Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died at the age of 78 from complications after a battle with cancer, his family said in a statement Saturday.
On Monday’s “The Beat,” MS NOW’s Ari Melber paid tribute to the musician and reflected on his career. Weir, alongside Grateful Dead’s lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, “established something that went beyond music itself,” Melber said.
“Weir’s particular contribution included,” he said, “fusing a kind of revolutionary counterculture vibe, which we all recognize from so much of the music of that era, with his own take on classic Americana.”
After Garcia died in 1995 and the Grateful Dead officially disbanded, Melber explained how Weir helped lead the group “through decades more tours, music and evolution,” teaming up with former members to establish The Other Ones, The Dead and Dead & Company.
Weir helped “light the flame” and “kept carrying the torch for what became really part of the hippie movement’s soundtrack,” Melber said, adding that the success of those groups “showed that the hippie spirit is alive today, not merely for history lessons and throwbacks.”
While Melber said Weir’s music wasn’t about “any particular, defined, written agenda,” offering instead “more of a ‘big tent’ vibe,” he noted that the legendary musician made a “kind of exception in 2008” when he, along with other former members of the Grateful Dead, performed at Barack Obama’s inaugural ball, which Melber called a “special moment.”
Melber also spoke about his personal connection to Weir. Melber said he first watched the musician perform with “the fully composed Grateful Dead” in 1994, and last saw Weir play with Dead & Company this summer at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Weir also made an appearance on “The Beat.”
Melber noted that “millions of other fans have this experience” and that “being a Deadhead meant you could check in with this band any time: could be alone, going through one of the great old recordings you happen to like of a particular night, or you could go out and do a new five nights in a row.”
“You could take a few years off and come back and tap into what was clearly an ongoing, intergenerational and often ineffable experience which brought people together for live music and the genuine shared excitement of something new,” Melber said. “The set list always changed, which is really different than most bands, and that new thing was, of course, famously marbled right over the rich traditions of something old,” he said. “And as they say, ‘The Music Never Stopped.’” Melber commended Weir for his six-decade career in music and his lasting mark on the culture: “A life well lived.” You can watch Melber’s full commentary in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. Recommended
