While the Grateful Dead years have been exhaustively documented, Bobby Weir’s musical life beyond the band has been just as enduring and vital. From RatDog and Further to The Dead and, more recently, the Wolf Bros, Weir continued to perform and evolve for decades outside the shadow of the fabled group. In the wake of Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, 1996’s Furthur Festival emerged as a kind of reunion—not just for musicians from the extended Grateful Dead family, but for Deadheads searching for connection and continuity.
Weir’s closing set, though weighted toward blues standards and non–Grateful Dead material, offered a genuine sense of closure and cautious optimism about the future of the songbook. Each night culminated in a communal finale, with all the bands—Los Lobos, RatDog, Bruce Hornsby, Mickey Hart, and others—sharing the stage for a loose, celebratory jam that included “Throwing Stones,” “Truckin’,” “Little Wing,” and “Not Fade Away.”
Bobby was only 48 as this second chapter launched, but his leadership skills were on full force during Furthur ’96 when fans needed him the most – check out the night ending jam session from Irving, CA.
