John Dawson - guitar, vocals; David Nelson - lead guitar, vocals; Jerry Garcia - pedal steel guitar; Dave Torbert - bass, vocals; Spencer Dryden - drums
This is The New Riders of the Purple Sage's second night as openers for the Dead on their final run at the Fillmore East.
The NRPS set, featuring Jerry Garcia on pedal steel, contains most of the classic material from their first album, along with cover versions of The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman," a rare live version of "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down" and, to open the show, Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man." Each of the originals are well played. One, an uncharacteristically sweet love song by John Dawson called "All I Ever Wanted," was never played better than on this night.
On this second night, the dramatic momentum of a truly legendary run continued to mount - an almost palpable energy that both bands would continue to tap into and propel over the course of the next three nights.