' jam again. And while the Scarlet>Fire is short at a little over 20 minutes, trust me when I say that this version is just stellar. I love Bobby's China Cat riff during Jerry's first solo in Scarlet(by the way he also does this during 5/8's ending jam in Fire.) Awesome. Everyone talks about the holy trinity of 5/7, 5/8, and 5/9, and rightfully so, but I would say this show is absolutely worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as those. I would even go so far as to say it's in my top 3 or 4 of the year, along with 6/9, 5/21(another underrated gem,) and of course, 5/8(overrated or not, it made me a Deadhead.) Just listen and you will see.

Edit: Get the recently added Charlie Miller version. Pristine quality(after the first 2 minutes of 1/2 Step.)

It is true that I like this show, along with Swing, because they play just about every song that I love. Estimated Prophet, Scarlet > Fire, Terrapin, Playin' and the serene Comes A Time. There isn't the 2nd set filler like Drums, Tennessee Jed, or the dreaded Samson and Delilah (a song way overplayed this year). No Not Fade Away, Sugar Mags, two other songs play more often that the number of times Jerry dropped acid. I don't think the Scarlet > Fire is top 5 material, but it is still pretty good. Playing in the Band lasts forever, it's one of the longest post 1974 versions.

You know, it's just a great show. However I'm giving it a 3/5 because the first set recording is horrendous.

Only listen to BEWd1t09 from the first set, second set is great.

The comes a Time is just beautiful...Donna is even On point....My favorite song done absoloutely amazing....Jerry is crackling with Tears and joy ..Good ol` Grateful Dead ...

Starting with BEW, sound is phenomenal. Before that it is horrible. Why?

This Scarlet>Fire is definately one of the best of all time - Playin and hot Terapin, BE Women. This is a keeper and cannot believe I have never heard this...

lovely

I have to agree with eagle. The scarlet fire is top five all time. The boys swirl and fly around scarlet like sparks from the fire coming up. Fire is an exaustive exploration of all the tonal colors availible. and the transition is seamless. The rest of the set is strong but suffers a tiny bit in comparison. Really, really tight sow on a tour known for tightness. How exactly the achieved this well rehearsed inprovasation is something os a mystery, but that's what kept us coming back for more. Oh and the China Cat lick. I can actually hear Bob doin' the "heh huh" laugh in his head as he plays that. Just plain excellent.

Instead of repeating everything everyone has said...i had to mention that during Scarlet Begonias, in the solo before the last verse (at precisely 3:11 in the track in fact) Bob - faintly - plays the China Cat Sunflower lick. This makes the song for me - esp knowing that China Cat is a rarely played song during this era. Seems like they couldn't keep Bob from picking out that tight ass lick from China Cat. I love it. Oh and, good sounding second set - great songs.

My favorite 1/2 step of all time

Set 1 here is from the same cassette master as the source below, but this source carries a minimum of two additional gens and the newer Set 1 source of known SBDMC>C>CDR lineage is superior.

It's still not going to sound as good as Set 2, but it's an improvement nonetheless.

I agree that up to the Brown Eyed Women, the sound quality is pretty awful, but i wouldn't say it is unlistenable. After the Big River, your ears will adjust in the way they always seem to do.

Concerning the Brown Eyed Women and the successive songs, you could not ask for a better second set. There are other versions of these songs from this tour (Scarlet>Fire, Estimated) that may be more "rockin,'" but you would be hard pressed to find any versions that are more pristine.

listen from brown eyed women on + there are other much better shows from this year where the sound quality is great as well. Fire is pretty hot on this and the playin is long and spacy. Wait for a better copy and thanks to whomever it was that resurrected this for the effort.

That Dancin to close the first set was on fire, a spinners dream for sure. WOW. About to catch the second set, fasten your seatbelts!

hey Cryp, how about another review ;)

Just as Dcain said, bobby does play his intro to china cat,pretty sweet, knowing bob, he probably thought they were playing china cat.

Great sound quality here. Underneath Garcia's first solo break, you can hear Weir deliver his China Cat lick. The jam begins kind of quiet and spacious, fairly dreamy.

The second set is what made me fall in love with '77. The tightness of the band is inspirational. Scarlet > Fire is so so smooth, Playing exibits some fine Garcia improv, and Comes a Time just brings it all home. The band in sooo together its sick, even Donna is a welcome. The sound is also incredible. Flawless recording! Don't pass up the second set!

Even if the 1st Set wasn't well played (which it is, esp. the Half Step>Big River opener) the strength of the 2nd Set alone put this one in my top 10. A Dream Set that is basically one long jam, starting with Estimated and then blasts off with a Scarlet>Fire>Terrapin>Playin sequence that
features some of the most amazing improvising you'll hear in 1977. They finally come down to earth with a gorgeous and rare Comes a Time (only 5 times in 1977). You haven't really heard May 77 until you've heard this show!
Dr. Flashback :-)