Phil Lesh, a Grateful Dead founding member and bass guitarist who helped pioneer psychedelic rock and revolutionized the role of bass in American music, died Friday. He was 84.
“He was surrounded by his family and full of love,” an Instagram post announcing his death said. “Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love. We request that you respect the Lesh family’s privacy at this time.”
At the band’s former house at 710 Ashbury St., Deadheads wasted no time paying their respects to Lesh. Just after 2:30 p.m., around a dozen fans from the city and out of town, many clad in tie-dye, spoke with The Standard.
“I just wanted to feel it,” Tamar Wilder said. Wilder, 41, owns a merch company that counts LiveNation among its clients. She got her start selling patchwork dresses in Dead show parking lots.
Aiden Paul and Sean Eshia showed up at the house carrying the Deadhead torch. The 24-year-olds said they were more into the Dead than any other band.
“I’m just trying to process it all,” Eshia said, adding that Lesh was his favorite founding member of the band.
“We came to bask in the magic of Phil Lesh,” Paul added.
Eshia said he saw Lesh play about 30 times and got the chance to speak with him on a few occasions.
“He was the sweetest member of any band I’ve ever met,” Eshia said. “He was Uncle Phil, to me.”
“Definitely sage wizard energy,” Paul added. “That man was real.”
Mark Hankins, 68, put his Grateful Dead shirt on Friday morning even before he heard the news. He’s in town from Seattle with a few friends.
“We were in the neighborhood, so we thought, ‘let’s go pay homage,’” Hankins said.
Chad Olsen and Todd Bolser are in town from Phoenix to see Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.
Standing in front of a small offering of sage and roses left on the steps, Olsen told The Standard he had seen Phil Lesh play about 50 times.
The first time he saw the Grateful Dead was in 1991. Now he owns a moving and storage business in Phoenix, “but I’m a Deadhead at heart,” he said.
On Saturday, Olsen and Bolser will travel to Los Angeles with their friends to see Russo perform at the Greek Theatre.
Music agent Guy Oldaker is in town for a wedding. He first saw Lesh play in Colorado in 2004 and last saw him in 2015.
“He had his own presence, and he kept it alive for a long time,” Oldaker said.
Away from the band’s former home on Haight Street, a popular haunt of the Deads’, Jesse Holwitz, 23, said he “was raised on the Grateful Dead” because his dad was a Deadhead. “It was the first music I listened to.”
“I was really sad,” said the San Francisco native. “Just knowing that there are so few original members of the Dead left is upsetting.”
Surviving founding members of the band include Bob Weir, who toured earlier this year with Dead & Company, a spin-off act, and drummer Bill Kreutzmann. Mickey Hart, an early member who joined in 1967 as a second drummer, also lives on.
Mayor London Breed said the city will light up City Hall Friday night in honor of Lesh, calling the bassist a “San Francisco icon.”
“His legacy lives on in the countless lives he touched and the community he helped build,” Breed said in a post on X. “Our thoughts are with his family and all who loved him.”