It’s been a rough start to 2026 for fans of the Grateful Dead after guitarist and co-founder Bob Weir passed away on 10 January at age 78. Tribute shows by local musicians around the Bay Area occurred literally every night for the next week, followed by a public memorial event at the San Francisco Civic Center on 17 January, and one more big tribute show from Grahame Lesh & Friends at the Warfield Theater that night, billed as “The Howling Wolves”. It’s a significant loss for the rock ‘n’ roll counterculture that Weir helped forge in the 1960s, coming less than a year and a half after bass wizard Phil Lesh passed on in October 2024 at age 84.
Weir and Lesh both made the most of their golden years, though, continuing to perform countless shows in various formats (often together) over the past quarter century. These efforts enabled the Grateful Dead’s music to re-ignite after it seemed the flame might have burned out when Jerry Garcia checked out in 1995 at age 53. The songbook soon demonstrated a life of its own, as the remaining band members searched for and found new ways to explore it. There’s much for fans to remain grateful for, yet the reality that we won’t see Bob Weir onstage again is difficult to process since he’s been soundtracking most of our lives since we were teenagers.
The “Weirwolf”, as he affectionately came to be known, had arguably been the hardest-working man in show business since the launch of the Grateful Dead in 1965. Weir surmised that he’d probably spent more time onstage than anyone. He’d also been on a career renaissance with his Wolf Bros project since 2018, as well as with Dead & Company’s multi-dimensional shows at the Sphere in Las Vegas in 2024-25. The news of health problems with cancer and lung issues came as a surprise even to his own bandmates, with a buffed out Weir often posting his “gymming” workout videos from tour in recent years.
Like many Deadheads, this reporter was inspired to transfer schools (from Ohio State to San Francisco State) and relocate to the Bay Area in the early 1990s to catch more Dead shows. I had the “Weir Everywhere” bumper sticker on the back of my Chevy Lumina minivan, handed down to me in 1992 when my mom got a new one. It was a great tour vehicle, since the back seats could be removed to make room for two sleeping bags.
There are very few bands that have ever inspired this kind of devotion, which gets at why the Grateful Dead matter so much. The music was transcendent, but they also represented the widespread desire for something more from society by carrying the spiritual philosophy and counterculture community lifestyle of the 1960s with them through the decades. Legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson lived in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood during the Dead’s formative years and famously wrote:
“San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of… There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning… And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail.”
Yet while Thompson would go on to lament how that wave “finally broke and rolled back” by the early 1970s, the resonance of the 1960s counterculture revolution continued to make San Francisco a mecca for music fans and seekers. There’s that classic 1967 interview when a CBS TV crew visited the Grateful Dead at their 710 Ashbury Street home to try to get a handle on what the band and “the hippie movement” were after. The pithy answers from Garcia, Lesh, and Weir revealed forward-thinking trailblazers who had already sussed out some deep thoughts on society at large.
“What we’re thinking about is a peaceful planet… and like think about moving the whole human race ahead a step, or a few steps,” Garcia explained. “Or a half step,” Lesh suggested wryly, “Or at least not going around in circles like it is now.”
When asked what they’d learned from the psychedelic drugs that had become an integral component of the scene and a catalyst for the band’s improvisational aesthetic, Lesh added, “I think personally that the more people that turn on, the better world it’s going to be.” Bob Weir responded with one of his youthful, straightforward answers: “Well, it’s you can point out the example that the people that live in the community and you know play around with dope and stuff like that, they don’t have wars, you know, and they don’t have a lot of problems that the larger society has.”
Just 19 years old at the time, Weir may have oversimplified things a bit back then, but he and “the hippie movement” were onto something: exploring higher consciousness could lead to a more enlightened worldview. Hence, Uncle Sam had rushed to outlaw LSD in 1966, before too much enlightenment led the masses to start questioning America’s stale rat race society and the insane Vietnam War that the hippies were rebelling against.
Such a prohibition would occur again a generation later with MDMA. Bay Area bass maestro Les Claypool and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio collaborated in 2001 on the Oysterhead classic “Army’s on Ecstasy” where Claypool sings, “The Army’s on ecstasy so they say, I read all about it in USA Today, They stepped up urine testing to make it go away, ‘Cause it’s hard to kill the enemy on ol’ MDMA.” It’s no wonder that Weir and Anastasio wound up becoming close pals. Weir sat in with Phish at the Shoreline Amphitheater in the South Bay in October of 2000, following Lesh’s lead a year earlier. The multiple team-ups through the years represented an extraordinary harmonic convergence and inherent passing of the cosmic torch.
After the Republicans “stole” the 2000 election in Florida, Weir would later lament that we’d have a different country if all the Deadheads in Florida had voted that year. He joined an effort to address it when he accepted a board position with the nonprofit organization HeadCount in 2004, working to register and mobilize voters through music and artist partnerships. When this reporter scored a rare aftershow pass while covering Weir’s Ratdog show in Cleveland in 2006, I took the opportunity to query him about reviving the potential connection between rock and revolution first put forth in the 1960s. Weir replied with the message that he would repeat for the next two decades — “Get out and vote.”
Bob Weir, Lesh, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart would ask Trey Anastasio to join them for the GD50 Fare Thee Well shows celebrating the Dead’s 50th anniversary in 2015, a gala occasion billed as the last time the four surviving members of the band would play together in public. The historic vibes at the five shows in Santa Clara and Chicago were off the charts. One of the most memorable moments was when Weir’s politically charged “Throwing Stones” closed out the first set at the final show, with a powerful jam that made it feel like Soldier Field might levitate as 60,000-plus fans shared in a cathartic singalong against the insane warmongering and greedy resource hoarding that plagues this crazy world.
Lesh was ready to retire from the road at age 75, but Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann would go on to form Dead & Company with John Mayer on lead guitar and Oteil Burbridge on bass. The group kept rocking for another decade, and it was another special moment when Dead & Company played three nights at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park this past August to celebrate 60 years of the Grateful Dead. There was a connection to the GD 50 run with the Trey Anastasio Band opening the third night, leading to Trey sitting in with Dead & Company for a magical 30-minute “Scarlet Begonias/Fire on the Mountain” jam in what turned out to be Weir’s final performance.
At Weir’s memorial on 17 January, the ceremony opened and closed in a profoundly spiritual fashion with a quartet of Gyuto Foundation Monks performing their renowned healing prayers. Drummer Mickey Hart had helped bring some of the Gyuto Monks from the Far East to the Bay Area decades ago, leading to an appearance with the Grateful Dead at Shoreline on Garcia’s last tour in 1995. It felt like a fitting full-circle moment when they appeared to start the memorial,
to help ease the collective grief and sorrow. Speakers included Joan Baez, John Mayer, Mickey Hart, Nancy Pelosi, Weir’s daughters Monet and Chloe, and wife Natascha.
It was the Weir ladies who pointed out a majestic hawk flying high above, with Natascha Weir suggesting it may even be Bob Weir in shamanic form when she waved and said, “Hi darlin’!” It turns out the red-tailed hawk is the mascot of Tamalpais High in Marin County, near Weir’s home in Mill Valley. Weir also had a custom guitar strap with an image of a hawk’s feather sewn in. Some indigenous teachings view a hawk flying over a memorial service as a positive sign representing a message from the departed. Interpretations can include the deceased acting as a guardian spirit, providing protection and courage to the bereaved. What was undeniable was how the hawk’s presence did indeed seem to provide an uplifting boost to the somber scene.
Extra credit goes to John Mayer, who gave a moving eulogy before donning an acoustic guitar at the end of the event to lead everyone through the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple”. How Mayer kept it together without tearing up is surely credit to what a pro musician he is. Whether Dead & Company can move forward without Weir, as he once spoke of in a dream where he saw Mayer and Burbridge with grey hair leading the band with newer members, remains to be seen. “All good things in all good time,” as Garcia once sang in “Run for the Roses”.
Burbridge joined Grahame Lesh & Friends for a tribute show to Weir at the Warfield Theater that night, playing bass for most of the massive show that lasted for four and a half hours. The lineup featured “the Wolfpack” horns and strings section that Bob Weir & Wolf Bros had been performing with since 2021, as well as a slew of the local players known as the Terrapin Allstars. Kudos to Grahame Lesh and his team for bringing the impromptu show together in what was said to be only about 48 hours.
What the Grateful Dead accomplished in their 30 years together was unprecedented in music history, with the counterculture movement they helped pioneer and the body of work they left behind. Yet what Weir, Lesh, Hart and Kreutzmann accomplished in the next 30 years that followed is nearly as impressive, keeping the flame burning without de facto leader Garcia. Here’s one fan’s personal highlights across the past 30 years of how Bob Weir and his cohorts kept it going one show at a time, with their uncanny knack for rising to the occasion and continuing to inspire such unlimited devotion:
20 February 1996 – Ratdog “Mardi Gras” show at Oakland’s Kaiser Convention Center
It’s year one without Jerry, and there’s a huge void when Bob Weir steps up to lead his band Ratdog through a truly festive show with a Mardi Gras parade like the Dead had done numerous times (including their last Oakland Coliseum show in 1995) The Neville Brothers opened the show, then helped kick off the Mardis Gras party with “Iko Iko”. Guests include renowned bluesman Taj Mahal and saxman David Murray, helping Ratdog take their sound to another level, along with charismatic piano man Johnnie Johnson from Chuck Berry’s band. Little Feat’s “Easy to Slip” seems to double as a song for missing Garcia, before the Stones’ “Satisfaction” closed the set in rocking fashion as the Dead did for Garcia’s birthday show in Detroit on 1 August 1994.
27 September 1997 – .moe at The Fillmore (with surprise guest Bob Weir) – San Francisco
The jamrockers from the Buffalo region had toured with Ratdog on the Furthur Festival that summer and were making their debut appearance at the Fillmore. A smoking first set led to an even bigger second set with Bob Weir joining the band to give his seal of approval with a raucous sequence of “Viola Lee Blues, One More Saturday Night/The Other One”.
4 June 1998 – The Other Ones at the Warfield Theater – San Francisco
After three years apart, Weir, Lesh and Hart reunited as a full band with guitarists Steve Kimock and Mark Karan, saxophonist Dave Ellis, and drummer John Molo (after Kreutzmann passed on the venture to tour again) This debut performance before a big summer tour was a Rainforest Action Network benefit show, a gala occasion at the Warfield where it felt like the Dead were being reborn again with electrifying vibes from start to finish, notably on “St.Stephen/The Eleven” which many younger Gen-X fans had never heard performed before.
8 August 1998 – Phil Lesh & Friends (with Bob Weir) at The Fillmore – San Francisco
Just two weeks after the end of The Other Ones’ summer tour, Phil & Friends with Bob Weir played two nights at the Fillmore for yet another special occasion on the eve of the three-year anniversary of Garcia’s passing. The seamless second set was masterpiece theater featuring a bustout of Lesh’s “Unbroken Chain”, a cover of Miles Davis’ “Milestones”, and a vibrant “Like a Rolling Stone” encore.
31 December 2001 – Phil Lesh & Friends at Oakland’s Kaiser Convention Center
After a two-year estrangement where Lesh and the other band members actually booked competing shows on New Year’s Eve 2000, they patched things up in 2001 with Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann all joining Phil & Friends for the second set of a three-set blowout. When “The Wheel” jammed into “Sugar Magnolia”, it felt like anything was possible as Weir led the band on a triumphant jam to celebrate the new year.
4 August 2002 – The Other Ones at Alpine Valley – East Troy, Wisconsin
The unification continued in 2002 as Weir, Lesh, Hart and Kreutzmann reunited the Other Ones as a touring entity, starting with a two-night “Terrapin Family Reunion” weekend at the famed Alpine Valley Music Theater. With Jimmy Herring on lead guitar, the group delivered one of the best shows of the post-Garcia era in this barnburner that once again re-established the surviving members of the Grateful Dead as a genuine force of nature.
27 November 2002 – The Other Ones at Gund Arena – Cleveland
The fall tour featured Susan Tedeschi in the band lineup, leading to glorious moments like she and Weir trading verses and bluesy riffs on “Hard to Handle” and “King Bee”. The crowd was quite lit on the night before Thanksgiving, just as at all the Richfield Coliseum shows in the early 1990s, with the “St.Stephen/Eyes of the World” combo achieving electrifying impact.
18 September 2003 – The Dead at Irvine Meadows – Irvine
The Other Ones rebranded as “The Dead” in 2003 and hit the road again with Joan Osborne on the fall tour. Her bluesy mojo fit right in as she and Weir traded verses on “Hard to Handle”, with great results like Bob Weir and Tedeschi the year before. Osborne’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” was mesmerizing as the group kept building out the repertoire. It was also here in the early 21st century era that Weir’s “Throwing Stones” started to take on a deeper gravitas, as the Bush-Cheney government dragged America into their imperialist oil war in Iraq.
31 December 2003 – The Dead at Oakland Coliseum Arena – Oakland
It was a real treat to see The Dead revive the New Year’s Eve tradition with Lesh dropping bombs as Weir led the band through “Jack Straw” to set the tone early. The second that launched at midnight was a magical throwdown for the ages, with one psychedelic rock classic after another – “Sugar Magnolia/St. Stephen/The Eleven/Born Cross-Eyed/Mountains of the Moon/Dark Star”?! What a way to ring in the new year.
24 October 2006– Ratdog at the Agora Theater – Cleveland
The Dead started to lose steam in 2004 for nebulous reasons unknown, and the band members went their own ways in 2005. Weir hit the road again with Ratdog, which was better than ever as Weir led the group in a more improvisational direction, such as this opening “Shakedown Street” jam that segued into “Maggie’s Farm”. Weir was one of the greatest interpreters of Dylan songs, seen again in this show on “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and his ever-impassioned take on “All Along the Watchtower”.
13 May 2008– Phil Lesh & Friends at the Warfield Theater (with surprise guest Bob Weir)
When San Francisco’s Warfield Theater changed management in 2008, Phil Lesh treated it like the venue was closing permanently with a five-night run to celebrate the end of an era. Night one was extra special as the band surprised fans by playing the Grateful Dead’s first two albums in their entirety. The first set was already lit in electrifying fashion when Bob Weir and a pair of go-go girls joined the fun during “Cream Puff War”, taking the audience on a dazzling ride back to 1967. Weir stuck around for the rest of the show (and returned on night five, too.)
31 December 2009– Furthur at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium – San Francisco
Weir and Lesh would join forces again in 2009 with the launch of Furthur, a touring unit that would feature drummer Joe Russo, guitarist John Kadlecik, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, along with backing singers Sunshine Garcia Becker and Zoe Ellis. This New Year’s blowout was a sensational three-set affair, with the band pushing the envelope when “Dark Star” segued into Pink Floyd’s “Time”, a great bustout for the occasion. “Golden Road” at midnight into “Let It Grow” was pure musical fireworks.
12 March 2010– Furthur at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium – San Francisco
Less than three months after the huge New Year’s Eve show, Furthur reconvened at the same venue to celebrate Phil Lesh’s 70th birthday. The acoustic first set opened with “Ripple” and closed with “Attics of My Life”, as the band recognized the theme of Father Time approaching. Then they rocked out for the rest of the night. “Like a Rolling Stone” with Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes on vocals was a rare treat, as was Bob Weir leading a reprise of “Cream Puff War” from the 2008 Warfield run, complete with the go-go girls.
6 October 2011 – Furthur at the Greek Theater – Los Angeles
Furthur hit the LA Greek on three consecutive fall tours, delivering a series of top-shelf shows. This memorable night had a theme centered around mortality, with Lesh noting the show was for Steve Jobs (who had passed away that day). Covers of the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” and Ryan Adams’ “Peaceful Valley” were unique moments, with lots of great ensemble jamming in the second set. This is a show that still hits deep with Lesh and Weir having passed on.
6 October 2012 – Furthur at the Greek Theater – Los Angeles
Coming off a great show at the Joint in Las Vegas on 4 October that featured Weir singing Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright”, Furthur returned to the LA Greek. This Saturday night show felt like the band was out to empty their ammo clip and leave it all on the stage. Opening with “Golden Road/The Music Never Stopped/Dancing in the Street” set the tone for a sensational evening, as Weir & Lesh were in top form. This became even more apparent when Weir’s classic “Lost Sailor/Saint of Circumstance” combo opened the second set and led to a huge jam on Lesh’s signature “Unbroken Chain”.
5 October 2013 – Further at the Greek Theater – Los Angeles
Could Furthur deliver a top-shelf Saturday night show at the LA Greek for the third year in a row? The answer was yes. Guitarist Neal Casal sat in for the entire second set with one smoking jam after another, including his gorgeous cover of the Beatles’ “Across the Universe” into a fierce jam on Weir’s “Let It Grow”.
3-5 July 2015 – GD50 – The Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” finale at Soldier Field – Chicago
The GD50 show, which brought Weir, Lesh, Hart and Kreutzmann together for the final time, was a gala occasion for the ages. The first two shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara felt like the NFC Championship game, with the Soldier Field shows a week later feeling like the Super Bowl of Grateful Dead. With Trey from Phish on lead guitar, expectations were off the charts. The assembled group lacked rehearsal, but the vibes at each show were still historic. Hearing 60,000-plus sing out on “Golden Road” at the Saturday night 4th of July show was like something from a dream. The moment that hit the deepest, though, was “Throwing Stones” to close out the first set of the Sunday finale, with everyone rocking out in solidarity as Bob Weir sang, “The future’s here, We are it, we are on our own…”
31 December 2015 – Dead & Company at the Los Angeles Forum
Dead & Company’s first tour culminated with a New Year’s Eve fiesta at the Forum, the first chance many West Coast fans had to catch John Mayer in action. Mayer delivered and then some, as it was clear that he and Weir had some real chemistry. Weir’s performance of The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” to close the second set was a big crowd pleaser, leading to a big 3rd set with “Midnight Hour”, “Sugar Magnolia”, “Scarlet Begonias”, “Touch of Grey”, “St. Stephen” and “Fire on the Mountain”. Weir put his reputation on the line by choosing Mayer (as Mayer noted at the 17 January memorial), and this show confirmed that Mayer was legit.
7 October 2016 – Bob Weir at Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium – San Rafael
Bob Weir released his Blue Mountain solo album in 2016 and received acclaim for the bluesy, cowboy vibe that blended elder reflections with flashbacks to his youth. “The Campfire Tour” featured Weir mixing stories and songs for a unique show, backed by members of The National. It oddly appeared as if it was going to be a sit-down show, until the tone science on a spacey jam exploded into “The Other One”, causing a genuine chain reaction that led the audience to rise row by row from front to back as if a wizard’s magic spell had been cast.
1 June 2017– Dead & Company at the Hollywood Bowl
Catching Dead & Company at the historic Hollywood Bowl was another special treat of the era. The audience was amped as Weir launched a big second set with “Estimated Prophet”, which gave way to “St. Stephen”, “Terrapin Station” and “Dark Star”. When Drums and Space went back into “Dark Star” and “Morning Dew”, it felt like a magical night in the City of Angeles with a second set of psychedelia that was all killer and no filler.
9 September 2017 – Phil Lesh & Friends Featuring Bob Weir – Sound Summit
Weir and Lesh had teamed up for impromptu shows at Terrapin Crossroads, but this was the big one as they headlined the annual Sound Summit at Marin County’s most majestic location. They threw down a rocking set to close out the day, but equally as memorable was when Weir sat in with Jim James during his solo acoustic set. This included a timely take on Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”, with Weir ad libbing “There’s a man with bright orange hair, bringing down a climate of fear, it’s time we stopped children, what’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down…”
20 October 2018 – Bob Weir & Wolf Bros at the Arlington Theater – Santa Barbara
Bob Weir launched a superb new phase of his career in the fall of 2018 with his first Wolf Bros tour, hitting the road as a trio with drummer Jay Lane and bassist Don Was. It felt like a window into another era, as if Weir were an old-time cowboy playing saloons in the Old West. With a mix of classics and deep cuts in a new format that generated a deeper sonic gravitas, Bob Weir continued to prove himself as one of the greatest troubadours in music history. The crowd-pleasing show went to even greater heights when bassist Tal Wilkenfeld was invited to jam on a rousing rendition of “All Along the Watchtower”, which led to a cathartic “Throwing Stones”.
1 June 2019 – Dead & Company at Shoreline Amphitheater – Mountain View
Just a month after Wolf Bros headlined the inaugural BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach (featuring a magnificent “Me and Bobby McGee”), Dead & Company were back on tour. A jam out of Space into “My Favorite Things” heralded a big finish, as the band went back into “The Other One” and then into a truly epic “Morning Dew” for the ages. Who knows what got into John Mayer on this occasion, but Bob Weir’s heartfelt delivery of the anti-nuke classic was topped off by Mayer shredding some of the sickest riffage ever on a “Dew” solo. This reporter received some flak for suggesting the “Dew” was up there with even the best Garcia versions, but see for yourself. Weir apparently concurred, as he returned for the encore wearing a cut-off lot shirt with “Mayer” styled as the Slayer logo.
31 December 2019 – Dead & Company at Chase Center – San Francisco
Bob Weir closed out the year, leading Dead & Company through what was their second and last New Year’s Eve show. Marin County fans could take the Larkspur Ferry to the show, which was a treat for solving designated driver issues. It was another three-set extravaganza with highlights galore, and it felt like a glorious homecoming throwback to the era of the Oakland Coliseum New Year’s shows. A jammy “Milestones” out of space hit the mark just right into “Standing on the Moon”, before another raucous midnight version of “Sugar Magnolia”. Fans could also double down the next day with a show from Phil Lesh & Friends in the Beach Park at Terrapin Crossroads on New Year’s Day – what a time it still was!
24 July 2021 – Bob Weir & Wolf Bros at the Greek Theater – Berkeley
Leave it to Bob Weir to step up as soon as large-scale live music was allowed to happen again after the damnable COVID-19 pandemic. Weir & Wolf Bros re-opened Red Rocks in Colorado in June, then did the same for the Berkeley Greek. The band also added pedal steel guitar and Wolf Pack horns and strings, taking the group’s sound to another dynamic level. Big jams on “Cassidy”, “Let It Grow” and “Playin’ in the Band” found the Wolf Pack horns & strings filling the space traditionally occupied by lead guitar melodies, in yet another masterstroke arrangement from Bob Weir.
14-16 October 2022– Bob Weir & Wolf Bros at the Warfield Theater – San Francisco
What a special weekend it was as fans came from far and wide to help Bob Weir celebrate his 75th birthday on 16 October with a three-night run at the Warfield. There was a sense that this was a major event, and indeed it was, with the Warfield being as packed as ever. “The Music Never Stopped” served as a fitting opener for the hometown hero on night one, with the Wolf Pack in effect again. The weekend was filled with classics and deep cuts like “Smokestack Lightning” on night two, plus a charming story on night three with Weir relating how he had to sneak in to see his hero Lightnin’ Hopkins when he couldn’t pass for 18 because he was 16 and looked 13. Hundreds of roses were handed out before the final set, with Weir’s wife, Natascha, presenting a birthday cake that he blew out the candles on before the last set.
14-16 July 2023 – Dead & Company at Oracle Park – San Francisco
It was the last three shows of what was billed as “The Final Tour” for Dead & Company, and it was another extra special weekend with Weir and the band at the top of their game. When Friday night’s second set opened with “China Cat Sunflower”, it felt like a euphoric flashback to the early 1990s with the psychedelic lightshow cascading off the ballpark’s upper deck. The whole weekend felt like a triumphant statement of a vital band that was far from ready to hang it up.
29 October 2023– Bob Weir & Wolf Bros with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra at the Frost Amphitheater – Palo Alto
Bob Weir had played a handful of orchestral shows around the country, but this was the first time he brought such sonic grandeur to the Bay Area. It was a truly spectacular evening, watching Weir lead the ensemble with the orchestra adding a gorgeous cinematic flair to the Grateful Dead classics. Weir was clearly thinking long-term when he said, “This is an ongoing project. We’re going to be at this for a long time. And some of the things that we’re going to try to be doing – like getting entire symphony orchestras to improvise – every section, each section of one voice, it’s not possible to do. But we’re going to do it, and it’s going to happen here because these kids don’t know what can’t be done.”
22 June 2024 – Dead & Company at Sphere – Las Vegas
The answer to where Dead & Company could play next in lieu of touring popped up with the concept of their “Dead Forever” residency at the technological marvel known as the Sphere. With truly state-of-the-art visual screens wrapping around the venue, it’s a multi-dimensional experience like no other. Weir & Mayer and their team clearly put in a lot of time and effort to give fans a special experience, which they achieved. “Sphere and the storytelling that you can do from that made it impossibly attractive,” Weir told Variety.
The opening sequence, which transported the audience to San Francisco, was truly mindblowing, with the band appearing to play on the street in front of 710 Ashbury. The second set rocked deep with a “St. Stephen/Morning Dew/Terrapin” sequence, featuring ultra-psychedelic visuals, into Drums and Space, then came back out with a smoking “Watchtower” for a night to remember.
1-3 August 2025 – GD60 – Dead & Company at Golden Gate Park – San Francisco
When Phil Lesh passed away in October of 2024, the concept of a GD60 event came into doubt, but leave it to Bob Weir to step up with another special event by leading Dead & Company to play three big shows in the Park, supported by next-generation stars Billy Strings, Sturgill Simpson, and Trey Anastasio. A special surprise awaited when Grahame Lesh sat in on his dad’s “Big Brown” bass on night one to play and sing “Box of Rain”, a torch-passing moment that melted hearts all over. “Wharf Rat” with Strings, “Morning Dew” with Simpson, and “Scarlet Begonias/Fire on the Mountain” with Anastasio were all shining moments, but the whole weekend was a glorious occasion to celebrate 60 years of Grateful Dead music back where it all began.
Little did anyone think that the GD60 shows would turn out to be Weir’s final performances, but what a grand, full-circle way to go out, in retrospect. Describing the end of Friday night’s show with the “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” encore, I wrote that in his cowboy hat and western-style serape, Weir looked ready to ride off with Clint Eastwood’s William Munny character at the end of 1992’s Unforgiven. It was an iconic look that Weir had perfected in his Wolf Bros era, and the concept of him riding off into the sunset felt tangible.
It’s frustrating for his friends, family and legion of fans to have to deal with losing a heroic troubadour and people’s champion like Bob Weir at age 78, while the fascist Grifter in Chief in the White House lives on. It seemed like Weir & Wolf Bros could carry on for at least another five to ten years, but the Grateful Dead’s music and influence will live on indefinitely, and Weir’s spirit will be there in the music. That’s a legacy which few can rival.