On January 10, I was making dinner at home when I received a text from my friend Jim, who wrote,” Just saw Bobby didn’t make it”. That caught me off guard and by surprise. I turned to social media for more information and I read a post from Bob Weir’s account announcing the tragic news that he died from underlying lung issues after courageously battling cancer. I was floored, this hit hard. It felt the way it would hearing that a friend had suddenly and unexpectedly died. I got emotional and then broke the news to my wife, a fellow Deadhead. She looked at me incredulously as she tried to process the news. After that, I began receiving text messages from friends, near and far, offering condolences to me, knowing how much I loved Bob and the Grateful Dead. This news hit me as a personal loss, something that would affect me.
That night, I spent hours by myself, listening to Sirius’s Grateful Dead channel. There an impromptu show was broadcasted featuring the long-time hosts of the weekly talk show,” the Golden Road” along with long time roadie Big Steve Parrish. For three hours, I listened to the show while reading parts of a novel. I needed some time to process this terrible news. One comment that struck me as sage advice to those of us who were mourning,” Don’t cry because it’s over, Smile because it happened. ” I’m working on this.
It has been said many times; there is nothing like a Grateful Dead show and they were right. One could attend consecutive shows and not hear a song repeated. The community that the Grateful Dead organically grew is a tight group of characters. The feeling at their shows is like a family reunion with folks meeting up with old time and long, lost friends. People react to others in a gentler manner than one would expect. But the biggest and best part of it all is the music, where no song is ever played the same way. The Grateful Dead played more concerts than any other band in the US or UK. Following the Grateful Dead put you in touch with a culture of living, loving and dancing!
Through all of this the steady influence was Bob Weir. In 1963, he joined Jerry Garcia in a jug band called the Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. They later became the Warlocks and in 1965 adopted the moniker the Grateful Dead. For the next 30 years, they toured extensively, much more than most performers of the day.
In 1972, I was a 17-year-old just getting into the live music scene. Friends and I were attending an Allman Brothers band concert in the Bronx, NY on an August afternoon. The band was coming out for their encore when a stage roadie announced to the sound booth that particular microphones would be used by Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir. With Dead drummer Bill Kruetzman joining the mix, the Allmans and the member of the Dead delved into a 45-minute rendition of “Mountain Jam”, a take on the 1967 Donovan tune, There is a mountain. I was hooked and that performance burned in my memory to this day.
In 1974, I saw my first Grateful Dead concert at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, NJ. It was a Wall of Sound show, something the Dead attempted for that year only. Over the years, I saw the Grateful Dead 14 times, including the Cornell, NY show on May 8, 1977. My last Grateful Dead show was in Atlanta, Ga on March 27, 1995.During this 21-year run, I also saw the Jerry Garcia band six times but only saw one Bob Weir led band, Kingfish, at the Beacon Theatre in NYC.
After Jerry died, Bobby along with bassist Phil Lesh carried on the legacy of the band they gave life to. Together and separately, they kept the music alive. They toured the country, encountering Deadheads at every turn. The music was well received and kept the camaraderie going. I caught Bob Weir and RatDog five times, Phil Lesh and friends three times and Billy Kreutzman’s BK3 once. In the early 2000’s they toured as the Dead, with Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring on lead guitar. I saw them twice. In 2009, Phil and Bobby joined forces as Furthur, a nod to the destination posted on the front end of the Merry Pranksters/Ken Kesey traveling bus. For two years, in 2012 and ’13, I saw the Weir/Lesh led Furthur six times! I usually wound up going two nights in row during a weekend. Then, in 2015, I was in attendance for the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary celebrations at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
After the 50th anniversary shows in Chicago, Bob announced that he and original band drummer Billy Kreutzman along with longtime drummer Micky Hart, had formed a new band they called Dead and Company. Along with John Mayer on lead guitar, former Allman Brother Oteil Burbage on bass and Bob’s long bandmate Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, they toured from the fall of 2015 until the 60th anniversary show, last August 2025 in San Francisco. During this run of concerts, I saw the band 15 times in 10 years,including the final shows in 2023 in San Francisco and three shows at the Sphere,Las Vegas in 2024 and ’25.
Why did I detail my ventures seeing Bob Weir and his bandmates? When you have consistently been listening to the music and seeing the shows for more than 50 years, you form a bond on different levels. That is why this one really hurt.
Adding it all up it was 69 shows in 52 years. The music that this band created was the soundtrack of my life. Nary a day would go by where the music of the Dead wasn’t played. I loved being a Deadhead and wore it like a badge of pride all these years. Phil Lesh passed away on October 25, 2024 at the age of 84. Fifteen months later, Bobby joined him, Jerry, Pig Pen, Keith and Donna, Brent Mydland and Vince Welnick, hopefully to make beautiful music once again.
The music will go on with artists that will honor the legacy of the Grateful Dead. However, the era of a Dead bandmate leading a group of talented musicians to pay homage to the Grateful Dead is now gone. When someone brings you such happiness for over 50 years, losing them unexpectedly is hard to take. Sure, I’ll press on, but a huge part of my life is gone and “he’s ain’t coming back”.
May the four winds blow you safely home, Bobby
Do You Believe in Magic 