Today's Grateful Music 30 in 30 Grateful Dead show is my birthday show. 5-11-77 in St.Paul,MN and Part of the Classic Spring of 77' Tour

What else is there to be said about Spring of 77'? The Grateful Dead was a band beyond description and quite possibly the best they would ever be to some. This show happened a few days after the famous Barton Hall show. I like to tell people that the bass rumbles from the 5-8-77 finally got to Memphis and pushed my mom into labor.

My beautiful birthday show. Well my mom did all the work, so it's her show really. 5/11/77 St. Paul,MN 

  This was a Jerry show, straight up. Mic Drop. Still, the show starts out with a smoking "Promised Land", then a nicely-paced, "They Love Each Other". Jerry really sets the place on fire with, "Loser" which was followed by a transcendent "Looks Like Rain" and it was one of those versions that makes you tell that Bob and Donna were more than just "friends". The "Peggy-O" is simply spectacular. The "Lazy Lightning>Supplication" sends bolts of exciting lightning through the crowd. The following "Sugaree" is sincerely one of the most well-known and well-played ever. If you ever want a reason to prove Jerry is one of the greatest guitarists ever, look no further than this version. It is seriously one of the best versions out there. It stands up to the classic 5/28/77 easily. You want to take it set by set, I think this first set might flow better than the first set of Cornell, even though the Cornell second set is stronger. Still, you can't sleep on this second set.

The second set starts with what you can hear was a drummer's delight during "Samson & Delilah", before Bobby steps up and kills it while Jerry goes to town behind him. After a groovin' "BE Women" a powerful "Estimated" has Bobby singing his heart out. So after these first three smokers, the band pulls out the 77' MVP's "Scarlet>Fire". These two are interchangeable with Cornell, as my favorite versions ever, depending on the day. After what, for this show, "Good Lovin'" isn't a showstopper, the band turns the heat back up for one of the last "Uncle John's Band"'s until 1979. The last jam after the normal end of the song melts into a space that goes deep with Jerry ripping off solo licks and gets out there. And that space drops on a dime into one of the heavyweights of the night "Wharf Rat". Jerry absolutely kills this song. He pours out his soul for it. This may be one of my favorite non-73' "Wharf Rats" ever and then the band turns it upside down and around with an "Around and Around" and ends the proceedings with a "Brokedown Palace". And Phil throws in a hearty "Good Night" for the crowd.

Greg Heffelfinger

Set One

St. Paul, MN

5/11/77

The Promised Land 
They Love Each Other 
Big River 
Loser 
Looks Like Rain 
Ramble On Rose 
Jack Straw 
Peggy-O 
El Paso 
Deal 
Lazy Lightnin' ->
Supplication 
Sugaree 

Set Two:

Samson And Delilah 
Brown Eyed Women 
Estimated Prophet 
Scarlet Begonias ->
Fire On The Mountain ->
Good Lovin' 
Uncle John's Band ->
Space ->
Wharf Rat ->
Around And Around 
Encore
Brokedown Palace

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