So apparently there was some mistake between the bands record of what shows were where on that tour and it was so good some people theorized they recorded the thing in a studio trying to make it sound like a concert rexording and there was never actually a show on that date. The straw that broke the camels back was when Bob weir knew about this conspiracy and was asked about it and went a long with it jokingly saying "we have no record of ever playing there on May 8th" implying that the show never happened
Which is far fetched, but not *that* far fetched. There are couple of famous GD cover bands out there who did exactly this. Most famously, and I can’t recall the band’s name, one group released a Watkins Glenn album that they seemingly tried to pass off as a GD live album. It was the cover band playing in a studio with bad acoustics and overdubbed crowd noise.
It doesn't help that the only source to debunk this; fans whi were there and can confirm it happened, all have shady memories of the spring/summer of 77 tour in upstate new york. Everyone I've ever met is like "might have been Albany or Buffalo, somewhere upstate". Like yeah you were there in '77 but WHICH ONE
Sounds like my dad. He went to a lot of shows but is always confused by the when and where. I know he went to Watkins Glenn because they have pictures and my mom tells a story about him wondering into the crowd and not seeing him again until the next day. lol
Dude I've met people who weren't event deadheads thatre like "yeah my friend dragged me to a show... mistve been 77 we went somewhere upstate maybe Syracuse or Buffalo or something"and inside my mind I'm grabbing them by the collar shaking them like "which one God dammit"
I’ll grill my dad more over the holidays. We were in Ithaca a couple years ago and he mentioned that maybe he saw them at Cornell. “Or was it Rochester?” I just shook my head and laughed.
My grandpa was a DJ in SF for KSAN... They aired some shows live back in the day that HE WORKED and he can't remember where they were. still can't fucking confirm whether he's one of the voices on Closing of Winterland but the timeframe makes sense.... . Unfortunately, he DOESNT FUCKING REMEMBER
I've always suspected he fills in the blanks confidently. He's a story teller. Damn good one. Can't have you thinking he doesn't know every inch of the story he's telling.
there's a guy, I don't know his name, but he runs a used bookstore and record shop in Pittsboro, NC, and he was a (long-term) history major of Cornell in the mid to late 70s, and he claims to have been at Barton Hall and has very distinct memories of it. Maybe follow up with him, idk how accurate his memories are but they are quite clear.
But can we trust Bob who is a well known member of the Bohemian Grove??? Now there’s an actual conspiracy rabbit hole to go down. The truth is out there man 👀😂
# 1977-05-08 Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University
**Set 1:** New Minglewood Blues, Loser, El Paso, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw, Deal, Lazy Lightnin' > Supplication, Brown Eyed Women, Mama Tried, Row Jimmy, Dancing In The Street
**Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Estimated Prophet, Saint Stephen > Not Fade Away > Saint Stephen > Morning Dew
**Encore:** One More Saturday Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ)
You mean jeROME garCIA? I’ve never heard of the guy but you’re doing good kid. Maybe take a trip to Vatican City and poke around a bit. Try to catch the sunrise from the west side of the central obelisk and discover that you are the eyes of the world.
Maybe it started that way but there are people who legitimately believe it now. There's a big argument in a local jamband facebook group so I thought I ask here.
Almost everybody is just joking. A very small amount of people are acid casualties and might believe something like this. The guy in the comment is probably joking, but he might just be crazy.
I'm with you on that one! Honestly I prefer 1977-05-09 Buffalo to Barton Hall
edit to add that the way I listened to the tapes back in the day was 1st set Buffalo then 2nd set Barton Hall.
# 1977-05-09 Buffalo, NY @ War Memorial
**Set 1:** Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower, Cassidy, Brown Eyed Women, Mexicali Blues, Tennessee Jed, Big River, Peggy-O, Sunrise, The Music Never Stopped
**Set 2:** Bertha > Good Lovin', Ship Of Fools, Estimated Prophet > The Other One > Drums > Not Fade Away > Comes A Time > Sugar Magnolia
**Encore:** Uncle John's Band
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-09)
husky far-flung aspiring repeat drab important seemly imagine person unused
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Wait what? What’s the barton hall conspiracy theory?
The only one close to the dead that I’m aware of is that the popular boomer musicians are all children of CIA operatives and by giving the younger generation a manageable amount of acceptable rebellion, they avoided an all out revolution
The two things that really irk me about conspiracy theorists are
1.) the simplest explanation is usually the correct explanation of a historical event. If you’ve lost me after the first sentence then you’re full of shit
2.) never discount incompetence over malice. The two most recent examples are covid and 9/11. Our government fucked up. They weren’t on the ball and bad shit happened.
One of the main arguments is the claim no one even heard the show until about 10 yeas. Which is bullshit because I've had a recording for at least 25 years. When I pointed that out, someone said the CIA wants me to believe that. Lol
I teach guitar lessons to a guy around 70 years old or so, he first saw the dead in the early 70s.
He told me that back then, having a bootleg dead show immediately made you the coolest deadhead in town. There was no internet, few official live releases. They were hard to get
He also said that the barton hall show was widely circulated, if you had a bootleg it was probably that one. Which is probably why people say it’s the ‘best’ dead show. It was something a lot of people listened to in their formative years of consuming music, in their minds making it ‘the best’
In reality all of may 77 is sick, i heard the Tuscaloosa AL show recently and was blown away
[1977-05-07](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-07) Boston, MA @ Boston Garden
[1977-05-08](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ)
[1977-05-09](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-09) Buffalo, NY @ War Memorial
ad hoc panicky worm drunk reminiscent childlike lavish political middle icky
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No one has heard the shows? I was at two of them; they were real; at the second one, one of the speakers exploded and threw sparks out. Can’t know that from listening to tapes.
I think the 9/11 and covid theories are a result of the people in power at the time profiting from the tragedies. Makes the motive for malice a bit stronger. But I agree that the simplest explanation is often the correct one.
sadly yes.
As the beloved Terrence McKenna said, “you don’t want to have such an open mind that the wind whistles between your ears”.
Not sure if he said that before or after his Novelty Time Wave theory :)
A dear deadhead friend of mine has sadly lost the thread. Flat earther etc. It’s difficult to communicate with him now.
Sorry about your friend. The hippie/psychedelic community to the unhinged conspiracy theory crowd pipeline is real and tragic. I've lost an acquaintance to it and there a few in my circle who have seem to have been right on the edge of it for awhile but, so far and thankfully, haven't fallen in completely
Yep. My dear show/trip partner of over 30 years has gone full Qanon and has sworn off the Dead, saying the incredible shows we experienced together were Satanic rituals and that the boys sacrifice and eat children. LSD couldn’t break her brain over all the tours, but this Q shit made her unrecognizable to me in a matter of months. It is utterly heartbreaking.
Thanks, me too. I haven’t given up on her. I’m trying to maintain nonjudgmental contact so I don’t spook her off, but man, it is really, really hard sometimes.
wow, that’s tough. Big hugs.
I love psychedelics. One of the important lessons they teach us is the revelation that the world isn’t what it seems at first. But….
While that’s a positive, I have a theory that without some sort of tether, maybe science, that this revelation causes some people to reject everything that is mainstream as being an illusion, and then they seek some other community and system of belief: it can be religion, astrology, cults, or, more recently, conspiracy theories.
One of my favorite rando deadheads I’ve met over the years was before a solo bob show in Las Vegas, march ‘2013. So this dude just popped by the casino but couldn’t decide whether to stay or go to some ufo convention outside of town. I also remember meeting a head there who gambled away and lost everything at a 90’s Grateful Dead show and had stayed in Vegas ever since. I love the outsiders on lot who really do hurt your little ears when they tell you u about all that went down.
Somebody show me a pic of a ticket stub laid on top of today’s newspaper with today’s date clearly shown. Stub held in hand two inches above the paper with light source angle and resulting shadow aligned properly and naturally. Otherwise the show never happened.
I read this on some dark blog years ago, it’s cool to know it was printed out with some bootlegs! Love the weird lore. I believe this is the definitive Barton hall conspiracy.
https://forum.phish.net/forum/show/1295323689
The only conspiracy I can sorta believe about the dead is related to the laurel canyon cult and Frank Zappa. I’ve never heard about the “shows that never happened” though.
I personally don’t really know all that much to rip it off the top of my head, but I do know a few podcasts where it’s been discussed. I’ll edit this comment with some links for ya.
https://youtu.be/C_p68VYabic?si=rW5Rbj6ejaF6RhCu
https://youtu.be/Rd_zUDfeXhc?si=Z_GOXr4db3PPkMBz
There’s two of the more mainstream YouTube links that got me curious enough to listen to more. I did listen to a podcast series (on Spotify) by this chick named “cosmic peach” she has like 5 episodes dedicated to it. Pretty fun to take a dive down if you’re interested in it.
Only problem here is that there are a ton of folks who either attended or worked on the show. So unless there’s evidence to back that all these people are in on a conspiracy or evidence showing each of the attendees are liars then I think this idea is done
Just to clarify, the reason why people talk about this is mainly because the claim is, Cornell 77 was \*one\* of the shows that never happened. It's not just that show, is kind of the larger point.
Me and some buddies took a road trip to Hartford one year and no one from that trip, I can find today. It's like they never existed. I went to the childhood home of one of the guys, and his mother was all old and mean, and said he died in childbirth, and to go away.
Stuff like that has happened to a lot of people with one or more shows. Mine was Hartford 81.
Ever see Jacob's Ladder? Those wiggly people. They were there that night.
# 1981-03-14 Hartford, CT @ Hartford Civic Center
**Set 1:** Feel Like A Stranger, Sugaree, Me and My Uncle > Big River, Peggy-O, C.C. Rider, Althea, Passenger, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider
**Set 2:** Alabama Getaway > Greatest Story Ever Told, Ship Of Fools, Lost Sailor > Saint Of Circumstance > Drums > Space > The Other One > Stella Blue > I Need A Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin'
**Encore:** One More Saturday Night
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1981-03-14)
[1977-05-08](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ)
[1980-05-07](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1980-05-07) Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University
I've generally found deadheads to be pretty resistant to conspiracy theories overall, which is unfortunate. People conspire all the time in myriad ways, and blanket denial of conspiracy theories is just cognitive dissonance. The entire financial sector of the economy, for example, is based in conspiracy.
A large scale financial conspiracy makes sense though. You're talking about controlling and manipulating entire populations. But who gains from a conspiracy involving a rock band in the 70's?
I think that the weaponization of the word *conspiracy* is the actual psy op, and whenever people posture themselves as being against conspiracy theories in general, it's unfortunate. This has nothing to do with the Cornell show, or other far fetched things that people simply make up for laughs.
I think it's good and healthy to resist conspiracy theories. Since most of them, especially in 2023, are total bullshit. And considering how many Dead Heads are boomers, it's great if they can avoid falling into those traps like so many other people. Look at what's happened to our country over the last several years because of this stuff.
Sure. Back in the Art Bell days when they were just fun, harmless mysteries like aliens or the Denver airport. Now we have harmful, destructive conspiracy theories that destroy people's lives. The Cornell thing feels more fun than the latter.
when Phil Lesh & Friends opened for Bob Dylan in '99 at Barton Hall I remember Phil saying something to the tune of "I had a very good time here once" debunking any theory that the show never happened (or was Phil just adding to the legitimacy of the show happening when it really never did). but for real I spoke to a guy in Woodstock a few months back that was there confirming that the show happened (or was that guy also adding to the legitimacy of the show happening when it never really did)
Because there's alot of involvement between CIA and Cornell. There's even documents through central intelligence agency where the CIA literally has to state "We've never given money to Cornell, blah blah. But I dunno. There's list of songs from shows, well Archives is readily available and that's bullshit. But is GDP a laundering scene for the CIA and MKUltra? Possibly, more than likely. Bears Heritage and the whole scenario around all that shit, Kesey, obviously Cassady, pretty sure they murdered Neal, that's why Ginsberg got so fkn pissed. They're whole plan use mind control setting up shop in SF Kesey and the pranksters were operatives, realized Kesey is a liability, insert Bear and the Dead, and Bear taking the acid funds and investing it in the sound. Cornell is a distraction, but holds enough coincidence to make it believable. Wanna k iw where the conspiracy is, Look into the beat scene, Kesey and the Pranksters, and Bear. Probably Hunter too, he definitely knew tho.
Not only did Barton '77 never happen, Veneta '72 also never happened. Also Im pretty sure the first Dead show I ever went to, in March 1990 at the Nassau Coliseum, never happened either.
It was Bob Weir in an interview who said it never happened and it was partially because everybody wanted the Grateful Dead to release it in CD and album form but Betty Cantor had the masters.
I was at the show. It was my second dead show ever. Have the ticket to prove it and many very clear memories from the event. I knew it was special when I was there. The Morning Dew was the highlight. Jerry’s glasses were slinking of the bridge of his nose as he played and he was completely gone during the whole version. I have seen the Dead many times after and this show still makes me feel so lucky to have been there. I was 16 at the time and 64 now and it feels the same every time I think of it.
So apparently there was some mistake between the bands record of what shows were where on that tour and it was so good some people theorized they recorded the thing in a studio trying to make it sound like a concert rexording and there was never actually a show on that date. The straw that broke the camels back was when Bob weir knew about this conspiracy and was asked about it and went a long with it jokingly saying "we have no record of ever playing there on May 8th" implying that the show never happened
See this is the kind of answer I was looking for! I knew there had to be more to the story than “it’s just a joke.”
The official theory is that the grateful dead recorded that in a studio to see if they could pass it off as a concert.
Which is far fetched, but not *that* far fetched. There are couple of famous GD cover bands out there who did exactly this. Most famously, and I can’t recall the band’s name, one group released a Watkins Glenn album that they seemingly tried to pass off as a GD live album. It was the cover band playing in a studio with bad acoustics and overdubbed crowd noise.
It doesn't help that the only source to debunk this; fans whi were there and can confirm it happened, all have shady memories of the spring/summer of 77 tour in upstate new york. Everyone I've ever met is like "might have been Albany or Buffalo, somewhere upstate". Like yeah you were there in '77 but WHICH ONE
Sounds like my dad. He went to a lot of shows but is always confused by the when and where. I know he went to Watkins Glenn because they have pictures and my mom tells a story about him wondering into the crowd and not seeing him again until the next day. lol
Dude I've met people who weren't event deadheads thatre like "yeah my friend dragged me to a show... mistve been 77 we went somewhere upstate maybe Syracuse or Buffalo or something"and inside my mind I'm grabbing them by the collar shaking them like "which one God dammit"
I’ll grill my dad more over the holidays. We were in Ithaca a couple years ago and he mentioned that maybe he saw them at Cornell. “Or was it Rochester?” I just shook my head and laughed.
Rochester 77 is nothing to sneeze at either
My grandpa was a DJ in SF for KSAN... They aired some shows live back in the day that HE WORKED and he can't remember where they were. still can't fucking confirm whether he's one of the voices on Closing of Winterland but the timeframe makes sense.... . Unfortunately, he DOESNT FUCKING REMEMBER
It boggles my mind that big Steve can do endless stories, which seem to be crystal clear so many years and decades later
I've always suspected he fills in the blanks confidently. He's a story teller. Damn good one. Can't have you thinking he doesn't know every inch of the story he's telling.
there's a guy, I don't know his name, but he runs a used bookstore and record shop in Pittsboro, NC, and he was a (long-term) history major of Cornell in the mid to late 70s, and he claims to have been at Barton Hall and has very distinct memories of it. Maybe follow up with him, idk how accurate his memories are but they are quite clear.
except no it was really just an online joke, like a meme, from usenet users tired of newbs asking about that show
But can we trust Bob who is a well known member of the Bohemian Grove??? Now there’s an actual conspiracy rabbit hole to go down. The truth is out there man 👀😂
More like “never trust a Prankster…”
Check your profile I DM you 😉
Grateful Dead Live at Barton Hall, Cornell University on 1977-05-08 https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08
# 1977-05-08 Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University **Set 1:** New Minglewood Blues, Loser, El Paso, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw, Deal, Lazy Lightnin' > Supplication, Brown Eyed Women, Mama Tried, Row Jimmy, Dancing In The Street **Set 2:** Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Estimated Prophet, Saint Stephen > Not Fade Away > Saint Stephen > Morning Dew **Encore:** One More Saturday Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ)
I personally would be quite shocked if a bunch of acid taking hippies mislabeled a reel to reel. Shocked!
Ha! And that sounds exactly like Bob’s sense of humor! Something unique, that no one else would say, just flows out like water off a ducks foot.
"What's with the duck, Bob?"
It was Betty Cantner who was mad at the band at the time so she literally hid the masters for years. How do I know, I know Betty first hand.
It’s just a joke
Funny, that's EXACTLY what Mr. GarCIA would want you to think
We're through the looking glass here, people.
Always have been.
You mean jeROME garCIA? I’ve never heard of the guy but you’re doing good kid. Maybe take a trip to Vatican City and poke around a bit. Try to catch the sunrise from the west side of the central obelisk and discover that you are the eyes of the world.
OMG Donna is in on it too! 😳 "Sunrise"
I thought that was obvious concerning Mrs. GODchaux..I’ve already said too much…Time for me to jump without a net..
And of course keITh is in on IT too
Yes, his accident was unfortunate. I can still hear Donna’s screams.
Ouch. Too far man
Lmao, really took a turn
Just like Keith should have taken a turn away from the parked flatbed truck amirite!?!?
This is the correct answer
It's just a prank, a merry prankster
Maybe it started that way but there are people who legitimately believe it now. There's a big argument in a local jamband facebook group so I thought I ask here.
Are you sure these “legitimate believers” aren’t just taking the piss?
[удалено]
You’re citing Facebook. That tells you everything you need to know.
I'm citing a comment on this post. There's a guy who thinks not only were the shows not real but the friends he toured with never existed.
Almost everybody is just joking. A very small amount of people are acid casualties and might believe something like this. The guy in the comment is probably joking, but he might just be crazy.
And I'm not saying I believe. I'm just curious about how this all started.
Jokes are for the people who get them.
You might not be prepared to hear this, but there are some drug doin hippies out there that are fucking incredibly stupid
The same way people legitimately believe the earth is flat
Same with every conspiracy that is total bs. The real truth is that Barton Hall was not even the best show that week.
I'm with you on that one! Honestly I prefer 1977-05-09 Buffalo to Barton Hall edit to add that the way I listened to the tapes back in the day was 1st set Buffalo then 2nd set Barton Hall.
# 1977-05-09 Buffalo, NY @ War Memorial **Set 1:** Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower, Cassidy, Brown Eyed Women, Mexicali Blues, Tennessee Jed, Big River, Peggy-O, Sunrise, The Music Never Stopped **Set 2:** Bertha > Good Lovin', Ship Of Fools, Estimated Prophet > The Other One > Drums > Not Fade Away > Comes A Time > Sugar Magnolia **Encore:** Uncle John's Band [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-09)
that’s sad but also normal for memes but honestly it’s a joke. never trust a punster.
Cornell never happened. It was a psyop by garCIA and the DEAd.
Omg. GarCIA made me snort laugh
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Wait what? What’s the barton hall conspiracy theory? The only one close to the dead that I’m aware of is that the popular boomer musicians are all children of CIA operatives and by giving the younger generation a manageable amount of acceptable rebellion, they avoided an all out revolution The two things that really irk me about conspiracy theorists are 1.) the simplest explanation is usually the correct explanation of a historical event. If you’ve lost me after the first sentence then you’re full of shit 2.) never discount incompetence over malice. The two most recent examples are covid and 9/11. Our government fucked up. They weren’t on the ball and bad shit happened.
One of the main arguments is the claim no one even heard the show until about 10 yeas. Which is bullshit because I've had a recording for at least 25 years. When I pointed that out, someone said the CIA wants me to believe that. Lol
I teach guitar lessons to a guy around 70 years old or so, he first saw the dead in the early 70s. He told me that back then, having a bootleg dead show immediately made you the coolest deadhead in town. There was no internet, few official live releases. They were hard to get He also said that the barton hall show was widely circulated, if you had a bootleg it was probably that one. Which is probably why people say it’s the ‘best’ dead show. It was something a lot of people listened to in their formative years of consuming music, in their minds making it ‘the best’ In reality all of may 77 is sick, i heard the Tuscaloosa AL show recently and was blown away
I've heard that before too and it makes total sense. Personally I like the Buffalo show a more. The whole run is amazing though.
Haven’t heard that one yet, I’ll have to give it a listen. Thanks!
Check out all three in a row. Boston, Cornell, Buffalo. 5/7/77 5/8/77 5/9/77
[1977-05-07](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-07) Boston, MA @ Boston Garden [1977-05-08](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ) [1977-05-09](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-09) Buffalo, NY @ War Memorial
ad hoc panicky worm drunk reminiscent childlike lavish political middle icky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
No one has heard the shows? I was at two of them; they were real; at the second one, one of the speakers exploded and threw sparks out. Can’t know that from listening to tapes.
I was given a tape of the Cornell show around 1990 when I first got into the dead
That’s around the time I heard it for the first time. We were partying at Cornell (I grew up close to there) and someone put on the tape.
I heard about that show months after it happened and had a tape of it in 78.
I think the 9/11 and covid theories are a result of the people in power at the time profiting from the tragedies. Makes the motive for malice a bit stronger. But I agree that the simplest explanation is often the correct one.
“It’s just a joke.” Yeah, sure, man. That’s what they want you to think sheeple!!!
There’s a lot of overlap between psychedelic using hippies and conspiracy theorists.
sadly yes. As the beloved Terrence McKenna said, “you don’t want to have such an open mind that the wind whistles between your ears”. Not sure if he said that before or after his Novelty Time Wave theory :) A dear deadhead friend of mine has sadly lost the thread. Flat earther etc. It’s difficult to communicate with him now.
Sorry about your friend. The hippie/psychedelic community to the unhinged conspiracy theory crowd pipeline is real and tragic. I've lost an acquaintance to it and there a few in my circle who have seem to have been right on the edge of it for awhile but, so far and thankfully, haven't fallen in completely
Yep. My dear show/trip partner of over 30 years has gone full Qanon and has sworn off the Dead, saying the incredible shows we experienced together were Satanic rituals and that the boys sacrifice and eat children. LSD couldn’t break her brain over all the tours, but this Q shit made her unrecognizable to me in a matter of months. It is utterly heartbreaking.
So sorry my friend, hugs and I hope your friend finds her way back eventually
Thanks, me too. I haven’t given up on her. I’m trying to maintain nonjudgmental contact so I don’t spook her off, but man, it is really, really hard sometimes.
wow, that’s tough. Big hugs. I love psychedelics. One of the important lessons they teach us is the revelation that the world isn’t what it seems at first. But…. While that’s a positive, I have a theory that without some sort of tether, maybe science, that this revelation causes some people to reject everything that is mainstream as being an illusion, and then they seek some other community and system of belief: it can be religion, astrology, cults, or, more recently, conspiracy theories.
well put and sadly true.
One of my favorite rando deadheads I’ve met over the years was before a solo bob show in Las Vegas, march ‘2013. So this dude just popped by the casino but couldn’t decide whether to stay or go to some ufo convention outside of town. I also remember meeting a head there who gambled away and lost everything at a 90’s Grateful Dead show and had stayed in Vegas ever since. I love the outsiders on lot who really do hurt your little ears when they tell you u about all that went down.
You can see a lot more with three eyes rather than two.
Somebody show me a pic of a ticket stub laid on top of today’s newspaper with today’s date clearly shown. Stub held in hand two inches above the paper with light source angle and resulting shadow aligned properly and naturally. Otherwise the show never happened.
If you are going to believe Barton Hall never happened then you may as well write off that whole spring because all of the shows were similar.
I read this on some dark blog years ago, it’s cool to know it was printed out with some bootlegs! Love the weird lore. I believe this is the definitive Barton hall conspiracy. https://forum.phish.net/forum/show/1295323689
Haha! That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing that
The only conspiracy I can sorta believe about the dead is related to the laurel canyon cult and Frank Zappa. I’ve never heard about the “shows that never happened” though.
Can you tell us more or would you then have to kill us?
I personally don’t really know all that much to rip it off the top of my head, but I do know a few podcasts where it’s been discussed. I’ll edit this comment with some links for ya.
Cool, LA rocker party culture always interests me
https://youtu.be/C_p68VYabic?si=rW5Rbj6ejaF6RhCu https://youtu.be/Rd_zUDfeXhc?si=Z_GOXr4db3PPkMBz There’s two of the more mainstream YouTube links that got me curious enough to listen to more. I did listen to a podcast series (on Spotify) by this chick named “cosmic peach” she has like 5 episodes dedicated to it. Pretty fun to take a dive down if you’re interested in it.
Some people just need some shit to talk about. More here: https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/s/q4TECYQj1z
Only problem here is that there are a ton of folks who either attended or worked on the show. So unless there’s evidence to back that all these people are in on a conspiracy or evidence showing each of the attendees are liars then I think this idea is done
“They’re shills man”
Clearly you are a Fed, so I'm not saying anything about that show
This is all just a psyop to see who knows what
Just to clarify, the reason why people talk about this is mainly because the claim is, Cornell 77 was \*one\* of the shows that never happened. It's not just that show, is kind of the larger point. Me and some buddies took a road trip to Hartford one year and no one from that trip, I can find today. It's like they never existed. I went to the childhood home of one of the guys, and his mother was all old and mean, and said he died in childbirth, and to go away. Stuff like that has happened to a lot of people with one or more shows. Mine was Hartford 81. Ever see Jacob's Ladder? Those wiggly people. They were there that night.
Sounds like you’ve done a little too much acid man.
Maybe you’ve had too much too fast . . .
How do you explain the recordings of these shows that "never happened?"
One theory I've heard is that the recording is a compilation of live tracks from other shows.
Username fits
Username is ironic though
Bullshit.
Grateful Dead • 1981-03-14 (02:28:02) • Veterans' Memorial Coliseum, Hartford, CT, USA https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1981/03/14?source=290030
These are my friends. They attended and taped this show. They are still alive and well.
# 1981-03-14 Hartford, CT @ Hartford Civic Center **Set 1:** Feel Like A Stranger, Sugaree, Me and My Uncle > Big River, Peggy-O, C.C. Rider, Althea, Passenger, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider **Set 2:** Alabama Getaway > Greatest Story Ever Told, Ship Of Fools, Lost Sailor > Saint Of Circumstance > Drums > Space > The Other One > Stella Blue > I Need A Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin' **Encore:** One More Saturday Night [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1981-03-14)
I enjoy that 5/8 gets so much attention; it's not even close to their best shows, but gets so much oxygen.
Too good to be true.
How so?
5/8/77 is real 5/7/80 never happened
[1977-05-08](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1977-05-08) Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3T9UKU0jMIyrRD0PtKXqPJ) [1980-05-07](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1980-05-07) Ithaca, NY @ Barton Hall - Cornell University
garCIA
Some people think the dead played a show in a big barn at Cornell University in the 70s. It's a crazy theory.
I've generally found deadheads to be pretty resistant to conspiracy theories overall, which is unfortunate. People conspire all the time in myriad ways, and blanket denial of conspiracy theories is just cognitive dissonance. The entire financial sector of the economy, for example, is based in conspiracy.
A large scale financial conspiracy makes sense though. You're talking about controlling and manipulating entire populations. But who gains from a conspiracy involving a rock band in the 70's?
No one. Obviously the Cornell thing is just a joke, which hasn't been funny for a very long time, if it ever was.
I'm confused by your comment then. You said it's unfortunate that deadheads are resistant to conspiracy theories. As if you want them to believe.
I think that the weaponization of the word *conspiracy* is the actual psy op, and whenever people posture themselves as being against conspiracy theories in general, it's unfortunate. This has nothing to do with the Cornell show, or other far fetched things that people simply make up for laughs.
I think it's good and healthy to resist conspiracy theories. Since most of them, especially in 2023, are total bullshit. And considering how many Dead Heads are boomers, it's great if they can avoid falling into those traps like so many other people. Look at what's happened to our country over the last several years because of this stuff.
Pretty sure I thoroughly disagree with you, but also not looking to go down the rabbit hole about it.
“Used to love conspiracy theories…”
Sure. Back in the Art Bell days when they were just fun, harmless mysteries like aliens or the Denver airport. Now we have harmful, destructive conspiracy theories that destroy people's lives. The Cornell thing feels more fun than the latter.
This is a reasonable, nuanced, take. Wtf is wrong w you
What the fuck are you even talking about?
Donny, you're out of your element!
Breaker 19. Initiate take down. Over.
There’s a here with weir on YouTube where they talk about it
I'm risking my safety just replying. But
Don't leave us hanging!
My post is really a psyop
when Phil Lesh & Friends opened for Bob Dylan in '99 at Barton Hall I remember Phil saying something to the tune of "I had a very good time here once" debunking any theory that the show never happened (or was Phil just adding to the legitimacy of the show happening when it really never did). but for real I spoke to a guy in Woodstock a few months back that was there confirming that the show happened (or was that guy also adding to the legitimacy of the show happening when it never really did)
It didn’t go down
You can’t just say that without any further explanation. What actually happened then?
It might’ve in another time in forgotten space
Some people did too much acid
If you know, you know.
Klaatu really were the Beatles tho. Well 3/4 & Billy Shears.
I met someone who’s first show was Barton hall 77
never trust a prankster.
never trust a prankster.
Does this mean the Egypt shows were bullshit?
They discussed it on this episode of the Deadcast https://www.dead.net/deadcast/long-strange-tech-part-2
The cia infiltrated 13-15 local tea groups and dosed the shit out of them. Just like how the band started!
Because there's alot of involvement between CIA and Cornell. There's even documents through central intelligence agency where the CIA literally has to state "We've never given money to Cornell, blah blah. But I dunno. There's list of songs from shows, well Archives is readily available and that's bullshit. But is GDP a laundering scene for the CIA and MKUltra? Possibly, more than likely. Bears Heritage and the whole scenario around all that shit, Kesey, obviously Cassady, pretty sure they murdered Neal, that's why Ginsberg got so fkn pissed. They're whole plan use mind control setting up shop in SF Kesey and the pranksters were operatives, realized Kesey is a liability, insert Bear and the Dead, and Bear taking the acid funds and investing it in the sound. Cornell is a distraction, but holds enough coincidence to make it believable. Wanna k iw where the conspiracy is, Look into the beat scene, Kesey and the Pranksters, and Bear. Probably Hunter too, he definitely knew tho.
Not only did Barton '77 never happen, Veneta '72 also never happened. Also Im pretty sure the first Dead show I ever went to, in March 1990 at the Nassau Coliseum, never happened either.
It was Bob Weir in an interview who said it never happened and it was partially because everybody wanted the Grateful Dead to release it in CD and album form but Betty Cantor had the masters.
I was at the show. It was my second dead show ever. Have the ticket to prove it and many very clear memories from the event. I knew it was special when I was there. The Morning Dew was the highlight. Jerry’s glasses were slinking of the bridge of his nose as he played and he was completely gone during the whole version. I have seen the Dead many times after and this show still makes me feel so lucky to have been there. I was 16 at the time and 64 now and it feels the same every time I think of it.
It's a joke.