Known for never performing the same show twice, the group revolutionised fan engagement, as followers – known as “Deadheads” – recorded and swapped bootleg tapes of the concerts in a communal, drug-addled camp environment.
The rockers disbanded in 1995, a few months after Garcia’s death, but Weir went on to perform in recent years with the group Dead & Company.
Following Weir’s death, 79-year-old Kreutzmann became the last living member of the Grateful Dead founders.
Lesh died in October 2024 at the age of 84, while McKernan died aged 27 in 1973.
Weir was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Hame in 1994 as part of the Grateful Dead, and received Kennedy Center Honours with the group in 2024, in the final year of Joe Biden’s presidency.
“As we remember Bobby, it’s hard not to feel the echo of the way he lived,” the family said.
“A man driftin’ and dreamin’, never worrying if the road would lead him home. A child of countless trees. A child of boundless seas,” the family said, quoting the songs Cassidy and Lost Sailor, written by Weir and the late John Perry Barlow.
– Agence France-Presse