Bob Weir says Grateful Dead co-founder Jerry Garcia ‘pressed harder than his body could keep up’ on final tour

Jerry Garcia “pressed harder than his body could keep up” on his final tour with Grateful Dead, according to Bob Weir.

The long-running band was still ongoing even through a health crisis for Garcia, who had been suffering from years of drug use. His diabetic coma in 1986 and departure from the band in 1992 due to exhaustion were not enough to stop Garcia from touring. Though he would be on and off stage in his final years, it was a show in 1995 in Chicago which would mark Garcia’s final show with the band. Decades later, Weir would reflect on his bandmate’s final tour, where he says Garcia simply gave too much on stage. It was more than his body could handle, he says, though Weir and the band believed their longtime collaborator was about to “swing back out of it” and back into better health.

Garcia would die of a heart attack in 1995 at the age of 53. It would mark the end of Grateful Dead, though the surviving band members would continue for another twenty years in various forms and under different titles. Fare Thee Well, for instance, was hosted in 2015 and marked a fiftieth anniversary of Grateful Dead. Weir said in 2014: “I had a feeling he was going to swing back out of it, and he was actually trying to do that when his heart quit. He was pressing a bit harder, I think, than his body could keep up with.”

Garcia’s final show with the band would see him cover Willie Dixon and Bob Dylan, along with performances of classic tracks like Touch of Grey and Black Muddy River. A full setlist for Garcia’s final show can be found below.

• Touch of Grey
• The Little Red Rooster (Willie Dixon cover)
• Lazy River Road
• When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Dylan cover)
• Childhood’s End
• Cumberland Blues
• Promised Land (Chuck Berry cover)
• Shakedown Street
• Samson and Delilah
• So Many Roads
• Samba in the Rain
• Corrina
• Drums
• Space
• Unbroken Chain
• Sugar Magnolia
• Black Muddy River
• Box of Rain

It would be just a few years after Grateful Dead had introduced Bob Dylan to their live shows. Dylan would perform with the group through the late 1980s, releasing Dylan and the Dead, a panned live album which fans say has better demo tapes and rehearsals.

A post to the r/BobDylan subreddit had fans discuss the lacklustre release, with one asking: “What’s everyone’s thoughts on Dylan and the Dead? I think it’s an awesome reimagining of some of these songs. I liked it a lot better than Garcia Plays Dylan.” Though the collaborative piece was praised for the principle of joining Dylan and Grateful Dead members, the finished release leaves a lot to be desired, according to fans.

One user wrote: “The rehearsal was better.” Another wrote: “The shows themselves are pretty good, but the album is a really bad representation of them. I believe Jerry talks about in an interview how when they were finalising the track listing, Bob demanded certain songs be included on the album. Probably why we got songs like Gotta Serve Somebody and Joey.”

A third user agreed, saying they feel the same and “barely listen to the official album.” It seems users are keener on the tour rehearsals which preceded this live album, a compilation of Dylan and Grateful Dead’s efforts off stage. Other fans have pointed to a Grateful Dead compilation, which is far superior to the live album.