Suggesting Rhythm at Lickinghole Creek Brewery - May 8, 2021
May 8, 1977, Barton Hall, Cornell University. With over 2,000 Grateful Dead shows, some say it was the best. The GOAT of shows. Whether it’s the sound quality of the “Betty Boards”, the performance by the band or the song selection, whatever your opinion is of the Cornell show, we were all excited that Suggesting Rhythm was going to recreate this setlist on the 44th Anniversary.
Coming off Stevestock 3.5 and looking forward to Jammin’ on Rocky Bar this following weekend, this was a prime spot for fatigue to show. The boys weren't having that though as they came out of the gate full tilt with the 'New Minglewood Blues' opener. Dave was intense on the lyrics and Adam wasted no time on his trusty Autumn PRS, burning into the solo and letting the 800+ in attendance know the band was not going to relax. Warmed up now, 'Loser' was next and true to the iconic night Oakley omitted the "sweet Suzy" lyric. There was very little pause before the standard version of the Marty Robbins western 'El Paso'. In the cleanup spot is the fan favorite couples dance, 'They Love Each Other'. Steve showed off his baby grand keyboard some in the jam here and all the guys were in sync and playing with joy in their sound.
Dave took a second after TLEO to mention and thank Betty Cantor-Jackson the audio engineer and 'taper' responsible for so many great Dead recordings and then we were off to 'Jack Straw' one the first songs covered by Suggesting Rhythm and still one of the best they do in my opinion. True to form the band didn't disappoint as the jam sped up and really took off before bringing Dave back to finish the last verse and slow back down and reprise the beginning.
With such a dense crowd Dave gave a little talk about spreading out some and thanked Lickinghole Creek Brewery for their hospitality and the new “Hazy Summer Home
beer release created specifically for Suggesting Rhythm with artwork by Adam.
The anticipated 'Deal' was next, a song that SR first pulled out July 3, 2016 and has only gotten better. Our faces were melted again while even the normally calm Noel was bouncing and dancing like Jeff as the two drummers were having as hard a time holding still as the crowd was. Out of breath from the previous jam we were treated to a new song pairing for the Suggesting repertoire, the unusually timed Kingfish duo of 'Lazy Lightning' and 'Supplication'. Of course, the boys nailed this debut and took us on a nice long spacy journey between the two songs.
Truer to the '77 performance the 'Brown Eyed Women's' next up was a little shorter than most versions SR has done in the past but still dance worthy as always. Another break for tuning and then they classic Merle Mother's Day tribute 'Mama Tried'. Similar to Phil saying "Thanks Mom" in the original, Dave had the whole' crowd participate. #weareallsuggestingrhythm
'Row Jimmy's' was up next. Rare in both bands' set-list, this was the first time Drudge has played slide during the solo and hopefully not the last. Lastly, in the epic set is 'Dancing in the Streets'. Still full of pep, the best was saved for last as this jam brought the house down and had everyone's heartbeat racing by half-time.
A half hour later Dave gave the classic instruction for the crowd to "...take another step back…" Another classic Dead duo, 'Scarlet Begonias' into 'Fire on the Mountain' opened the second set. Again, zero time was wasted cranking the heat up and these two songs melted together beautifully as the temperature outside was dropping. The temperature on stage, however, kept rising when 'Estimated Prophet' quickly followed. A long spacey ordained tale of a crazy street messiah, the band spun it beautifully.
My favorite Grateful Dead original falls here in the Barton Hall set-list, 'St Stephen'. Feeding off the band's energy the crowd was getting super hyper and by the time we came around to a perfectly delivered 'Not Fade Away' transition the place erupted! Dave's delivery was potent and the Buddy Holly classic infected everyone's feet. With no time to chant afterwards the jamming commenced left us dizzy by the time the Stephen reprise came around to cap classic pairing. Immediately dropping into the show's emotional pinnacle of 'Morning Dew' the mood quickly softened. Lips trembled and eyes moistened while pure passion poured from the six instruments. Through blurry tear-soaked eyes I cheered as the legendary show came to a dramatic close.
Coming back to answer the encore with fingers numb from the cold night the fellas mustered enough energy to wow us with an always off the chart 'One More Saturday Night'.
Best show ever or merely the most circulated tape? Everyone has their own opinion for sure, but the 2021 Suggesting Rhythm version was pretty freaking awesome
Highlights in the first set were the always smoking ‘Deal’ and ‘Jack Straw’, the slide coming out for ‘Row Jimmy’ and the sweet ‘Lazy Lightning’ debut.
Second set… Holy cow it was smoking. ‘The Scarlet > Fire’ is critical, ‘Stephen’ is always a favorite and ‘Morning Dew’ was soul wrenchingly beautiful.
