Sad news to relay today.
Bob Weir of Grateful Dead fame passed away earlier today, at the age of 78.
Weir was the guitarist and co-founder of the Grateful Dead. Probably the most iconic member of Grateful Dead after Jerry Garcia.
He died earlier today after a battle with cancer.
With the Grateful Dead, Weir was present at some of the most iconic moments of the 1960's. They were the only band to have been at some of the arguably most iconic music events of the 1960's. They were at the Human Be-In in San Francisco in 1967, the Monterey Pop Festival later that year, and of course at Woodstock in 1969.
They also were there at the ill-fated Altamont Festival in December of 1969, although they did not have a good feeling about what was going on, particularly the violence, and decided to turn around and leave. I give them credit for that, actually, given how it turned out. It altered their musical direction. From that point onwards, the band seemed to embody the very best of sixties/hippie idealism, and went on to a legendary career over the span of decades, until the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995.
Later, Weir and other surviving band members were joined by John Mayer, where they performed classic Dead tunes. I actually caught a show in 2019, and thought it might be good to post a picture from that show for this post.
Rest in Peace, Bob Weir.
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