By Craig Peacock and Mitchell Parrish

Alas, May has come and spring has sprung! If you are familiar with the Grateful Dead’s concert catalogue, you probably know that May contains to a large stretch of the Europe ’72 tour and the legendary run of summer shows in 1977. If you aren’t, well you are now. Every year, Mitchell and I celebrate a month-long holiday we like to call “May in Grateful Dead History.”

38 years ago America’s greatest rock ’n roll band was making their way down the east coast, performing some of the best consecutive live music of all time. For millennial deadheads like myself who were never able to see a live show, however, May evokes nostalgia of a different kind.

I fondly remember my father bringing home our first family computer (a Gateway running on Windows 98 no doubt). For the next few years this machine would allow my brother and I to chat instantly with friends over AOL and cause us to waste countless hours on addictinggames.com. More importantly, this computer led us to Napster, KaZaa and Limewire. For kids like myself, whose parents not only didn’t listen to the Grateful Dead, but also discouraged it, these file sharing programs allowed us access to an alternate world: a world of intoxicated engineers, 600 pound dire wolves, and sunflowers of oriental descent.

As a 7th grader I had no concept of live music or what separated the Grateful Dead from other rock bands. All I knew is that this weird country music sounded a lot better than the “Nashville Pop” I’d been listening to on Birmingham, AL’s WZZK my whole life. It wasn’t until 9th or 10th grade when my god brother introduced me to the “free stash” on nugs.net that I began to understand the significance of the Grateful Dead and “jam music”.

This was the beginning of an obsession. While learning about Watergate in 4th period history, I found myself searching through archive.org wondering where the Dead would have been on their European tour. This infatuation continued through high school and in to college where I was able to travel to Europe for the first time. When most people visit Paris, they wait in long lines to ascend the Eiffel Tower, walk the grand halls of Versailles, and view the masterpieces inside the Louvre; for me, going to Paris was a chance to see L’Olympia Theatre, the venue that is home to my favorite Dead show, 5-4-1972 (haha).

Though some may view my obsession as singular and insignificant, I think they fail to see the bigger picture or experience the matrix of beauty we live in. The Dead are more than just a rock band, they’re the soundtrack to American history. From the creation of Jazz in New Orleans to the string music of Appalachia. From the invention of Rock ’n Roll to Ken Kesey’s psychedelic revolution, their sound encompasses it all. The Grateful Dead’s sphere of influence grows larger everyday, and continues to open my mind to new music, literature, and experiences.

May Dead shows, particularly the run from May 5th – May 9th, 1977, served as our introduction into the rich, storied history of America’s greatest rock and roll band (thanks to the guys at nugs.net!). As we got older, we dug deeper and deeper into the archives, finding gems like Olympia Theatre in Paris, France on 5/4/72 and Memorial Colliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on 5/17/77. Now we enjoy the full depth and latitude of their catalogue.

Other May highlights include the Hartford Collesium show (pictured above) that eventually was released as an official live album called To Terrapin: Hartford ’77, which contains my favorite “Brown-Eyed Women” of all time.

After you read this article, do yourself a favor and go outside, bring some speakers, and crank up the New Haven, Connecticut show from Cinco de Mayo 1977 (click here). Highlights include “The Music Never Stopped” and a wonderful “Scarlet>Fire” among other treats.

And to all you Deadheads out there, make sure you go “furthur” than just the shows of May ’77. Try to think about what makes the Grateful Dead important to you and why it should be important to people all over the world.

Happy May!