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Grateful Dead members praise Bill Walton as the band’s biggest fan

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Members of the Grateful Dead and their current performing offshoot group Dead & Company have taken to social media to express their grief and love for the man who was considered the Dead’s biggest celebrity superfan following the death of basketball legend Bill Walton.

Dead & Company, currently performing at the Las Vegas Sphere, released a joint statement in addition to those from each member. “Farewell, farewell, we love you more than words can express,” the band wrote. “Bill was an irreplaceable force and soul in our family. Father Time, Rhythm Devil, the greatest Deadhead of all time. Over 1000 shows and couldn’t get enough of it. He loved this band and we loved him. We will miss our beloved friend @BillWalton very much. Rest in peace and may the four winds carry you home safe.”

The reference to “Father Time” alludes to how the Celtics star dressed up and played the role during a 2015 Dead & Company New Year’s Eve show in Los Angeles (pictured above) and at previous shows by Dead offshoot groups, as seen in the photo montage posted on Instagram.

Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann also expressed their thoughts individually.

Hart, the drummer for Grateful Dead and Dead & Company, wrote: “Bill was my best friend, the best friend I ever had. He was an incredible human being, unique, irreplaceable, generous, loving. His love for our music was indescribable. He called himself the luckiest man in the world, but it was us who were lucky – to know him, to share the adventure with him. He was the biggest Deadhead in the world and used our music as the soundtrack to his life. After our shows, he would regularly send messages saying, ‘Thank you for my life.’ Over 1000 shows, he just couldn’t get enough of it. Bill had an incredible passion for drums. After every meal at his house, we would play. There was nothing better than a Bill Walton… nothing. There are things you can replace. And others you can’t replace. Safe travels, old friend, I love you.”

Weir, the co-frontman of the two groups, posted a photo of himself playfully sniffing at Walton with the caption: “Yo Bill, thanks for the ride. Thanks for the wonderful friendship, the years of commentary – and the Hall of Fame existence you wore like headlights. Safe travels, old buddy. We’ll surely miss you – but don’t let that slow you down…”

Bill Kreutzmann, a veteran drummer for the Grateful Dead and a member of Dead & Company until last year, wrote: “There are incredible stories about Bill Walton that I promised him I wouldn’t tell until after he died, and that’s not even close to being told, because before we laugh, we must allow ourselves to cry. Damn. This is a sad day. This is a time for mourning. Sure, Bill Walton was an NBA legend. But around the Grateful Dead, he was just a fan – and that made him a legend here, too. In many ways, he was our biggest fan… but Bill would have been wrong about that classification, because even though he won many awards in his legendary basketball career – including MVP – Bill insisted that the Grateful Dead was not a competition – and that all Deadheads were the same.”

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