With some lovely guitar work and a lively edge, Don’t Ease Me In kicks of the second half. A minute of tuning ensues before the drummers begin a quiet lead in and Bobby says, “tomorrow’s Sunday, and we’re not going to be here. so we are going to take advantage of today to give you some inspirational words of advice.” Immediately, Billy and Mickey ramp up the percussive intensity before Jerry scorches forth into Samson And Delilah. And the tune itself is as thrilling as its intro was. From the powerful force of Samson, the Dead take the energy down a notch into a plaintive, crowd-pleasing Friend Of The Devil. From there, a magisterial Terrapin Station unfolds, the anticipation and repressed excitement of the lyrics matched by Jerry’s emotional vocals and the band’s inventive, assertive playing. And just as Terrapin winds down, Playin’ In The Band bursts forth, hitting a frenetic pace before embarking on a beautiful, spacey jam into Drums. Not Fade Away builds out of Space with a funky little jam, keyed by Brent and brought home by Phil. Not Fade Away leads to a poignant Stella before a rocking Bobby Good Lovin’ closes out the set. A super disco-fied Shakedown into One More Saturday Night provides the encore.

The Dead, who were scheduled to go on at 2:30pm, provided the cap the University of Massachusetts’s annual Spring Concert. Roy Ayers and his band started the festivities on this Saturday morning at 11am. Patti Smith, noticeably inebriated in the morning, took the stage afterwards. With a thousand Deadheads congregated outside, the organizers, the Union Program Council from the campus, opted to open the gates to everyone before the Dead came on. And one dude on a Harley roared through the crowd up to the stage at one point during the show before tearing off again.