The second set roars back with a Sugar Mags opener. And then one of only seven I Second That Emotions comes out with a hot jam in the middle of it. The Truckin’ that bowls out next is something special too, sharp, exploratory, and just plain fun. After that, Hard to Handle enters into blues-rich rocking with Jerry streaking off on some elemental rolls as Billy, Phil, and Bobby hold down the fort, creating their own, more inward transcendence. Together with Pig’s outstanding rhythmic, raspy, bluesy vocals, Hard to Handle is phenomenal but turns out to be just a precursor of things to come with the set-ending Good Lovin’. That tune gets off to a fast and funky start before segueing into a quintessential Billy drum solo before coming back into another funky jam section. From there, the rest of the song is just pandemonium as Pig starts rapping, needing that good loving so bad, pleading and interrogating, “What kind of business are you in?” It might not top the Brooklyn Bridge rap of the night previous, but Pig is in command. Finally, though always much too soon, a stellar Uncle John’s Band sends everyone home.

A few comments from folks around the internet provide a little more context for this show at SUNY Cortland. On Archive, Annie76 explains that she was part of the student committee who put it on and were charged with security.

We had flashlights and had to shine it on anyone who was smoking weed or anything else. The field house was brand new and the college was fearful it would go up in smoke. Needless to say our efforts were in vain. So we took off our t-shirts, got rid of our flashlights and joined the crowd.

Another person explains that there were seven different bad trips; together with the other hassles that come along with a bunch of dirty hippies, “the town later condemned the event as ‘un-American.’”

Bearzz explains what it was like on campus, “It was as much a party as it was a concert for everyone involved.” He goes on to explain the lack of a lot of organ, “the reason was, that when Pigpen wasn’t doing a tune, he was flagging chicks out of the crowd to take backstage.”

Aside from the show itself, the recording has also influenced some lives. DingerDan explains,

When I was 13 my step father brought me this tape back from a business trip to NYC from a guy he worked with out there. At this point I had never even heard of the Grateful Dead. I use to get high and bike around and listen to this tape over and over again.

And John over on setlists.com,

I had a ratty copy of this show while in the Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa. I left it there in 1995 with some villagers who got into the bootlegs that I brought with me. Such a fantastic show, with Pigpen in RARE form, yelling at Mr. Electrician Man, and Jerry talking about the ‘spacecraft assembly building.’

And, as John’s comments suggest, there was a lot of fun banter from the band, making it seem like the boys really enjoyed their night at Cortland too.