John Mayer has paid tribute to his Dead & Company bandmate Bob Weir following his death at age 78.
Alongside a black-and-white photo of Weir, Mayer wrote on Instagram, “Okay Bob. I’ll do it your way. Fkn’ A… Thanks for letting me ride alongside you. It sure was a pleasure. If you say it’s not the end, then I’ll believe you. I’ll meet you in the music. Come find me anytime.”
He signed the post “JohnBo,” which was possibly an attempt to write “John-Boy,” Weir’s nickname for him.
In 2015, Weir was impressed with Mayer’s ability to play Grateful Dead songs after he and Mayer performed two of the band’s tunes on The Late Late Show. Later that year, Weir formed Dead & Company with former Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, as well as Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti.
Mayer last performed with Weir in August during a three-night run of shows in San Francisco celebrating 60 years of the Grateful Dead. Those were Weir’s final live performances.
In 2016, Weir told Billboard that he had a literal “out-of-body” experience in which he saw Dead & Company continuing with Mayer after he passed.
“We were playing and suddenly I was viewing this from about 20 feet from behind my head … I looked over at John … and it was 20 years later and John was almost fully gray,” Weir recalled of his vision. In his place, he saw “new guys, younger guys holding forth, doing a great job.”
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