[UPDATE 3/3/23]: Dead & Company confirmed late on Thursday that the band will perform at Cornell University‘s on-campus field house Barton Hall on May 8th, 2023. The benefit concert will occur exactly 46 years after the Grateful Dead delivered what many consider to be their greatest performance of all time at the very same facility in Ithica, NY.
The Grateful Dead offshoot featuring Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti revealed that the massive underplay at the 4,800-capacity field house will benefit MusiCares and The 2030 Project. MusiCares is the charitable arm of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which provides support for health, financial, and rehabilitation resources for those in the music community. The 2030 Project is Cornell University’s response to climate change, with top academics examining cleaner and better methods for food and energy production.
Stay tuned for more information on Dead & Company’s May 8th, 2023 celebration at Cornell University’s Barton Hall.
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[2/28/23]: What exactly are Dead & Company planning for May 8th, 2023?
On Tuesday, the Grateful Dead offshoot featuring Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti sparked excitement among fans with a cryptic post on social media pointing to a specific date this spring: 5/8/23.
The post was shared along with a red and white image of the band’s recognizable thirteen-point lightning bolt icon over a vaguely “collegiate”-looking seal. Below the logo are three simple characters: “C23.”
Related: “Bill Walton” Talks Grateful Dead, “Noodler Of Nations” John Mayer On ‘SNL’ [Watch]
Despite the limited information provided, fans have been quick to connect some notable dots and infer that the post in some way refers to the Grateful Dead’s 5/8/77 performance at Cornell University‘s on-campus field house, Barton Hall, pointing to everything from the color and design of the art (quite Cornell-like, don’t you think?) to the text below the logo (C23 = Cornell ’23?). Plus, the specified date—May 8th, 2023—is currently open on the schedule for Dead & Company’s The Final Tour and will mark the 46th anniversary of the famed Grateful Dead Barton Hall show.
Widely considered to be the band’s greatest performance—or at least its most storied—the Grateful Dead’s Cornell ’77 show has inspired everything from books (like Peter Conners‘ Cornell ’77: The Music, the Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead’s Concert at Barton Hall) to C.I.A. conspiracy theories (what if the show never actually happened at all, *hits joint*, mannn?). Read more about the legacy and mythology surrounding the 5/8/77 Grateful Dead show here.
Related: Why Is The Grateful Dead’s 5/8/77 Cornell Show Considered Their Greatest Performance?
So, does the post mean Dead & Company are plotting a show at Cornell University’s Barton Hall? If so, it would be among the band’s smallest gigs ever, and that’s not to mention the fact that the venue—which predominantly serves Cornell University Athletics purposes—is not often used for concerts anymore. Of course, there are other venues on and around the Cornell campus if Dead & Co happened to be plotting an underplay: the roughly 1,300-capacity Bailey Hall, for instance, hosts a series of concerts open to the public. Its spring 2023 schedule includes performances by a handful of notable acts (like Snarky Puppy on April 16th) and is currently not booked for May 8th, 2023. For what it’s worth, that room is even smaller than Barton Hall.
For now, all we have is excitement and speculation—and you can bet that’s exactly what the pranksters in Dead & Co were hoping for. We’ll update this page as more concrete information becomes available.
For a complete list of confirmed Dead & Company tour dates, head here.
This story is developing.
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