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Thousands Celebrate Bob Weir

Fans at San Francisco event express their gratitude for Grateful Dead member's music
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 18, 2026 4:15 PM CST
Thousands Celebrate Bob Weir
Sarah Black holds a rose while attending a public memorial for Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in San Francisco.   (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

More than 20,000 people gathered at San Francisco's Civic Center to celebrate the life of Bob Weir, the legendary guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead who died last week at age 78. Musicians Joan Baez and John Mayer spoke on a makeshift stage in front of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Saturday after four Buddhist monks opened the event with a prayer in Tibetan, the AP reports. Fans carried long-stemmed red roses, placing some at an altar filled with photos and candles. They wrote notes on colored paper, professing their love and thanking him for the journey. Organizers planned to distribute more than 10,000 roses, per the San Francisco Chronicle.

The event brought plenty of fans with long dreadlocks and tie-dye clothing, some using walkers. But there were also young couples, men in their 20s and a father who brought his 6-year-old son in order to pass on to the next generation a love of live music and the tight-knit Deadhead community. The Bay Area native joined the Grateful Dead—originally the Warlocks—in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old.

Eric Hoffner, 66, who said he started following the band around the country in 1976, appreciated people from all walks of life coming together at the event. "There's this sense of peace and tranquility and we need more of that. It's not the end of an era, it's another step in the road," Hoffner said, per the Press-Democrat. Weir "gave us music that reminds us we belong to one another, said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, per KGO. "After the final note ends, thanks Bob."

  • The New York Times has an essay about why the Grateful Dead has so many young fans here.

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