Grateful Dead 5/7/80 Set 1 Analysis & Setlist - Grateful Shows

Episode 5

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Published on:

4th Mar 2026

Journey Towards Deadhead Mecca | Grateful Dead · Barton Hall, Cornell University · May 7, 1980 | Set 1 · S1E05

🎸 MAY 1980 · GRATEFUL DEAD ·BALTIMORE > MAINE

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📍 YOU ARE HERE: Show 3 of 6

Grateful Dead · Barton Hall, Cornell University· May 7, 1980 · Set 1

Previous: Rec Hall, Penn State Set 2

Next: Barton Hall, Cornell University Set 2

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🗺 NAVIGATE THIS TOUR

🎯 New to the show? Start at the very beginning!

S1E01 → Baltimore May 4, 1980

📋 Tourbook 1 Index (all 6 shows in order):

Tour Playlist

Grateful Shows covers Grateful Dead touring history - on tour at a time.

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═══🎸 OFFICIAL SETLIST:

Grateful Dead - Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, May 7, 1980

Set 1

  1. Jack Straw
  2. Tennessee Jed
  3. Cassidy
  4. Row Jimmy >
  5. El Paso
  6. Easy To Love You
  7. Althea
  8. Feel Like A Stranger
  9. Don't Ease Me In═══

═══🎙 CONCERT ANALYSIS

On May 7, 1980 the Grateful Dead appeared at the legendary Barton Hall, on the campus of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY as they hit the East Coast for their first full-fledged tour of the eighties.

Night three of our tour finds us hoping the Grateful Dead can conjure some of the magic found three years earlier in the hallowed ground of Barton Hall. The answer, "It's complicated" is a rather round about way of saying "no". But as we all know, thoughts have a tendency to waver while between the dark and light.

Oh there are moments, It's just that most of them are in the second set.

There is more than a hint of worry going on during this tour. Row Jimmy had us wondering about health, both mental and physical.

From your narrator:

"Maybe the slide guitar solo has us in a trance, unable to offer the desperately needed intervention. Or is it because we need this just as much as they do? And both of us are reluctant to give it up. Not when the music is this smooth, anyway.

Row Jimmy has been cleansing, as it has been troublesome. Yet ultimately, we see what we want. Our current observations are entirely speculative; none of the band members appears to be suffering from visible health issues; it must be the amplified paranoia talking. The Row Jimmy finishes with an array of levers pulled, buttons clicked, and plugs filled to ease our worried minds. Our fears mollified, we clap along with the rest of the crowd as the music segues into El Paso.”

But that's enough from us. Check out this episode of Grateful Shows and take a step back to Cornell University.═══

📚 LINKS & RESOURCES

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🔗 Navigate The Series

🗺 NAVIGATE THIS TOUR

🎯 New to the show? Start at the very beginning!

S1E01 → Baltimore May 4, 1980

📋 Tourbook 1 Index (all 6 shows in order):

Tour Playlist

Grateful Shows covers Grateful Dead touring history - on tour at a time.


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───────────

🗺 EXPLORE OTHER TOURS

Shall we go - to other tours? Why not. So far here's what we've got:

🎸 Grateful Dead May 1980 East Coast Tour— Complete Playlist:

GRATEFUL DEAD MAY 1980 EAST COAST

Gritty, underrated Grateful Dead. From Baltimore to Maine, heady times in a downtrodden America's election year.

── WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE ──────────────

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Grateful Shows
Poetic Meditations on the Grateful Dead...and Life
Grateful Shows is a tour-by-tour deep dive meditative analysis on selected Grateful Dead live concerts.

Each season covers one tour in depth-six shows, fully experienced, with setlist analysis, historical facts, philosophical and fictional rumblings. Companion ebooks go even deeper.

Season 2: March 1986 -The Grateful Dead welcome spring with six shows at two of the East Coast’s most renowned venues: the Hampton Coliseum and the Philadelphia Spectrum. Packed with energy and featuring a number of bust-outs, the tour was unforgettable, including the legendary “Box of Rain” in Hampton. However, a closer look suggests this might not have been either the highlight or the best show of the tour. Make sure to check out all six shows!

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J.Y. Pod

J.Y. Pod is the author and narrator of Grateful Shows. Let him guide you into a dreamland blending fact, fiction, and the distilled memories of countless deadheads into the world known as Grateful Shows.