first there was american beauty then cornell and after a lot of time and dedication i've found my way here. could have saved a lot of time, but that's the whole premise of journeys. losing your way and climbing back.

my days are filled with the music of the grateful dead, music i wouldn't ever care to give away. it's special to me (and y'all just for reading this, you're one of us) but now that i'm here i just want to stop and absorb every note. like i was there, like i sat in the middle of that crowd dancing, swaying around with my eyes closed, open to its beauty regardless of what it might have meant, it's salvation to those waiting. a glimpse of something larger and much more ethereal than anything from this long, strange trip.

but the humor comes from knowing that there will always be more. to hunger for and dream about. although that's our next journey, "beyond the pale" as Garcia once said. let's be happy where we are, how far we've come to somehow wind up here - of all places!

highly recommend downloading this from LL whenever you can...peace to all human beings * Nick

There's so much to love about this one from song selection to performance, but the thing about this one is the way they never seem to stumble once in any of the hard parts. No miscommunications in Slipknot, everybody hits the jam at the end of Dancin just right, etc. Every little transition where we commonly see "flaws" is just done perfectly here. I give this one my favorite of May 77. Though ask me again tomorrow and I may give another answer.

Not only a top 5 show, it comes in between two phenomenal shows; Lakeland & Richmond (itself followed by the fabulous Baltimore show). Reviewing a show this good is almost moot. Suffice to point out that this was rescheduled from 4/16, and they played five songs from the yet-unreleased new album for the excited Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Heads.

First Set. It's off with a bang on Music Never Stopped, and that perfection lasts the whole show (the Funiculi Funicula tuning is shortened on the official release). Sugaree is an all-time great; incredible incoming waves that break on the shore. Minglewood is exemplary (SBD sources here are bricked; try sbd_dp-leftovers_18803). The rest are all whoppers. Everyone plays well but Jer is supernatural - in some places startling. Dancing in the Streets has nine edits on the OFF, cutting more or less every other iteration of the vocal repetition ending (averaging 5-6 secs each), plus a final cut of 25secs, removing "we're gonna take a short break" and the fanfare ending. Jer's superb middle section is left intact.

Second Set. The first few secs of the lead-in to Help on the Way are clipped on the SBD but not the OFF. It's a magical version, and note how Slipknot! doesn't follow the exact template of others on the tour. Franklin's is intricate, cagey, a wealthy benefactor, a liaison, and an unreliable narrator. The beginning of Samson is clipped on the SBD, but it's the following tuning that's cut on the OFF. It expands wide, gearing up for one of the best-ever versions of Brown Eyed Women. Good Lovin' is great, even if not at the supreme level of the surroundings [need it in Russia, China, Miami]. Donna is elevated to lay down one of her best versions of Sunrise, and examining this Estimated>Eyes will only waste words. The SBD on the latter doesn't swim around as much as the OFF during the tape-damaged section. Just go to mono and it's fine. There's a reel flip @6:47, patched with the AUD. However, the OFF has an edit @6:36, patching with a copy of the chorus from later in the song, then cuts 1min14sec of the solo. I dig how it ends with Jer improvising by himself. Wharf Rat is the first place where the show lets up with the intensity. Terrapin has no Lady with a Fan, going straight to Inspiration (for the opposite, see 4/13/86). Morning Dew does its slow build with class, and the climax is clairvoyantly cathartic. Sugar Mag serves a function here: a major-chord celebration of what has collaboratively occurred.

1st Set:  A
2nd Set: A+
Overall = 5 stars

Highlights:
whole show

SOURCES: The first low gen SBD finally appeared in 2017 (140332_sbd_miller), but had boomy lows. The 150935_sbd_master-reel_miller adjusts somewhat, making the best copy yet. Plus there's a matrix now (152392_mtx_photoleon). The terrapin_dp3-rip_31789 is a rip of DiP3, like it says. The sbd_dp-leftovers_18803 is ostensibly the tracks left off DiP3, but does not actually complete the show. Dick's v3 has 13 of the tracks plus parts of two more.

How cool is it that the May 77 tour
made it's way down to Florida
a really sweet first set with Weir getting in MUSIC,
Lazy Lightning and a monster Dancin'
Not to be outdone Garcia brings
EYES>W. Rat>Terrapin >Morning Dew closing Set 2
Weir with a rare Sugar Magnolia -encore.
"Keep on Dancin' thru to daylight"