15 years old at this show. My friend’s aunt escorted us. As teens we felt fortunate and favored that the Dead would come to play our 5,000 seat hockey arena. We felt special. No one knew it would be their last time at this venue; soon they went mega-blockbuster and tours moved to stadiums full time and never returned to Binghamton. A listen back to the tape shows Garcia was on par but not at his best. Forgot the words to Help On the Way; his playing had its moments but many years later we learned this era was the beginning of Garcia entering some pretty serious heroin use, and in retrospect his playing reflects that; his time is a little off from where it usually is and he’s playing cool but not aiming for the stratosphere. But what can I say? I was there and loved it. There was a long singalong at the end of Not Fade Away that lasted until the encore. I remember it really sucked having to get up for school the next morning but we were the envy of many kids at school who didn’t go.