Band Dead & Company pays tribute to Bill Walton

Bill Walton is a basketball legend, but the Hall of Fame player and current commentator was also known for his passion off the court: the rock band Grateful Dead.

Walton’s association with the Grateful Dead was long-standing – in his autobiography he claimed to have attended over 800 of the band’s concerts and described being inducted into the group’s Hall of Honor as the highest honor he had ever received.

During their performance Thursday at the Sphere in Las Vegas – poetically the city that hosted the last men’s basketball game on Walton’s beloved Pac-12 team – the band Dead & Company, a group made up of members of the original Grateful Dead, paid tribute to Walton.

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📸: Chloe Weir pic.twitter.com/uEsPrOcnOp

— Dead & Company (@deadandcompany) May 31, 2024

The band played the Grateful Dead’s 1978 song “Fire on the Mountain” while the Sphere’s panoramic screens flashed a montage of some of Walton’s best moments as the group’s opening act.

Walton died on Monday at the age of 71 after a long battle with cancer. Dead & Company also paid tribute to Walton via social media.