W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

In Celebration Of Bobby Weir: Bushwick’s Dead & Friends Live at Brooklyn Bowl (2026-01-13)

I am anabashed Dead Head dating back to my early teenage years. I fell in love with The Gratedul Dead the first time I heard the Skull and Roses album back in 1972(?). And although over the years I gravitated more and more to the Jerry songs, there’s no question that what first drew me to the band were the “Cowboy Bob” songs. Songs like “Me and My Uncle”, “Mama Tried” and “Me and Bobby McGee” off of the aforementioned Skull & Roses LP had me hook line and sinker. I would soon do a deep dive into American Beauty, Workingman’s Dead and Europe ’72 and from that point on, it was off to the races.

I say all of this to emphasize the feeling of lose and grief that this past weekend’s news of Bob Weir’s passing brought to myself, so many of my friends as well as countless other fellow travelors. When Jerry passed back in 1995, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise to most heads if “The Dead” died along with him. But while “The Grateful Dead” as an entity were indeed gone, largely due to the perseverence of one Bob “Ace” Weir, the spirit of the band has survived the following 30 years and from the looks of things at Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday night, it will survive the next 300. I mention such a crazy number as 300 because that was Bob’s dream. He is on record saying that he hoped that the music of The Dead would one day be revered and respected in the same pantheon as Bethoven, Mozart and the other great classical masters.

Bobby led the charge after the passing of his friend, mentor and musical ,Jerry Garcia, to keep the flame burning. It wasn’t always easy. Actually, at points it looked like he might not make it at all, as he succumbed to some serious alcohol abuse after Jerry’s death. I’ve had numerous conversations with friends how after Garcia, there was something different about Weir. almost like a piece of Bobby had died as well. But Weir managed to clean himself up, pull himself together and get himself healthy and for the next 3 decades via Dead projects such as The Other Ones, The Dead, Further, and finally Dead & Co., along with solo projects like Bobby & The Midnights, Ratdog and Wolf Brothers, Weir introduced a whole new generation to the Grateful Dead community.

Largely, thanks to Weir, the Dead community has spawned what it a cottage industry of bands, many of whom are too young to have ever seen Jerry much less Pigpen, or Keith or Brent. While bands like Dark Star Orchestra and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead have become household names within the Dead circles, there are countless local and regional bands that are thriving while keeping the spirit of The Dead flowing. One of these bands is none other than Brooklyn’s Bushwick’s Dead who spearheaded this tribute to Weir at Brooklyn Bowl. I had never seen Bushwick’s Dead before but I was familiar with them as a band that makes the rounds about town doing their GD thing. Let me just say that I was very pleasantly surprised by the group. Their musicianship, their tightness as a band and their command of the Dead’s material was quite impressive. And the energy they evoked was infectious. One could tell as soon as they walked out onto the stage that they were overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of an absolutely JAM PACKED Brooklyn Bowl, a room which they play often but which is not normally as crowded as it was on Tuesday night. I do have to also say that I’ve been to quite a number of sold out shows at the Bowl over the years and last night was indeed smoking. None the less, the band definitely fed off the energy of the crowd and as the evening went along visa versa.

The set opened up with “Sugar Magnolia” which set the tone for what would be a night filled with emotions, both happy and of course meloncholy. But, as the band noted numerous times throughout the evening, Bobby was there with them and no doubt injected everyone from the musicians on the stage to the twirlers in the back near the bar with a special feeling of exhileration and love and comraderie which is the essence of Bobby Weir and the Grateful Dead.

SETLIST:

[1 ] Sugar Magnolia
[2 ] Black Throated Wind
[3 ] Me & My Uncle
[4 ] Feel Like A Stranger
[5 ] Promised Land
[6 ] Not Fade Away
[7 ] I Need A Miracle
[8 ] Playing In The Band>
[9] Mama Tried>
[10 ] Playing In The Band
BREAK
[11 ] Jack Straw
[12 ] Estimated Prophet
[13 ] Cassidy
[14 ] Samson & Delilah
[15 ] Big River>
[16 ] Weather Report Suite (Let It Grow)
[17 ] Truckin’>
[18 ] The Other One
[19 ] The Music Never Stopped
ENCORE–

[20 ] One More Saturday Night
[21 ] China Cat Sunflower>
[22 ] I Know You Rider

Photo Slideshow: