Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weird dies aged 78 – the guitar world reacts to the passing of a legend
Legendary Grateful Dead founding member and guitarist Bob Weir has died, his family has announced. He was 78, and had been undergoing treatment for cancer since last year.
In a statement posted to Instagram, Weir’s family paid tribute to the hugely influential musician, stating: “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”
Weir co-founded the Grateful Dead in 1965 alongside fellow guitarist Jerry Garcia. The Dead would become a hugely influential and enduring musical force that transcended the San Francisco counterculture they grew out of. They would go on to become the greatest jam band of them all, with a songbook of timeless classics and an army of devoted fans – Deadheads – that continued to grow and diversify with each passing generation.
The Grateful Dead were a remarkable anachronism in American music. They had just one Top 40 hit in their entire career (1987’s Touch of Grey). But were one of the most popular and enduring touring acts in the country, emphasising the remarkable power of the Dead’s live experience and the unique community it fostered.
The Grateful Dead proper ended with the untimely passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995, but Weir and other surviving members of the band continued to tour and keep the music alive – first as The Other Ones and then, from 2010, teaming up with John Mayer to form Dead & Co.
Dead & Co would bring the magic of the Greatful Dead’s music to a whole new generation, leading to sold-out tours until 2022, a remarkable Las Vegas Sphere residency in 2024 and finally, a three-day hometown run at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in July 2025 that marked 60 years of The Dead, and would be an unplanned but fitting coda to Weir’s incredible legacy.
Unsurprisingly given the huge impact he had on American music, the guitar world united from all corners to pay tribute to Weir as news of his passing broke.
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“He was always ready to ‘Kick up a fuss’,” wrote bluegrass phenom Billy Strings on Instagram. “He always had boundless time and knowledge to share with everyone and was truly one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. The world is a better place because of him. I’m extremely grateful to have crossed paths with him in this life.”
“This guy was such a hero,” wrote Heart’s Nancy Wilson. “The world is a sadder place without him in it. He spread a lifetime of magic around and always had that twinkle of good nature in his eyes. His good vibrations will never end. He gave such a gift to us all.”
Phish’s Trey Anastasio paid heartfelt tribute to Weir in a lengthy post on Instagram, but was keen to highlight his modesty and self-depracating sense of humour: “Bobby was completely allergic to compliments in the most endearing way. I’d say, ‘Man, that guitar riff you were doing on that song sounded really killer’ and he’d respond, ‘Well, I’m sure I’ll fuck it up next time.’ I loved that about him.”
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Don Was, who played with Weir in the Wolf Bros highlighted the power Weir as a live musician, “Night after night, he taught us how to approach music with fearlessness and unbridled soul – pushing us beyond what we thought was musically possible,” he wrote. “Every show was a transcendent adventure into the unknown. Every note he played and every word he sang was designed to bring comfort and joy to our audiences.”
Maggie Rogers was another paying tribute to Weir’s embracing of young musicians: “This man showed me so much kindness so early in my career,” she wrote. “And welcomed me into a spirit of making music that has everything to do with community and connection and soul, and always with a twinkling of perfect mischief at the edges.”
Joe Satriani simply and poignantly posted, “It was an honour to know you and share the stage with you.”
Weir’s passing follows on from the death of bassist Phil Lesh in 2024, and leaves drummer Bill Kreutzmann as the only surviving founding member of the band. Regardless, Weir’s family believes that it was his dream and wish that the band’s music carried on long after him.
“There is no final curtain here, not really,” wrote the family’s statement on Instagram. “Only the sense of someone setting off again. He often spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, determined to ensure the songbook would endure long after him. May that dream live on through future generations of Dead Heads. And so we send him off the way he sent so many of us on our way: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing. A reward for a life worth livin’.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
