Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir died earlier this month at age 78, and his public memorial passed off final night time (January 17) at San Francisco’s Civic Heart Plaza. Among the many many musicians and former bandmates to look was John Mayer, who performed with Weir in his post-Grateful Useless mission Dead & Company. Along with giving an extended, considerate speech honoring the late musician, Mayer additionally carried out a solo cowl of the Grateful Useless’s 1970 music “Ripple.” Watch a replay of that second beneath.
Though Mayer shared a statement instantly following Weir’s dying, his eulogy at yesterday’s memorial service was for much longer, starting with an anecdote about Mayer and Weir being born on the identical day. “Within the 30 years that preceded me, Bob had change into a countercultural icon,” stated Mayer. “I used to be a baby of the Nineteen Eighties. I come from a world of structural considering, the idea, the theorizing, the reassessing, the perfecting. Bob realized early on that spirit, coronary heart, soul, curiosity, and fearlessness was the trail to glory. We each discovered success with every of our templates, after which we discovered one another… We have been unlikely companions, and that was a part of our magic.”
He continued: “Over the course of a decade, we got here to belief one another. He taught me, amongst many different issues, to belief within the second, and I’d prefer to suppose I taught him just a little bit to depend on a plan, not as an alternative choice to the divine moments, however as a technique to lure them in just a little nearer. I suppose perhaps what I used to be actually doing was displaying him he may depend on me. Bob took an opportunity on me. He staked his total repute on my becoming a member of a band with him. He gave me musical group. He gave me this group.” Hear his full speech within the video down beneath.
Weir performed rhythm guitar and dealt with lead vocals for the Grateful Useless’s 30-year run. He additionally performed in a number of bands, together with Kingfish, the Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, Scaring the Kids, RatDog, and Furthur. Dozens of artists have paid tribute to the late icon, together with Bob Dylan, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby, Nancy Wilson, Billy Corgan, and plenty of others.
Learn the Afterword essay “Bob Weir’s Cosmic Touch.”
