Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals; Bob Weir - guitar, vocals; Keith Godchaux - keyboards; Donna Godchaux - vocals; Phil Lesh - bass, vocals; Bill Kreutzmann - drums; Guest: David Crosby - 12 string guitar
1972 has always been considered to be one of the greatest years in Grateful Dead history. The band was in an extremely prolific songwriting phase, with Garcia and Weir both releasing their first solo albums, bringing a wealth of new material to the band in the process. Their first European tour inspired many of the finest performances of their entire career and relatively new member Keith Godchaux was now totally integrated into the band's sound, often directly triggering Garcia into new realms of exploratory playing. On the downside, by the end of the year, Pigpen's health was fading fast and he became unable to tour toward the end of the year.
For the second set, the band returns to the stage and opens with another Chuck Berry cover, "(Jet To The) Promised Land." A very early preview of their next album follows, in the form of "Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo." At this point, the song is still being worked out but shows promise. Johnny Cash's "Big River" enters the Dead repertoire next, followed by a sweet take of "Sugaree" from Garcia's first solo album.
It is here that the show really takes off for the outer regions, beginning with a frenetic take on "Truckin'." At the end of the verses, the band flies straight into outer space. 13 minutes into this "Truckin" exploration, the band cruise into "The Other One" theme. It's an impressive transition and the resulting jam is uncharacteristically dreamy and relaxed. During one of the trippiest moments of improvisation, David Crosby wanders onstage and tentatively begins adding 12 string rhythm guitar to the mix. Eventually, this jam does begin to deteriorate and it dissolves into a brief drum solo by Kreutzmann, who as the only drummer, was playing at an astounding level. Lesh is the first to return and begins to add an upbeat bass groove over the drum solo. This develops rapidly and we are treated to an extremely rare Lesh bass solo that is both unusual and captivating.
The rest of the band, including Crosby, are obviously moved by this drums and bass creation and start building on it. In no time, musical sparks are shooting everywhere. Hints of "The Other One" trying to break through are still there, but Garcia is determined to keep the deep exploration going. Eventually Lesh seizes this moment and pounds out the enormous bass notes that finally trigger "The Other One" proper, and again they are off into furious demented jamming. Following Weir's vocal, Garcia again takes control and steers the group into a beautiful improvisation. Lasting almost five minutes, this is one of the loveliest explorations of the year.
This eventually melts away into a highly emotional "Morning Dew." This post-apocalyptic tune from their first album features a touching Garcia vocal and guitar solo to finally end this incredible continuous sequence that lasted a full hour.