The Dead always emphasized the power and agency of their audience, crediting fans as active cocreators of their music; Saturday’s event was as much about that bond as it was about one of the musicians who helped to shape it for six decades. In the years after Jerry Garcia’s death, Weir emerged as the de facto fulcrum of the sprawling Grateful Dead universe. It was not a role he sought, but in time he was seen as a reluctant leader, just as Garcia had been, and that modesty and integrity…

