The late Bob Weir was a passionate fan of the San Francisco 49ers and a regular anthem singer for both the Niners and the San Francisco Giants. While the Grateful Dead’s vocalist and guitarist, who passed away Saturday at age 78, only attended his first Chase Center game in 2022, the Golden State Warriors and head coach Steve Kerr paid tribute to the musician who was so intertwined with the Bay Area and sports.
Before Saturday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the team held a moment of silence for Weir
as his picture was displayed on the Jumbotron. While Kerr himself was not a particular fan of the band, his former assistant coach Luke Walton was the son of the biggest — literally — Deadhead of them all, Hall of Fame center Bill Walton.
“Watching Bill Walton over the years and seeing his devotion to the band and the connection that they had. And having Luke Walton here on our staff, really getting an understanding of Bill’s love for the band and how much the band meant to not only Bill but to so many others.”
The Grateful Dead played the Oakland Coliseum Arena AKA Oracle AKA The Arena in Oakland 66 different times. The Other Ones, the lineup that toured after Jerry Garcia’s death, played The Arena four times. Dead & Company, where Weir shared the stage with Grateful Dead drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, plus John Mayer, played two shows at the Chase Center in 2019. (Weir’s group RatDog never played a Warriors venue and the Dead only played the Cow Palace after the Warriors had permanently moved to Oakland.)
That means Bob Weir played at the Warriors home arena on 72 occasions. To get a sense of how much that is, consider that Chris Webber played in Oracle fewer times than Bob Weir did. In the regular season and the playoffs combined, LeBron James has played in the Warriors’ building 43 times, far fewer times than Bobby did! Though, like LeBron, Weir had a steadily rotating group of teammates, especially when it comes to keyboard players.
While Kerr never “got on the bus” with the music of the Dead, he’d like a lot about them. They played with joy. They were generous in spreading opportunities, improvising within the structure of a song, like an offense designed by Alvin Gentry or Mike Brown. The Bay Area rallied behind them for years, delivering sellout crowds no matter how long it had been since the band made the playoffs Billboard charts. They’re even more fun to watch if you’ve ingested a few substances. And just like the current Warriors, there were always a whole lot of aging veterans in the lineup.
Rest in peace, Bob Weir. Here’s to a lot more Saturday nights at the arena.
