Bobby played full out. He was a tireless advocate for the music of the Grateful Dead, relentless in doing all he could to champion the idea that Grateful Dead music will live on for centuries. He shared the stage with countless numbers of young musicians, showing them the ropes while letting them express the music in their own ways.
Bobby has been a constant in my life since the first Grateful Dead show I saw as a teenager in 1979 through to the final time I saw him perform with Dead & Company at Sphere in 2024.
Bobby and I discussed the differences between digital and analog music, with Bobby insisting the human brain has trouble processing digital music.
With his hands, Bobby showed me a musical arc with many stairs representing digital music, arguing that we connect more with a perfectly smooth line of live music and analog recordings.
Bobby: “David, when you were young, did you and your friends just sit and listen to music?”
Me: “Yes, all the time, especially in college.”
Bobby: “How about now, do you just sit and listen?”
Me: “No, except for in the car.”
Bobby: “It’s because we find digital music harsh.”
Here is an essay about Bobby I wrote as part of the introduction for the new paperback edition of my book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, which was published in November. Rereading this essay last night as I heard the news gave me chills as it reads like an obituary, like the universe was telling me to memorialize Bobby’s in my own small way.
Of the over 1,000 live music shows I’ve seen since I was 15 years old, hundreds of bands of various genres, this was a top ten highlight. Here was Bobby fronting the music I love performed in a new and wonderful way, utterly different than my first Grateful Dead show in New Haven on January 17, 1979.
I’m imagining Jerry looking down with a huge smile on his face as he watches Bobby push the music of the Grateful Dead forward yet again. Indeed, in the 30 years since Jerry’s passing, I’d argue the Grateful Dead has become more popular and culturally significant than during the Jerry years.
They are most certainly bigger and better than in 2010 when the first edition of this book appeared.
When Jerry passed in August 1995, the surviving members and fans alike thought the journey was over. “When Jerry left that was the end of the Grateful Dead. Period,” drummer Bill Kreutzmann said. Yet Bobby quickly found ways to continue playing the music. In the decades since, he has anchored numerous offshoots including RatDog, The Other Ones, The Dead, Furthur, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, and Dead & Company. With these collaborations Bobby ensures the music never stopped.
Bringing John Mayer into the Grateful Dead fold to form Dead & Company was certainly controversial. I spoke with many people who couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of a thirty-something pop star joining three of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead: Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann together with Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. Yet, the combination proved infectious with older enthusiasts like me and brought many new fans into the scene.
In 2024, at age 77, Bobby led Dead & Company into yet another musical collaboration, a residency at the newly opened Sphere in Las Vegas. With immersive multimedia shows at the world’s most sophisticated venue, long-time fans and newbies alike were mesmerized at Sphere by the crystal-clear sound and the trippy graphics on the world's largest and highest-resolution LED screen. I went to six shows at Sphere that first year, enjoying the newest Dead spectacle. Clips of Dead & Company at Sphere, with psychedelic visuals and all-out jams quickly lit up TikTok and Instagram. Suddenly a band whose popularity peaked when Mark Zuckerberg was barely out of diapers was trending on social media more than thirty years later.
In the years since we wrote the first edition of this book, Bobby has brought talented young musicians into the Grateful Dead fold. He’s been a guest on the stages such as that of Billy Strings and The National; invited sit ins at his shows from the likes of Tyler Childers and Daniel Donato; and curated the “Playing in the Sand” and “Dead Ahead” festivals in Mexico which included artists and acts like Larkin Poe, Tedeschi Trucks, Rick Mitarotonda, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, Sierra Hull and others. And of course, there’s John Mayer.
These frequent collaborations help to introduce the music of the Grateful Dead to the fans of these artists and serve as a spark for younger players to keep the music alive for decades to come.
Bobby has also built a community through his frequent philanthropic endeavors. He’s committed to social and environmental causes in the past several decades, reinforcing the Dead’s legacy is about kindness and unity as much as music. After Garcia’s death, the Rex Foundation, the Dead’s charitable arm, stayed active with Bobby frequently lending his time and name to benefit events.
He has worked with Reverb, which promotes eco-friendly touring, to make sure Dead-related tours have a positive impact. Starting in 2015, Dead & Company institutionalized giving back with “Participation Row” at their shows – a village of booths where non-profits engage with fans, encouraging concert-goers to take action on causes from sustainability to social action. During their final 2023 tour alone, Deadheads contributed over $2 million via Participation Row charities. And Bobby is on the board of HeadCount, a nonprofit that has registered over a million people to vote at concerts and music festivals.
Since the first edition of this book released, we lost Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. And we lost our friend Bill Walton, who wrote the fabulous foreword to this book.
Bobby was just 17 years old when he joined what would become the Grateful Dead. Now, some 60 years later, he has evolved into one of rocks premier elder statesman. He’s become a living emblem of the Dead’s longevity and countercultural legacy. Someday, when there are no longer any original members of the Grateful Dead able to perform, this music will live on because of Bobby’s efforts.
++++++++++++++++++++
As I’ve tried to process the sad news of Bobby’s passing over the last several hours, I’ve thought a lot about several things:
1) Play full out in this crazy wonderful world! You never know when will reach the end of the road. Get out. Go. Do that thing you’ve always wanted to do. Connect in-person with like-minded people.
2) See the music artists you love when you can because nobody lives forever.
Photos:
July 5, 2024 at Sphere by David Meerman Scott
October 9, 2022 at Kennedy Center by David Meerman Scott
April 10, 2014 at Terrapin Crossroads by Steve Liesman
June 25, 2023 two shots at Fenway Park by David Meerman Scott