After Cutler introduces the band, Bobby quips “Hold on for a minute and we’re going to decide what we are going to start with,” Billy rolls the snare, we get some hoots – whether from the audience or band it is not clear – and then the boys chug into Truckin’. A few licks later and the rough start has given way to a purring machine, rolling down the interstate, wind in your air, and cares far behind. This is acid-laced rock and roll coming at you and it feels so good. But by the end of the tune, the boys have turned Truckin’ into a raging monster. The pedal is down, the vehicle is shaking apart, and you are barely holding on, fully in the grip of the awesome power of the Dead.

The early going is all top-notch, with a lovely Me and Bobby McGee and clipped Sing Me Back Home, among others. But the evening really takes off after the Me And My Uncle. At that point, the band takes China Cat on a frolic through the springtime landscape before turning it over to a righteous Rider. At the end of that tune, reveling in the bliss of ten minutes of sonic magic, the crowd howls its appreciation. But the boys are not quite done yet; they come together for one last minute of beautiful music and raggedly harmonize while Jerry sets off brief firework runs in the interstices. But the party is far from over as it continues on with Second That Emotion, a fun cover of the Smokey Robinson tune that the Dead put their own inimitable psychedelic blues signature on. Finally, after Casey Jones gets rocking in the latter stages, Jerry announces the break: “Thanks a lot. We are going to take a break for a little while. Bout ten minutes or something like that everybody can sort of mill around in there. That is we are taking a break and will be back pretty soon to play some more.”

And soon the Dead do return, opening the set with a lengthy and lovely, but ultimately clipped, Birdsong. Reports from those in attendance talk about a three-set night and the band playing until 2am. While the tape we have here is the most complete extant recording, there was almost surely more music on the night. It’s possible the Birdsong is the only thing that remains of a second set. Because what occurs next is a lengthy period of tuning and light fixing, just like the band was getting ready out of a break. Then, the Dead groove right into Sugar Mags before the centerpiece of the night begins, a fully loaded Other One Suite for the ages. Incongruously, the seething anthem comes blasting out of the tiny gym on Bucknell’s idyllic campus along the banks of the Susquehanna River. But by the time Billy gets about a minute into his mad solo, the circumstances and surroundings could not matter less. His ferocious drums are just winding up the Dead music box, the tension getting thicker as he hammers on the bass before the rest of the boys rush in, barely holding the center in their fervency. Phil’s deep bombs vibrate and undergird the performance while Jerry and Bobby shoot around, exploring interstellar space and getting more than a few rural Pennsylvanians and undergrads onto the bus. After that, the early Wharf Rat – just the tenth or so after its emergence at Port Chester – is revelatory. Jerry is starting to truly plumb the pathos of the tune and the boys send out one of the first lengthy versions.

Throughout the night, Pig is in short supply. This is one of the only things – besides maybe the sound quality and incomplete nature of the extant recordings – that really hobbles this show. But he makes his presence felt in spades on the Hard to Handle that comes out next. And then the boys head into a bright and frolicking NFA> GDTRFB> NFA before Johnny B. Goode closes it all out with some good ol’ Grateful Dead rock and roll.