We learned via HiddenTrack that last night, the final show of the Furthur run at The Capitol Theatre proved to be quite the dramatic finale, as Bob Weir appeared to be in less than stellar shape. While most accounts have Bobby being off all night, during “Unbroken Chain” he quite literally appeared to be struggling to stand up, eventually taking a header into John Kadlecik‘s right leg. As the band continued, Bobby was assisted by stage crew, which wound up putting him in a chair and strapping his guitar back on him to finish off the song with Weir strumming along aimlessly.
After “Unbroken Chain” the band came out, sans Weir, and finished off the second set with “Stella Blue>China Cat Sunflower” and ending the set with “I Know You Rider.” A “Built to Last” encore ended the run. Phil Lesh did say that Weir had hurt his shoulder earlier in the day, supposedly from working out, and had taken a muscle relaxer to deal with the pain. Of course, this is going to be a topic of conversation around the jam world that will bring on much speculation. Though, a muscle relaxant certainly could do that to somebody. And Weir is in pretty good shape for a man his age, so the story is completely plausible.
Whatever the reason for Bobby’s fall, we just hope that he is feeling better and it wasn’t anything more serious than that. With the heavy touring that both Phil and Bobby have been doing well into their later years, it would be devastating to learn of any serious health problems. We will keep you informed as we learn more.
Here is a video of the incident last night: