The recording starts off with some random banter before Bobby gets on to deliver what might be his best joke: a two-parter about a brick. The rest of the band barely humors him, but they were all just killing time while fixing some amp issues. Once things are sorted, the boys head into Dupree’s. The Dupree’s – already heady – is even sweeter in retrospect, knowing that this is the last one until October 2, 1977. Then an early, sparse, and fast-paced Dire Wolf comes out before a raging, but a bit abbreviated, Hard to Handle. Pig bawls, and the rest of the band puts on a bruising display behind him with Jerry on pedal steel. Immediately afterward, the band shifts gears completely into a sweet Silver Threads. Folky with a pop veneer, it lacks the lysergic feel of similar sounding tunes from ’66 and ’67 while still lacking the punch of the acoustic sets from 1970. And, once again, the band pivots right off into a funky Casey Jones intro – TC in full effect – that opens into a classic version of the tune. Following that, they roll out a neat little Sittin’ on Top of the World with a blistering run by Jerry laced into the middle. Set off by a cool snare, the Dead then start in on a jazzy intro to Big Boss Man, which gets bluesy quick when Pig’s big harp comes on the scene. Jerry’s licks add to an exceptional version. And, after a pause, the boys turn to a nice little Mama Tried before a beautiful, but sadly clipped, High Time. There is some dispute as to what the Dead played next. There is an audience tape – patched into the second recording here – that has an Alligator after High Time. The Alligator is as hot as the sound quality is bad, and that it, too, is clipped. What we do know for sure is that the band played a brilliant fifty minutes of music at some point later in the evening. That final run picks up with a deep drum duo into a lengthy, exploratory jam with Caution at the heart of it. That jam idles around a bit before the Dead suddenly put the pedal to the metal and burst into The Other One. Jerry, TC, and the rest of the boys then combine on a primal Death Don’t Have No Mercy. Still, the best part of the show might just be the Lovelight that comes afterwards. If so, it would not be the first time. But we will never know because right when Pig is really getting into his groove, eight minutes of raging music on and now just starting one of his legendary raps – all box-back nitties and boar hog eye – the recording cuts for good. You have been warned; it is pretty dispiriting to have a build up like that with no delivery. But it is certainly a treat to have what we do from this classic NYC show, the first of two from the old World’s Fair pavilion.