Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann shares lengthy tribute to Bob Weir: “For sixty years, the music never stopped”
Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann has paid tribute to his late bandmate Bob Weir with a poignant statement.
Both Weir and Kreutzmann were founding members of the legendary counterculture icons who both remained part of their line-up until they disbanded following the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995.
Even after the demise of the Grateful Dead, Weir and Kreutzmann continued to perform together, first in The Other Ones. The drummer also played with Dead and Company for eight years after they formed in 2015, but left in 2023 due to creative differences.
Now, he has honoured his late friend with a lengthy statement on social media. “Together, we embarked on a journey without a destination,” the 79-year-old reflected.
Kreutzmann continued, “We didn’t set out to change the world, or to become big stars, or to have our own counterculture — we didn’t know any of those things were actually possible and we wouldn’t have been very interested in them even if we did. Well, not too much, anyway. Just enough to dream.”
He also explained how he and Weir bonded due to being younger than their bandmates, noting, “Also, Bob and I were the younger guys in the band, so we liked to do weird shit. By that I mean, we just liked to play pranks and be silly and not take ourselves too seriously.”
The drummer said of the band’s early days, “Nothing was more important than having fun and nothing was more fun than playing music. Especially once audiences started coming and we could look out and see a sea of people dancing.”
Kreutzmann added, “And so for sixty years, the music never stopped. This was true for all of us, together and apart, but when Bob was off the road, all he wanted to do was get back on it.”
He described their relationship as “everything you’d expect from lifelong friends and bandmates” who “fought” and “celebrated” together. Over the span of their friendship, Kreutzmann said “we went from teenagers to old men and all the stops in between”.
Reflecting on his other fallen bandmates, he added, “Time has proven that nobody will ever be able to replace Jerry Garcia — or Phil Lesh — and time will prove the same for Bob Weir.”
Kreutzmann also powerfully wrote of Weir’s legacy in a personal capacity, “There are so many people who can rightfully say that their life would not have been the same without Bob Weir. That’s been true for me since I was 17. And through it all, the high times and the low tides, my love for him will not, indeed can not, fade away.”
Weir, aged 78, died on January 10th. In a statement, the Weir family announced his death, revealing, “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”
Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart has also honoured Weir following his passing, describing him as “a little brother to me for almost sixty years”, and admitting that he “still cannot believe he’s gone”.
See Kreutzmann’s full tribute below.
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