An estimated 20,000 fans, family, and friends gathered in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza on Saturday afternoon for Homecoming: Celebrating the life of Bobby Weir, a free public memorial honoring the beloved Grateful Dead co-founder.
The ceremony began with a procession down Market Street, recalling the spirit of a New Orleans second line jazz funeral. A hearse led the way, followed by a tour bus emblazoned with the iconic Steal Your Face logo. An altar topped with a Buddha statue became a focal point as attendees placed roses around the tiered structure as a symbolic offering. Above the altar, Tibetan prayer flags fluttered in the wind, carrying prayers of compassion across the gathering.
Photo: Allison Scavo
Photo: Allison Scavo
With Weir’s guitar on stage crowned with his trademark cowboy hat, symbolizing his presence, the program opened with the Gyuto Foundation Monks offering a healing prayer. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie opened the formal tributes, offering remarks celebrating Weir’s lifelong connection to the city where he was born and played over 300 concerts with the Grateful Dead.
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Folk icon Joan Baez brought levity, recalling that she and Weir both used to perform barefoot on stage before delivering a powerful performance of Odetta’s “Oh, Freedom”. Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House and longtime Bay Area politician who has been a vocal Deadhead, spoke about Weir’s commitment to democracy and voter engagement.
One of the memorial’s most moving tributes came from John Mayer, who has performed with Weir in Dead & Company since 2015. Fighting back tears, Mayer delivered an impassioned speech that began by noting a cosmic connection: “Bobby and I were born on the same day, exactly 30 years apart. Libras.”
Mayer reflected on their unlikely partnership: “While the astrology checks out, three decades is a pretty wide chasm between any two people, whether they share a birthday or not. In the 30 years that preceded me, Bob had become a countercultural icon. I was a child of the 1980s. I come from a world of structural thinking, the concept, the theorizing, the reassessing, the perfecting. Bob learned early on that spirit, heart, soul, curiosity, and fearlessness was the path to glory.”
Photo: Allison Scavo
He spoke of the trust they developed: “Over the course of a decade, we came to trust each other. He taught me, among many other things, to trust in the moment, and I’d like to think I taught him a little bit to rely on a plan, not as a substitute for the divine moments, but as a way to lure them in a little closer. I guess maybe what I was really doing was showing him he could rely on me.”
Mayer acknowledged the leap of faith Weir took when they formed Dead & Company and expressed gratitude for his warm welcome into the Grateful Dead family: “Bob took a chance on me. He staked his entire reputation on my joining a band with him. He gave me musical community, he gave me this community.
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“He lent me his songbook,” Mayer continued. “He invited me into the worlds he’d constructed, and he taught me what the songs meant and what it meant to perform them. And in return, I gave him everything I had night after night, year after year. The honor of getting the opportunity to express my heart and soul and take flight over those magical compositions has never been lost on me.”
Addressing the collective grief, Mayer said: “We have only begun to make sense of what’s gone missing, and in the end, Bobby was right again. Because all we can do is hold on to this moment, and I don’t have the faintest idea of a plan.”
He closed with a line from Leon Russell‘s ’s “A Song For You”: “But now I’m so much better, so if my words don’t come together, listen to the melody because my love is in there hiding.”
Then, with a nod to Hart’s earlier remark, Mayer concluded: “And so we will all keep listening together. 300 years, Bobby, now that’s a plan I can get behind. Thank you, Maestro. You changed my life. I will love you forever. Thank you.”
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Following Mayer’s eulogy, Mickey Hart, the only surviving Grateful Dead member able to attend in person, spoke of Weir’s hope that their music would continue for another 300 years. True to his nature as the band’s rhythmic heart, Hart led the massive crowd in a collective clap-along singalong of “Not Fade Away”.
Weir’s wife Natascha and daughters Chloe and Monet delivered deeply emotional tributes. Chloe, a photographer who documented her father’s final years performing with Dead & Company, made a prediction about her father’s enduring legacy: “In 30 years, a 60-year-old fan will brag to someone in their 20s about seeing the Dead when Weir was ‘in the band.'”
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During the ceremony, Natascha noted a hawk circling overhead—another fitting symbol of Weir’s presence, especially given his history as a devoted animal rights advocate. The bird reappeared as the crowd clapped and sang “You know our love will not fade away.”
Mayer then picked up Weir’s guitar, wearing what appeared to be the bolo tie Weir wore during his final performance, and led the crowd in a communal singalong of “Ripple”. He was joined on stage by Hart, Baez, Natascha, Chloe, Monet, and others.
Throughout the celebration, video messages arrived from numerous musicians and public figures who Weir touched during his career. Bill Kreutzmann, the only surviving member of the Dead’s original lineup, sent a reflection noting he was honoring his musical brother from his home in Hawaii.
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Trey Anastasio of Phish, who played with Dead & Company during Weir’s final performance, offered his tribute alongside other notable musicians including Bruce Hornsby, Willie Nelson, Sammy Hagar, Dave Matthews, Warren Haynes, Jack Johnson, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and Primus members Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde. Additional tributes came from Wynonna Judd, Grace Potter, Don Was, Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux, Rhino Records’ Mark Pinkus, and even San Francisco 49ers players George Kittle and Nick Bosa. Dead & Company members Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge, and Jay Lane were also in attendance.
The “Homecoming” stood as a testament to Weir’s far-reaching influence across music, politics, sports, and culture—a celebration that honored both the man and the enduring power of the music he helped create.
The entire memorial service is available to stream below courtesy of nugs.
Later on, the celebration continued at The Warfield with Howling Wolves: A Tribute to Bobby Weir, where Grahame Lesh & Friends welcomed Oteil Burbridge, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Jackie Greene, and members of RatDog and Wolf Brothers for a sold-out musical tribute.
Homecoming: Celebrating The Life Of Bobby Weir
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